Epping Camping

We were packed and ready to head off to Epping Forest and the weather forecast was good...this day would be hence-forth known as summer.

Craig picked up some map reading skills - the best way - by knowing where he was on the map and where he had to go to on the map and taking us all there.

We arrived, put up the tents and then set up the fire and tree stumps round it (with the aid of two small children)

I had forgotten that one of my poles had been snapped on a previous excursion, so out came the gaffa tape - a cure for all evils...yes that spider leg looking thing is part of the tent.

Emma then introduced us to the Arrow Game where a team goes 5 mins ahead of another team and makes arrows like the above in the ground and the other team follows to the point where there is an X in a circle and then it becomes hide-and-seek.

We climbed...we played...(btw thats Emma below, if you were wondering...and she is winning).

Next was food which for us was bangers & mash & gravy...which was as delicious as it looks. Usually I don't care for smash much but Emma found a great one which actually tasted like creamy potato...and yes they are veggie sausages (Sarah & Craig had the same but had real sausages which looked good for dead pig).

Kelly, Georgi & Thomas had noodles to start ...

...while Josh & Josh had spinach & ricotta tortellini with an arribiata sauce...as you do.

Due to sub-standard sausages & a surfeit of lard, Kelly, Georgi & Thomas' second course did not go as planned ...unless you call a melted-mess-of-lard-soaked-sausages a second course. This brought out some great team work shown below in the Ceremony of the Bacon, where Josh & Josh handed over their bacon to the K, G & T team so that they would not go hungry.

This generosity was reciprocated in the Ceremony of the Lard where the aforementioned Lard was presented as a token gesture to Josh & Josh for their contribution to the team. It was a beautiful moment.

There were threats to use the lard to start the fire but instead a kind-camper gave us a fire lighter (later we gave them some of our marshmallows - if we had eaten any more we would have been sick)

And this is me...only cos there have been complaints that I am never in the pictures...thats cos I'm usually taking them!

This one Craig took of me sitting in the dark (hence the headtorch on my head...yeah thats what that is) playing either Duck Duck Goose or Honey Bear...I know we aren't kids...our excuse was that we were practicing playing for when we play the games with the little kids...anyway in the dark in an open field its like a more dangerous more adult version version of the games...hey who am I trying to kid...we wer just having fun!