Pipe-smoking thoughts
 

I concur. It was pitched at the right level and with enough facilities to separate and elevate it above proper on the road travel! (Mind you the first challenge was to find the place)
Well done to all the organisers and helpers - Splendid effort, thank-you!

It was my first such HU "do" and i don't do groups of people well, so spent a lot of time smoking my pipe. (I can't be the only pipe-smoker surely?)

I have some ideas for improvements but no criticisms whatsoever. One idea would be for newbies such as myself to make themselves obvious. That way we could bolster each other's courage in the face of lots of multi-stickered, metal- panniered "bikes of many miles". Perhaps a big board for posting ideas, meetings to discuss possible trips and so on?

Last thought. For such a group of independent, self-reliant and able, nigh on unique people to get together, it pays testament to our triumph of hope through adversity. Hmmm. More baccy called for to ponder that one!

See you again i hope. Anyone ever around the Malverns area, get in touch, crash, whatever.

Travel well.

Ste

Fantastic
 

+1 on everything Ted said, Back of Beyond, the Ale was £2.50 a pint, the Cider was only £2. Having said that Cider was the most deceptively fearsome bowel bashing drink I have ever tasted and I have tasted most ales and ciders from the northern hemisphere!

All in all a fantastic weekend and I would have put my name down for next year on the spot if I could have done so. Small enough to be cosy and large enough to be diverse without getting lost amongst a myriad of talks that you cant find enough time to fit in. Given the choice between this one and Ripley I would rather come to this one. This in no way implies any critiscism of Ripley it is fantastic but I feel it is a victim of its own success, too big for me at least

Great to see so many of the people I have met at other meets and to catch up on the gossip and find out who has gone where. To the one or two detractors, bring your own food and use the indoor toilets and showers in the barn.

Finally to everyone from the organisers to the volunteers a big thank you from me.

GM

I bought a fake moustache and beard from a joke shop !!

Swerved ;)

Meeting Video
 

We've put together a quick video that hopefully gives a flavour of the meeting.

You can watch it on YouTube here....

Just watching the video, 2.58 in and you appear, Mat is in the next frame. Spooky.....

Yes I made it on to you tube :-)

Brilliant weekend, it was my first and hopefully not my last !

To me, wandering round the camp site looking at others bikes tents and equipments was the highlight.

Just that you could chat to like minded people and swap info was great.

Thanks Gabe and Charlotte

Oh and I went self catering, as I do at all the rallys I attend..... much rather spend my money on petrol :-)

Cheers
Geordie aka Will

And beer ? surely ???

This feedback is fabulous people. Thanks so much. It’s all being taken on board, and from the positive side of stuff it’s just so amazing to hear all these great things about the weekend. If this can become an annual event we’ll be sure to reference this thread as much as possible to make the changes that you want.


I wanted to say a few words about the food. First, that I am really very sorry that there was any kind of dissatisfaction. We ummed and arrrrhed about doing food, and decided, what the hell, lets give it a go - none of us having cooked for in excess of 100 people before. So we gave it a go because we wanted to make the event as good as it could possibly be. There was nothing professional about the set up, and we tried our best.


Everything was cooked from scratch by us; fresh and home-made. I am sorry that perhaps the portions were not big enough, or you felt it was over-priced, or perhaps it didn’t even taste that great. We will change all that we can. I can only say it was a huge learning experience, and a tremendous amount of hard work.


Perhaps in hindsight we took on way too much. All I can say is everyone that prepared, cooked and cleaned in the kitchen had the most honourable intentions, and worked damn hard.


All the volunteers that helped out over the whole weekend were absolutely amazing – so willing to help out, and always happy! From an organisers perspective, when you are panicking about everything going well for everyone, it makes a world of difference to have fabulous people always asking if you need help. The event would have failed on the day if it wasn’t for those people – and you know who you are! So, thank you.


Right, well I’m off. Gabe and I have 9 days to prepare pretty much everything for our motorcycle adventure.



Big love
Char

Had a Fantastic Time
 

Wow, what a great weekend, loved it all...
choice and range of talks, lots of places to just sit and chat, huge camping area so that we could spread out a bit, the showers were nicer than the ones at Ripley, great bar, fantastic team of volunteer helpers who seemed to be on duty at all hours. I also really liked the quirkiness of the venue.

As my bike is in Mexico I had no transport- many thanks to Mark Manley for the lift from the A303 on the way up and also many thanks to Paul who gave me a lift on his VStrom down to Plymouth - much appreciated, especially as he has never taken a pillion before:clap: I did promise to be still and not fidget.

Gabe and Char, you did a fantastic job and both deserve medals.:clap::clap:

Have a great time on your trip to India.

See you all next year at a repeat of this year's event:innocent:

Terrific time
 

What a fantastic meet. I really enjoyed the slower pace and having a moment to stop and talk properly to people for more than a passing moment.

The talks, as ever, we rather good - well most of them were, one was a bit dodgy but that's because the presenter was drunk.

Gab and Char you did a wonderful job - I can't believe this was your first time organising something on this scale - I know how much work is involved and it's a bit like watching a swan swim a calm river.... it's looks wonderful above the surface but no one has a clue how much paddling is going on underneath!

Hope your trip goes with a blast and we look forward to seeing your talk when you return.

Thanks again to everyone that made this event happen :-)

m

P.S Ted.... I tried to find you........ we seemed to have missed each other. Shame that.

Chris proudly posing with his sought after raffle prize

For Sale: Unused motorcycle "sidestand in the mud" support. Better than a TT-Cameltoe. :oops2:. Especially useful for the road from Moyale to Isiolo.

In late '99 I used my LP guide book (a similarly useful tome)...

http://www.thebrightstuff.com/picsFo...abit_Kenya.jpg

The floor in the bog was muddy here too...

Well I enjoyed that, even the part where I whizzed into Bristol to get a "missing" cable was fun. I was just about to get ticketed by a parking warden lady, when I pointed out that Santa Claus was getting in a jeep across the road, as he drove off the spare tyre cover had Santa Claus written on it, so that was proof. The warden chuckled and didn't ticket me, in fact she insisted I park up on the pavement. That just doesn't happen in a car does it?

Anyway, to the technically competent guys who helped "thanks". To the hardy few whose adventurous nature took them from the snug comfort of Tiffany's presentation to the cold extremes of the shearing shed, I extend a hearty thanks and hope that the presentation taught you a lesson (it certainly taught me one). And to the organisers and fellow attendees, my warmest thanks go to you all for making this such a seriously and sometimes not so seriously great time.

The coincidence of a shared Tom and Dom was too much, so here's a clip for you Dom.

http://youtu.be/T1VoKGtET_w

What a great weekend...
 

Was my first HU meeting and despite a bad start with my bike dying on me had a fantastic weekend...

Big thanks to Gabe and Char for organising it and finding such a lovely venue...all that hard work really paid off a :thumbup1:

Bring on Ripley next year :D

Video of my talk
 

Amazingly the video of my talk has kinda turned out okay - and despite the amount of beer I went through it's good enough to post here.

Feedback very much appreciated as this was a practice and warm up for Ripley next year.



Watch the video on YouTube - 7 Day Adventures - YouTube

Adventure biking doesn't have to mean taking a year off work and saving £25k. In this presentation I explore the amazing possibilities of short adventures to Eastern Europe, The Balkans, North Africa and Russia - not to mention the USA and how you can travel the world, 3 weeks at a time. Thrown in are some stories of my adventures and how much it all costs.