**Weekender in the Woods 24th-27th Aug** REVIEW

[Hound Dog]

Sorry to here about viper Ian will try and make your spanner party.
Good on you Rob & Pete.
What else can be said other than this is what FOG is all about.
And mustn't forget Mr Ratcav thank you for the removal of my birds nest.

[Random Ross]

Morning Foggers!

Well what can I say! 

Awsome weekender yet again!! Well done Greg and Sal for organising it down to perfection once more!!

Had a absolutly blinding time, even without bringing the 2.4 so couldn't play! Must admit was much nicer journey each way in the 2.8 tho!        

Didnt get any pics this rime as camera threw a tantrum on friday!

Was great to meet up with all the regulars again and to see a few new faces and to see how the trucks have evolved over the year since I last made it down.

Thanks to Ratcav for the birds nest removal and to Fudge for rescuing me with a loo roll!

Sorry to hear about Vipers clutch but good onya  Rob n Pete for bn there in Bobbins moment of need!

Thanks to everyone who turned up for making it what it was and  hope to see you all at the next one! 

[horses45]

yep was nice to see what all the fuss was about, but i did not get my birds nest removed must of got foggotten about but their is a post and pics so i will give it a try, but thanks to greg and sally for a great weekend, and everyone who took reese and audra out for a ride.now for a few more dayd before heading back up on friday dinner time.

[gregster]

Finally feeling human again after catching up on sleep and waking up hangover free for the first time in a few days!

Thanks to everyone who came and made this a blinding weekend!!!

It was great to see some new faces and catch up with old friends too...

The weather was pretty kind to us, dealing just the right quantity of rain to make things tough and slippy to start, but more doable as the weekend went on.
The canopy of trees over the clearing keeping most of the then occasional showers pretty much off of us.

It all started up the workshop earlier on the friday for Sally and I, with the assistance of Kylie and Rossco and shortly after the gear was down the woods and the set up commenced.
Everyone then started to arrive and set up camp...

Then the weekend really got off to a bang, when the genny I bought for the weekenders threw a major hissy fit, sparks flying out of it, and about 700volts...which mullered most of the lighting. Dashed up to the workshop and dug out the tiny 2 stroke one that I had up there, but when checking the ratings it wasnt going to run enough, or for long enough without hourly refills. So a quick gander on the bay of e found a genny in an auction that finished in a couple of days, that was big enough, and that also had a phone number in the listings and was only the other side of tunbridge wells, so about 3/4 hr drive away...Phoned up the fella, agreed a cash price to end the auction and within an hour or so we were powered up again in the woods, and most of the hard work had been done to!
Could have done without this though...cash flow and stress levels both took a hiding!
Then a few bits to finish up, and it was kebab time and beer o'clock

The rest of the weekend then carried on with the usual mix of mud, 4x4's on three wheels or less, great food, even better company, raging bonfires and too much beer, with a side order of not enough sleep!
Just what the doctor ordered!



This weekends woods massive were (in order from the list)

Andytats
Came down for the weekend in his Discovery, and the inevitable ridicule he would suffer for that! A brave man with the rain, as he was sleeping IN the truck, with no shower cap or life jacket to hand! Great to see you again fella, only joking about the disco, thats a nice truck mate...which I am sure you will turn into a monster. Howz the leg doing now, after your A-over-T moving nobbinslobs caravan?

Wilberforce
Jim came down in his still rather tame looking LWB...his toy thing being down here already. Achieved a rather unusual stuck on the log climb, which called for a winch extraction from Hounddog. Still dunno how you managed to get stuck there in a lifted locked up coiler on special tracks when my less modded BGL does it no probs????LOL. Only carnage being a bent rear radius arm. The shorty did well though, other than its drivers failings!Lol.
Thanks for helping out with cooking on Saturday and going on the fri night grub run.

Bobbinsjob Maria n Maci (the rugrat)
Ian and Maria...,great to see you both again, along with the li'll Maci and Jodi and Holly. Your 2.8 shorty is doing well, you just need to practise your 1,2,3's Ian...3 aint for climbing steep hills in the woods matey! Cheers for your help with gathering wood, emptying bogs and letting me bum your fags when needed sooner than me buying some and risking starting up again proper. Some smart driving with the trailer round the woods, challenging aint it up and down the hills, you did well though. Great to meet the girls, they are really nice and seemed to enjoy themselves. Gutted about your clutch buddy, but it could have failed at a worse time or place...and at least the underside of the car is still reasonably "virgin" so most bit should come apart ok as not too battered yet.

Cheekychick
Kylie came down early to help us with set up, in her funky new car...its really nice...Thanks for all your help and hope you have forgiven me for my kitchen appliance comments, when you ventured from the domestic area of the clearing and into the corner containing technology stuff (it was a close one for those who werent there, but both Kylie and my hifi narrowly avoided significant harm!)...
Great to see you again, and thanks for helping Sally with the stuff in the clearing all weekend...

