***SE PICNIC IN THE WOODS**Sunday 9th October 2011 REVIEW

Wotcha foggers...

Hope everyone had a great day,
Please post you comments, pics and vids here!

I couldnt go, truck is sick.

So hurry up and post some pics/vids!

He's a poet and he didn't even know it :lol:

Cracking day, great to have newbies to our madness to "entertain"...just unloading, grabbing a beer and will then do a proper post...

Thanks to everyone for coming and making today the brill day it was... :dance:

Just a few pics below and cheers Jim and the fella in the 2.8 (sorry forgot your name) for giving us a tow out, had a great day and glad to be back and cheers Greg & sally

I had a fab day, still havent mustered up the endurance for travelling all that way in the fronty yet, so went around the woods with wilberforce, and he tried to tip me out of the window, and then because that didnt work, tried to tip me outta his window :lol:

Stan will be there next time :mrgreen:

& Harvey

A great day out. Thanks to Greg and Sally and all the peeps there who made it such a great day. Was good to have a laugh with everyone and to put the old Fronty through its paces, was truly amazed at what they're capable of. For anyone who has never done any serious off roading have a trip down to the woods where Greg and Jim will point you in the right direction so you don't come to any serious harm. Will down load some pis and vids tomorrow night. Cracking day.

Had a great day at the picnic didnt drive my truck round this time as I hadn't replaced my belly pan after it was trashed on the annual meet.

A big thanks to Greg and Sally for organising the picnic.
Plus another thank you to thunderbird Wilberforce coming to my rescue after my alternator belt let go on the M25
And mustn't forget Greg for the load of the tools

Thanks to everyone who attended and made it a really good day. :dance:

Rainy start but it cleared up nicely. I took over the cooking from Wilberforce today with great help from Donna, as he wanted to go out and play all day.
The special coffee was a good bribe. :lol:

The clearing ended up being the 'girly place', Georgia Chatterbox Hound Dog kept us entertained as did Lillie, eating everything in sight.

Thanks to Kylie and Nina for keeping base camp going so I could go for a drive with Wilberforce, quite strange seeing the woods from inside a car rather than on feet with a pair of loppers in my hand. Mind you when I commented on the fact I could see the ground through the gear stick gaiter, the reply was "that's ok, you have to worry when you can see blue sky through it" :shock:

Thanks Jim.

It was good to see some new faces down there and their newbie faces when trying the more intense bits. :lol:

Hope to see you all again very soon.

Quite right, I thought... The gearstick gaiter doesnae fit well after the body lift, so I reckon seeing the ground through the hole is fine.
Chances are though, if you can see the sky through it, you probably have more important things to worry about :roll:

Well today started with a meet up at Notcuts, something that it seems ages ago that we did last. And it was raining!
But as everyone gathered the rain ceased, and turned to drizzle...
A reccee to the woods the day before had seen it as a dust bowl as it had been dry for so long, I was a bit concerned as to how wet it would be now especially as we had newbies on road tyres arriving.
Anyway we departed Nottcuts and headed up the workshop to load the essentials and liberate the BGL and Jims shorty...

Then off down to the woods and base camp set up, in the wet...the ground was wet, but not too muddy thankfully, but the rain had topped up the holes a bit.
Got the canopy the right way round this time straight away...but upside down though...we will one day get it right first time!

As the day went on it dryed out nicely meaning the newbies the woods could have a proper play on some of the climbs!

Todays mud loving loons were.... (in order from the list on the meet thread)

Wilberforce,
In his totally locked up 2,8 shorty on special traks...Now sporting 4 tyres sooner than the two it ended up with at the weekender..and boy did the Jim/Lara combo do well...Jim mastered the art of 3wd as it dryed out, trying to save his arms a bit! Big thanks for the recovery assistance today Jim, the newbies were in safe hands today with their escorts. Thanks for your assistance clearing down to. Good to see Lara doing well and getting nice and accrobatic on the bits that the loon with the digger made interesting.

CheekyChick
Kylie arrived at about lunchtime in her Merc, spent most of the afternoon in the clearing with the other gals...then later had a locked up coiler experience with Jim. Thanks for staying and help clear down...Hope to see you in your fronty next time...

Mickh and Donna
Newbies to the woods and offroading other than some tamish laning, in their B series shorty. Great to meet you both and hope you enjoyed our madness! Went on lots of follow my leader journeys round the woods after both having the Jim experience, gradually getting more technical and difficult as it dryed out and the confidence built. Had a few interesting moments and removed part of the rear number plate, but I have to say you did really well and needed to be extracted far less than I would have expected given the conditions and lack of mud tyres.
Took Donna out for a rumble in the BGL and caught some big air in the tyre changing hole and in the trench of doom....was fun, Donna's face was a picture! Again, great to meet you both and hope to see you again soon. Looking forwards to seeing some pics of your B with your new wheels on it too...will look fat then!!!!

