I had a great weekend but as usual didn't get many photos - is there going to be any sort of photo repository on the HUBB for people to upload good shots they've taken or similar, a bit like a mass ride report sort of thing??

Well done to Grant, Susan and all the other people involved in making it what it was, I'm already looking forward to next year but also very inspired to be on some remote gravel road at the same time!!

Thanks Henry! Photos - will be posted here and on the page asap, as we get them and I have time on our travels (we're off to Spain tomorrow for the HUMM) - and of course anyone who took photos can post them here too!

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Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
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Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Yep, another great meet. Nathan's presentation 'riding Dorothy' from Sydney to London was great. I wasn't even planning on going to it but decided to stay in the Africa room for the panel. Glad I did because it was the best all weekend!

I didn't take any photo's this year either so im hoping there'll be plenty posted here and on the HU Facebook page too. Thank you and well done to all the organizers and volunteers.

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www.AdventureVagabond.com Mongolia & Siberia 2012: Adventure Moto Madness

Can't wait for his book, Going Postal, to be issued here. Amazon have it for the Kindle otherwise it has to come from Australia at just under $30.

Well firstly apologies for not volunteering but when I arrived it just seemed everything was already organised.Well that is my excuse anyway.Having attended last year for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed it I was keen to get back this year but at the same time I thought that I may be listening to the same presentation as last year, which if I had to would still have been interesting but that was not the case because yet again there were even more exciting travel stories to listen to.

The only difficulty any of us seem to have is choosing which presentation to go to as there are so many and on a range of topics. I am sure whichever ones I had chosen to attend to or not they would all be of the same high standard.

Because I attended so many and my rear end complained a little next year you will see me walking about with my Air Hawk seat.

Because I attended so many presentations and they were all so good it is difficult to whittle it down to my three favourite ones but for the record they are ;
1) Nathan Australia to London. And talking to Nathan some time after and saying he should leave Dorothy in her original condition he easily convinced me otherwise when he said that if he did that would be the end of her but if he updated her he could take her on further travels.Dorothy really must reign again.

2) Ed and mates Elefant Rally.What the three of them achieved was so amazing and whenever any one tries to denigrate the youth of today to me in the future I shall quote the achievements of these lads and their friendly demeanour.

3) Les Camping. Unfortunately Les presentation which was so good made me realsie just how inadequate the camping equipment I use is. Mind you the wife was not pleased when I told her I need to get a new Tent, Sleeping bag etc.

Three of my hi lights but there was so much more as well.

What is so great about the event is that 99% of those that attend are so willing to just chat pass the time.

The only other problem I have with attending the meeting is that listening to the travels of young, old, male, female I alwas feel so inadequate. This year that inadequacy was made even worse for me because one of my excuses for not doing anything daring was because I ride a Blackbird but that is no longer a excuse having seen Sjaaks presentations.
Yet another hi light.

I initially disagreed with Austins point about if you really want to do it you can but having spoken to others since and thought about it I do have to agree that he is right.And so the piggy bank is out of the cupboard and although it may take several years to fill it is going to finance my first Big Trip. Mind you its not going to affect my attendance at next years event though.

I did take a few photos and I will some time try and down load them, see I should have attended Grants presentation.

So in conclusion can I thank Grant, Susan, Ian, Sam and all of the volunteers/ presenters who clearly give up so much time, which must affect their own leisure time over the week end, for providing me with a great week end.Sadly the weather was not as good as last year but I hardly saw natural light anyway.

See you all next year.

Regards Ted

Thankyou all, it was a brilliant meet (second one for me). Had a great time and met lots of people who I still cant remeber their names (), but the smilling faces were instantly recognised. Volunteering was one of the highlights, main gate to check out the rides and helping recycling and looking after the site was a small way to give something back, count me in next year!

A quick Hi to Tracy, owner of one of the other best looking SR40 there will there be more next year? Certainly had fun riding back, although my appologies to Rossi for doing the A30 slip road like that, at least i know where the limits are now .
To the lovely couple from Canada, who rode the matching 250s with the bespoke 22mm pipework racks, it was me that left the cheese and roll for you, then forgot to tell you before we left!!!!
I enjoyed all of the talks i went to and even met a few of my own personal legends, what a fantastic time.
Hopefully next year I may persuade the wife to come up, although it has been a while since she rode.
Best wishes to you all, and especially Susan and Grant, who have done so much to bring us all together, and spread the good word.
Mark

Well, I had an absolute rubbish time. Got carted off in an ambulance on Friday morning after falling over - (and I hadn't even had one drink, let alone loads) - missed all of the talks I wanted to hear, missed my volunteering stint and the bonfire, mostl of the camp food, and only escaped from the Royal Derby Hospital yesterday afternoon, patched up and as high as a kite on the very generous morphine chasers they insisted on handing out all weekend.

So apologies Susan and Grant for not doing my thing, apologies Birgit and Sam for chucking your mags all over the floor, but thanks to the two top blokes who picked me up, and to the Swiss girl who fetched my mates for me. I will try harder next year.

Thanks y'all,

Belle

Thanks to everyone that organised this years meet. It was another amazing event.

Which makes it harder to say that as long as the road kill cookout is present we will no longer be attending. I found the 'entertainment' aspect of death at this years event disturbing and sick. I've been vegetarian for many years on ethical grounds and, as much as I would like to change things, I accept that most people will eat meat. However, to display the animals like trophies and to advertise 'how to stun a squirrel' is not acceptable. I could accept the concept of survival training for harsh environments, but I fail to see how a squirrel will sustain you. All that I see this achieving is to encourage the viewers to copy this at their local park (most likely doing it wrong and causing suffering). And as for them being vermin, don't get me started.

If you feel the same please post here, or better still petition Grant and Susan through feedback. If you disagree with me, well, it's a free world.

Hi Riti,

As one of the people who helps with the cookout I'm very sorry to hear that you found it offensive and I really hope it doesn't stop you attending future rallies.

Our section is very easy to avoid for anyone who finds this sort of thing distressing and it shouldn't stop you enjoying the rest of the event.

As Matthew has already explained the posters were a bit of an in-joke and not generated by the Roadkill crew. We do like to have a bit of a joke and there is certainly an element of entertainment we try to provide but you'll find that we care about animal welfare more than most people who've never considered where their meat comes from.

The more serious side of the demonstration is to let people experience something they seldom get a chance to do. We don't let people have a go at killing animals, but are happy to show and discuss humane ways of doing so.

For the most part the animals we have are pests which endanger local species (such as the American Signal crayfish and the grey squirrels) or are part of population control as part of responsible conservation (rabbits).

While I suspect you and I will never agree on the morality of taking the life of an animal I do assure you that we don't do it in some sort of gung-ho bloodlust way. In among the banter there is a definite element of conservation and animal welfare which we try to convey.

I reiterate - please don't let this spoil a rally it sounds like you otherwise enjoy and I am genuinely sorry if our demonstration is offensive to you. We don't set out to offend people, but the demo is inevitably challenging and we do hope people go away thinking about where their meat comes from and perhaps choose free-range over a battery hen.

Thank you for the response and clarification. And thank you Mat for stating the posters were not from the cookout crew. I appreciate that you've both been very mature and considered in your posts, something I'm not always able to do.*Probably you're right that we'll always have a difference of opinion (although I hope not

Because of the posters I had read between the lines and interpreted a callous attitude towards the animals involved. I don't agree with some of your statements regarding them as pests, but this is a very different topic for another time and place.

As I've said elsewhere, I choose to try and live without using animals, and in my ideal world we would all feel the same. I do realise though how unlikely this is, and if this ideal is not to be then I am massively in favour of everyone being educated in where their food comes from, and if the cookout encourages this then great.

I'm still unsure about future events, but you've certainly given me more to consider. Thank you.

Rich

It is a free world & I found the caring, yet educational demonstration provided by Danny & Fil very informative- not least of all for my youngest 10 year old, who, having been educated at a Steiner School had seen/experienced enough of the vegetarian angle to want to enquire- and that is what it was all about- broadening horizons. As his father, I learnt a fantastic amount, but at no stage did I ever see any disrespect to any animal- instead I saw a well presented, interesting introduction to cooking. I really despair when I see a minority trying to drum up support on a faceless forum.

We as a family, really appreciated Danny & Fil . As an aside; when I did not want to watch a speaker..or found I could not learn anything...I walked away...perhaps coming back next year, when I was able to better undertsand what the lecture was trying to impart. Thanks Danny & Fil- your efforts are greatly appreciated ( by the way, the burn on the nose, caused by a villainous marshmallow, was also learnt!)

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Glad to hear you're ok Belle. Hope you get yourself well again soon.

Hi Belle,

well at least the facilities at the Derby hospital were superb, as were the staff and the ambulance crew.

The only positive things that came out of the incident were;

1, you could have been in Mongolia when it happened.

2, Gord n myself had the chance to have a few s and talked about you!

If anyone wants to see my images from the event then please pop over to;

http://www.xt225.com/forums/ubbthrea...3869#Post83869

Regards

Reggie

+1 on the excellent meet! I should have done more to help at the end to help clear up (I said I would and didn't help much) - sorry about that.

It gave me serious food for thought on a number of issues - the shopping list has grown! Very inspiring - thanks to everyone. All the people there were very inassuming, willing to talk / help - excellent!

I agree with Riti somewhat. Being Vegan, I obviously didn't go to the roadkill cookout - BUT, each to their own. Whilst I have strong beliefs about eating / using animals when I don't need to (and we don't), I am aware that other people choose to / don't really think about it. I knew I would be offended / feel sick / angry by this 'talk', so didn't go. Makes sense really. I had an excellent time elsewhere, thankyouverymuch.

wow - what an absolutely fabulous weekend. Had such a blast and it was so much fun putting faces to handles, and even better, names to handles ;-)

The talks were fantastic - in particular I loved Ed March's talk about the run out to Germany to the elephant rally on a... C90... the guy is nuts - but in a good way.

I think particular thanks needs to go to Danny, Fil and all the volunteers who made the bonfire and the cookout so much fun and such a welcoming place. It's not easy to be the life a soul of the party when you have to sleep right next door to it - but these guys are the best. As is the homemade 'cordial'.

Whilst I was there - on the last day - I did get around to filming a quick cooking video - Bacon Curry (with optional bacon for our vegetarian friends) - I'll not post it in this thread but you can see it over at my blog if you're so inclined.

@riti - I need to let you know that the 'squirrel stunner' posters were me - not Danny. I'm afraid it was a bit of a joke I was having with Danny after he carried out a practical joke on me at the Adventure Travel Film Festival. It was my little get-back. I'm sorry if it offended you in any way - I can see why you may have taken it as offensive - it was intended as tongue in cheek.

It is worth pointing out that Danny & Fil are amongst the most kind-hearted and warmest people I have ever met. I know for a fact that they treat the animals they prepare with the respect and love they deserve. I keep chickens for meat and eggs as well as cows so whilst we may not see eye to eye on the meat eating front please don't take anything out on the guys who were there because of the posters.

I'm not sure this thread is the place to have a debate about having the cook out at the event - but I'm sure if you were to start a new thread there would be lots of people who would like to put their views across - both for and against - although given the popularity of the cookout I fear you may be in a minority.

Can't wait for the next meet - I may even get around to seeing the presentations I missed last time or finally getting my act together to do a cooking demo with Danny! (Danny, Fil... that's a hint).

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