Bank Holiday Weekend Trip aka Samfest 2011

So...August Bank Holiday, which means a trip to the Isle of Wight with a gang of people, camp fires, fish'n'chips and beer, fun and outdoor-sy-ness to celebrate Sam getting another year older.  It's also a bit of a marker as I met Sam for the first time last year on this trip, having been talked into it by our mutual friend Mary.  How much changes in a year!

Now, I am not the most outdoor activity type person, even if I have recent taken up swimming at the heated London Fields lido, but even so it was a lovely weekend.  This year we decided against camping (brrrr...cold) and instead stayed in the house, which made it very luxurious.

We set up the camp fire and emergency shelter (otherwise known as the tent) then headed to the beach where the majority of us had a few beers and enjoyed the sea-air and a couple of mad people swam.  I mean, bobble hat weather is not the same as beachwear weather, even if you are wearing a wetsuit and the sun comes out.  Hot beverages aided recovery though.

The evening was spent around the campfire, eating off the BBQ, toasting marshmallows and generally watching the menfolk burn stuff until it was at times a towering inferno.  Sam took some beautiful pictures with his posh camera and a long exposure.

Kudos to the attendees who bought glow sticks.  Much fun was had writing words (not repeatable most of them on a nice blog like this one) and getting shots like this one, which is amazing.  Watching your friends flap about with glow sticks before chucking them at the camera holder does not look particularly impressive until you see the effects on screen.

After one successful BBQ it was felt that the seaside setting demanded that we eat fish'n'chips.  I think the local shop was a bit overwhelmed when all 12 of us marched in, effectively quadrupling their clientèle. We opted to eat by the sea, watching the beautiful sunset, then lit our way home with mobile phone torches past cows, fields and tiny old lanes.  Pretty much the least London evening you can have...except for the fact that none of us took torches.

An array of games were played - cricket, rounders, poker, pool, pucket - trampolines and garden swings were fully utilised and gardens were lazed in.  I like this picture as it looks as if Sam's levitating.

On the last day the sun shone and the temperature rose so we hopped on bicycles and headed for another beach and ate ice creams before bidding adieu to the weekend getaway and hello to London Town once again.