Car-nut & mate
More newbies to the woods, Jae and his mate greg (2 greg's in once place...scary or wot!!!) came in his 2.0i sport S, on road tyres...Took them out in the BGL to show them round the woods and the basics of offroad driving (or rather how NOT to do it!)...
Then as they were gonna venture our we soon discovered that the 4wd wasnt working, and identified that one of the autolockers was at fault...Jacked up courtesy of the tyre changing hole and the stripped confirmed the hub was goosed, so I located a replacement and when fitted 4wd was fully operational and the truck ready for fun! Thanks to everyone that helped fix it. Then off in the follow my leader convoy round the woods taking in the easier stuff first so Jae could find his feet and get used to the car, then onto some more tricky stuff and some "air"...Had to laugh at the scream that emerged from your blue shorty when you got some unsuspected big air in the middle bomb holes...priceless! Gotta say you did really well, right up to the bit where I was seeing you up a hill and waved for you to get over a bit as the line is to the left....but you turned left up a massively offcamber track instead! Was a bit of a moment, but it pulled out easy enough when we got a strop on it...Great to meet you both and hope to see you again soon.

Davetherave,
Dave returned in style today, with a new truck, new boots, and an all clear from the hospital regarding his eye...so it was a long awaited GO GO for fun!
After helping set up, Dave went off to play, learning his way round his new plaything and the woods that have changed a lot since he last drove them over a year ago. Did well though, and it was great to see Dave grinning like a cheshire cat, even when he was stuck,LOL...several times!
Later in the day Dave jumped in the BGL...and we managed to drive about 1/2 the woods in first at idle in the 2.4i, even up the hills...didnt touch any of the pedals once, even climbed up the hills at idle! Great to have you back Dave, and really chuffed that you are pleased with the new truck...

ShaunyInk and Roxanne
Great to see Shaun again is his now much lifted 2.8lwb sporting a set of muds too...His first meet in the woods although he came and toiled at one of the workdays before, so his first experience of our playtime proper, joined today by his girlfriend Roxanne.
The 2.8tdi with Shaun at the helm did cracking, I dont think he got stuck all day, certainly not that I saw, and recovered a fair few I think, including Dave's first stuck of many! Look forwards to seeing the snorkel and winch, if you need a hand give me a shout mate. Hope to see you both at the next picnic in the woods and 6 weeks, and the workday again in 4 if you can make it.

Hound Dog & Gang
Has been a while since Phil, Nina, Georgia and lilly have been up the woods, so was great to see them all again. Georgia was her usual cute chatterbox, full of beans, and lilly the rugrat was eating anything she could get hold of! Nina kept Sally and CC company in the clearing with the girls while Phil came out with the loons in the trucks. Glad to hear you got home ok after the alternator belt failure on the way home. Hope too see you all again soon.

Sally
As always Sally manned basecamp, organised me, and generally did most of the work while I was fixing trucks and escorting the newbies. Great job as always, and great to see you up in the woods in Jims trucks, taking in some of the 4x4 madness for a change. Strange though, cos you refuse to come out with me! Thanks for all your hardwork as always...couldnt do these meets without ya...

Me
Had a great day...was great to meet some new people to the woods and although it was quite a quiet meet, we all had great fun. my trusty 2.4i didnt miss a beat all day and overcame every obstacle I threw it at, the joys of locker up front and lsd rear, but mullered muds make stuff a challenge though...arms ache now though! The weather turned out really nice by about lunchtime and was a great combo with some slippy stuff to start out. Was brill to watch the newbies enjoying themselves and finding both their capabilities and that of their trucks in a nice safe environment with loads of both tailor made and natural challenges to pick lines through and tackle. There was lots of grins that followed some scared looking faces, as the tougher stuff was tackled as it dried out.
Personally it was great to see Dave make a come-back today, as he's been a really good mate and has helped me loads up the workshop, and he really has been through it the last year with multiple operations on his eye, and to see him like a pig in sh1t in the new truck we found him, was great. Just a shame he cant drive for sh1t and he gets his muddied up shorty stuck on stuff that a standard car on road tyres drove straight through! Only joking fella, was proper chuffed to see you getting in amoungst it and having some fun at long last...it been a long long time coming ,well done fella.

Thanks to everyone for coming, and bringing loads of goodies for the BBQ and making it a great day...

....and hope to see you all again soon for more fun in our woods.

Some pics I took, not many i am afraid...

Jims shorty getting some air

The BGL finding the bottom of the trench of most certain doom!!

Micks shorty coming up one of the hills

DavetheRave.....stuck.....

Shauns 2.8 lwb being pondered over in the clearing

Hound dogs 2.8lwb and Micks shorty B in the clearing

In the clearing,
(from right to left, Dave's 2.0i sportS, Jim's Lara, The BGL, our 2.8lwb, and Jae's 2.0i sportS)

(From Right to left...Our 2.8lwb, Jae's 2.0i sportS, and Shauns 2.8lwb.)

Time for a brew!

Glad you all had a great time.
Unfortunately a last minute change in circumstances just before I got to the M25 meant I had to turn back.
Gutted coz I've not made 1 meet yet this year and I promised myself that I would do this one.
The up side though is I now have loads of burgers in the freezer at home :lol:

Must have been the first time this year that 'dry' conditions prevailed - glad you all had a good day!

Badboy, living up to his name... :axe: