A scary meeting in the Forest of Dean
The Brazilian Bay Halloween meeting had a new venue this year. Previously we’d got together at Anita’s site in Mollington near Banbury, but this year John and Sharon had found us a campsite in the Forest of Dean.
Deanwood Campsite was formerly an Equestrian Centre and had an impressive range of buildings, easy access to the Forest and a room we could use for the night-time festivities. This meant we wouldn’t need event shelters or awnings and, whatever the weather, we could party on until midnight. Happy days.
We set off from home around 10am, quickly filled Absinthe with fuel and set off down the M6 with the usual sense of foreboding about what the traffic would be like. For once we needn’t have worried. Apart from the usual busy section through Birmingham, the drive was fine, although we had a slight issue when we pulled into Stafford Services for Alison to use the toilets. There were two security men on the entrance to the car park who told us they had no electricity and that the services were closed. The look on Mrs B’s face was interesting – when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go, so it’s a good job we carry a portapotti on board……
We arrived at the site at about 2.30pm and pitched close to the dog walk access gate. Boris wasn’t happy that we were on hard standing. The stones aren’t good for his paws and he minced around all weekend.
Friday afternoon was all about settling into our pitches and chilling before meeting up at 7pm in the room we’d hired.
The dress theme was onesies and everyone had brought bottles of wine for all of us to try.
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| Give us a smile, Mr B! |
Alison had brought a quiz so the Krew split up into (unequal) sized teams along van colour lines.
The winners were the Orange team who won a tin of mini Jaffa Cakes (no expense spared, eh?)
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| Barney wasn’t playing… |
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| Some of the winning team |
After more drinking, some dancing and a lot of chilling we all headed for a vans for a well earned sleep.
Saturday was the day for dressing the vans and also for a lovely walk in the Forest, followed by lunch at the Nags Head pub.
A slow walk back to the site still gave us time to finish off the vans and to display the pumpkins, ahead of judging of best van and pumpkin.
It was Halloween Fancy Dress in the evening. We made some mulled cider which seemed to go down well, although I think everyone had peaked the night before, so things wound down around 11.30. That’s no bad thing as it gave us chance to tidy the room before we had to hand it back in the morning.
Saturday night was also the night for Scooby’s famous Scary Films Theme Tune quiz – won as usual by Keith, Serena and Ollie from Tallulah.
In addition, this year, John and Sharon had organised a competition based on guessing attendees from photos of them as children. I was hopeless at this – having Aphantasia means I can’t see pictures in my head, so can’t compare the young and old people together. In truth, most people struggled but it was good fun and, strangely, everyone guessed my picture.
Sunday morning brought bright sunshine but a thick mist in the valley. Everyone gradually packed their vans and headed off. We decided to take the scenic route up the A49 and stopped for lunch in Ludlow.
The views weren’t as spectacular as we’d hoped, as the mist rolled in and it was a very grey drive back. It was without incident though and a lovely end to a great weekend.
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| Mrs B commanding her parking lane at the Ludlow Food Centre |
Things we’ve learned:
John and Sharon know how to organise a top weekend
The Forest of Dean is beautiful – we’ll be back
Boris still isn’t keen on Fancy Dress
Mike likes a bit of Fiona’s crispy end
Fiona has her own attractions for Ollie
Steve may need to pace himself on a Friday night
Barney can be over friendly with his blanket
4 people can drop off the back of a walk and still be at the pub first
Duran Duran should have called their hit, Wild Boars
There’s a full set of pics (including some I’ve borrowed – thanks guys) here: FLICKR