Ratcav
Neil came down against all the odds to defy me being the tallest wagon in the woods Great you could make it mate, shame that Chloe couldnt come...The ratwagon is looking really good, and was Neals accomodation for the weekend, him taking the top bunk in the back over the ice lolly freezer and mr whippy machine. Well done for de-nesting some 2.8's, I might do mine and sals this week if I get chance.

Random Ross
A weekender aint a weekender with Rossco, and the burberry bandit arrived bright and early to help set up as always...Cheers for you help mate, glad to see me old 2.8lwb is going well. You need to bring your 2.4 to the next one, I will bring some extra "special brew" for it! Always a blast when you are there fella, you were sorely missed at the last weekender.

Retro pedro
Pete deffo had the "moment" of the weekend, with a real scary one which could have had really bad consequences...A failed climb in the slippyness of early Saturday, a stomp on the brakes resulting in line failure and his car came careering down backwards finding a earth bank thankfully sooner than a tree or another vehicle. This should go to reinforce what we tell everyone about standing behind cars when the are climbing or being recovered...had anyone been behind this we could have looking at a fatality. Had a good look under the car yesterday and its seems that the damage might be limited to just the towbar and tank cover (which should straighten)...and replacing all the brake lines. Worse case the 2.5 can provide a replacement rear crossmember, but I reckon it should be ok. Great to see you again mate, has been a while since you and truck have been down the woods, we were quite happy to just see you again, you really didnt need to make a spectacle for our benefit!
As much as this was a scary one for ya bud, this could have been a lot worse if this had happened on the road at speed, so we should be counting our blessings really I feel...Granted it would have been better not to happen, but it could have been a whole lot worse at 70mph, but we should all learn from this also and check the lines out on our trucks.

Fudge and MS Fudge
The newly weds arrived in the go-go gadget shorty which was sporting 4 tyres the same size this weekend, so no crossaxling on the flat...Thanks for running the laning with Robfog, everyone who went really enjoyed it I think. Nice to see you both again, but please can bring a gag for him next time though Kelly?

MrPete
Great to see you in a fronty fella, and you did really well in the sticky conditions on A/ts and the new truck is looking good. Official welcome to the crazy gang, your gonna fit right in....
Now just repeat after me...
NO...
NO...
NO...
NO...
Keep practising it for when Fudge has "genius" brainwaves about stuff to attach to your truck! You need to try and keep it below 3 tonne in weight so it can both move under its own steam and not sink in tarmac...

Hound Dog + co
Great to see Nina, Phil, Georgia and Lilly again in the 2.8lwb..
Lilly just keeps getting bigger and bigger and is challenging Georgia for cuteness. I found out that Georgia doesnt like going upside down and squawks quite a lot...whoops...mummy fixed her though managing to reset her somehow. I didnt try picking her up by her feet again...
Nina kept Sally company and helped in the clearing throughout the weekend, and thanks for your help clearing down.

Rospicer and Gosia
Great to see Rob again down the woods, and Gosia on her first visit to the woods down ere...Thanks for helping wood gathering and tell Gosia to loose a few pounds so my car doesnt ground out again! LOL.
Great having a few beers round the bonfire with you both, and Rob till the wee hours...we should rename him pyro-man...he loves fire...
Great to see the blinged up 3wd mobilitymoo in the woods...even if it needed pushing to get it to move in the soggy clearing..but that could be down to Ross driving it, I think he got all confused by the missing pedal.

Hipo1024
Dan was the sole representative of the B series faction this weekend, arriving later after grounding out on the crest of the dartford crossing...
Poor Dan was the brunt of a mere few thousand B series jokes all weekend, I felt guilty but got over it remarkably quickly, reassuring Dan that his smoke screen had worked, in that we all took the ** * * out of his B sooner than his gingerness that he had tried to keep concealed under his hoody all weekend...
His ebay listing for his B must have achived 100,000 hits on its visitors counter as everyone checked how it was going...I was tempted to have a bid on it I have to say, but then it crept over £1.67 so I didnt. I think several of the other Foggers were interested in it too, until they realised that it didnt come with the snow it was pictured in. Dan was a great sport all weekend, hope things work out with the plans for the new truck.

Stretch + Wench + mini stretch
Great to see the Stretch clan again, with young Leland...Poor lad was almost fought over by two blondes...why dont these things happen when you are older??? The new truck performed well, and a quick phone call to our man Lloyd sourced some wheel nuts for the shoggy rims, delivered out of hours too...he's a good man our Lloyd,just dont let him near a rangerover!
My apologies for my awful joke, regarding your lad being careful on uneven terrain, because he is only one letter short of a "leyland"...it was awful
Well done to Gem for learning the crossaxle point of the shorty...and glad I could help/humiliate...

RobFog
Great to see Rob again, in his Viagara shorty...Thanks for your help this weekend and organising the laning with Fudge (a HUGE sacrifice for anyone normal to make....and you didnt even wound him??!!!) and letting me bum some of your fags sooner than buy loads and start smoking again. The truck looks good with its lift, thanks for letting us help getting it done...and who said you need spring clamps eh??? N'ah!
Good to have a few beers with ya round the bonfire bud, and see ya soon.

stevey2stuck
One of the more local foggers joined in as always in his 2.8 not snot green, superflexy shorty...its not a fully fledged rainmaker yet, thanks Steve for holding off fitting your softop until after the weekender as we didnt want another monsoon. great to see you again and catch up mate, and rumour has it that you didnt get stuck??? Could this be true...surely not???

And finally the newbies to our madness,

the furthest travelled this weekend, the most shrek like, the one the only....Horses45 Rob...
with the lovely Audra....and the man from Vidal Sasoon...Reece
Great to have you all with us for the weekend. Big thanks go to the Dog-bite donkey for cooking all weekend, Audra for keeping Sal company and helping out in the clearing and Reece for having us all in hysterics all weekend. Hope the bug lover has forgiven me for giving him a mohawk! It was great having you all with us for the weekend, I know it is a trek for you getting down here but hopefully it was worth it.
Hopefully we will see you again down here...

and Keith from ITOC in his 3.0d Isuzu trooper..
Great to meet you mate, your truck is really nice and I love the way it sits...the wheels n tyres just make "the look" and works pretty well to...Hope you enjoyed the BigGreenLeafer experience, its goes anywhere my old beater, but just think how capable yours will be when its done!
Will have to catch up sometime seeing as you are only down the road. Hope to see you again up here, you are more than welcome...see if you can get some more of the trooper boys down too...

Sally...
The hostess with the mostest did her thing running the show and keeping me in line...We are gonna sort a caravan for next year so Sally and Roma can stay, so that Sally doesnt miss out on all the evenings antics in future. Massive thanks go to Sally as always, these meets simply would not happen without her and the work she does both at the meets and in preparation at home and after. Huge thanks Sally.

Me...
Had a great weekend, after the stress out over the genny, but this meet was a blinder, with most of the regular rabble being present as well as some newbies. My truck performed well all weekend, the fuel mix ratio now sorted to give the long-in-the-tooth dog the legs-of-a-greyhound when needed. managed to scare a few people I think...oops...LOL. The weather was certainly on our side make it really challenging to start, but more doable as it dried out. On a personal level it was great to have the Horses45 clan down, Robs a good mate, and I have been nagging him for ages to get down here to share in our fun. Proper chuffed that he made it down with Audra and Vidal.
Witnessed some great driving this weekend, and it was great to see the ones more experienced in the woods helping the newer ones, sharing their knowledge and skills they have learned.
So this rounds up the weekenders for this year, always a shame as I have to admit I prefer the weekends to the one day events. Next year will probably bring about some changes to itinery and format as we have already discussed with many of you, but promises to be good with all your support.

Thanks again to everyone who came, everyone that helped and everyone that made this weekend what it was... cheers

[colley]

Nice pic's
I do like that Trooper Was considering one of them but heard some horror stories about the engine

[gregster]

They are good if you get all the mods done, I think they are still done under warranty...loads of bhp too 160ish I think!

[rospicer]

Well a huge thanks to Greg and Sally for another excellent weekend in the woods Loads of regulars down down again and Gosia even decided to join in Great catching up with everyone again as well Next time it will have to be the propper MU rather than the Mobility version

Got Gosia on a diet as well Greg after getting the 2.4 stuck Cant have that happening to the MU next year

[gregster]

See 14.00 onwards to 14.50 in Hipo's ace video....Fudges classic "it wasnt scratchy!" after they went laning

[andytats]

Here you go
Greg's 2.4 driving it's self with Greg walking along side it.

[horses45]

well Reese is asking when the next one is already lol

[Hound Dog]

Well the next picnic is Sunday the 7th October. I think the next weekender will be next year.

[horses45]

Long way for 1 day Phil but my birthday on the 6th lol

[gregster]

Cool....Have forklift now so the bumps can be arranged Rob!

[MrPete]

NO


*cough*..I mean, a tad belated but here's my photos from the weekender - http://flic.kr/s/aHsjBQNKCJ
Funny how time slips by when there's so much going on. Bring on the picnic!

[hipo1024]

Good pics bud!!

[gregster]

Indeed...superb...the really captured the er moment!

[MrPete]

I aim to please! I'm happy with how the BGL in motion one came out

[gregster]

I like this one....

20120826_010 by MrPete81, on Flickr
Can I noble some of your pics for my members rides threads and future meet threads please Pete?

[MrPete]

Sure, same goes to anyone who wants to share the love/mud