Bunkfest 25 -The End

After a delicious sausage bap in the Clubhouse I packed away - I’d hoped to get the tent down dry but that wasn’t going to happen so it will need to come out again soon. The footprint (under tent groundsheet) was very wet but served its purpose. The drive home was smooth and that just left me to unload and put away. 

The weekend was partly intended to answer a few questions, which it did!

Could I manage with camping?

Yes, certainly for a festival with food onsite, I’d have to make some minor changes for general camping but they’d be manageable. In some respects the tent has advantages over the campervan - space mainly. 

Would my sciatica cause problems?

Indirectly, yes. I didn’t have too many problems but the lack of walking recently was an issue. I could probably have done with taking the scooter but recharging wasn’t viable so I managed with walker and walking stick. 

Would I enjoy it?

Absolutely yes! It was made even better by having friends there to share with. 

Would everything go in the car?

I knew it would all fit one way or another but I managed to get all the smaller and more vulnerable bits in the boot with the parcel shelf on and the larger bits such as the tent went in the back seat. 

Will I go again?

Almost certainly yes, but probably not for a few years. I’ve got some other festivals I fancy doing, some of which are at a similar time of year. 

There are a few take-aways before I camp again:

I need to peg the tent further out, both the groundsheet and the guy lines, to get everything tighter. 

I need a better answer for waste water - I need to check it but the lidded folding bucket I was using appeared to leak. I do have ideas, making use of a small caravan waste tank I happen to have in the shed. 

Something I meant to get, from past Festival experience, was some waterproof shoes or short wellies, I needed them this morning packing up on the damp grass. The result of that omission was driving home with slightly damp shoes and socks.

I have a small 12v vacuum cleaner which I nearly took, next time it will go as it would have been handy for the tent floor before packing away. 

Finally, apologies for the lack of photos - due to the app I normally use playing up I’ve had to post directly from the web and it doesn’t support images. 

Bunkfest 25 - Sunday

 It was another busy day!

After breakfast I caught up with one of my friends on the campsite and having ascertained that they’d be at the Railway for midday decided that would be my first port of call. I’d bought a weekend pass so could have another ride for “free”. 

After having a beer or two and watching the Abingdon Morris we caught the bus up to the town. My first activity was some food, chips loaded with pulled pork and BBQ sauce, very nice but the sauce went everywhere! I cleaned up as well as I could but the walker is going to need a good wash when I get home. 

We stopped at the Bullcroft arena as friends of friends were playing later in the afternoon, a very enjoyable set by My Mate Dave, including a guest appearance by Chalky the cockatoo for their pirate song. After that I made my way back to the campsite and relaxed for a while before finishing the evening with a couple of pints in the clubhouse.  

A football match was in the telly, it always amazes me how rugby players will keep running with two or three of the opposition hanging on to them but footballers are capable of falling when a foot goes anywhere near them. One player did a lovely bit of acrobatics in falling which earned him 5.9 from the judges and a yellow card! 😀

Bunkfest 25 - Saturday

 

Today ended up being a bit truncated for a couple of reasons. 

After breakfast in the clubhouse I decided to wander up to the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway. I was stiff after the last couple of days exertions but hoped to walk it off (I didn’t). It’s one of the smaller heritage railways but friendly and pleasant, operated as usual today by two 08 shunters, one at each end, which avoids the need to run round. The train up to Cholsey was fairly empty but as it’s a connection to the main line it filled up with Festival goers heading to Wallingford. 

Once I’d had a look round their museum and shop, and had a coffee, I wandered to the nearest festival bus stop to ride up into the town. As the bus that was there was full I had to wait, but only about 15 minutes so not a problem*. I had a stroll round the site, and some lunch, then went over see what was happening at the second arena, the answer was not much! By this stage my left leg was getting very sore and the weather wasn’t great so I decided to get the bus back to the campsite. 

I did have a secondary motive - both Scotland and England were playing in the Women’s World Cup! As expected they both had comfortable wins, England by their highest ever World Cup score despite the fact it was essentially their second team that started the match. Plaudits do go to Samoa though, a part time team who’d mostly had to take leave from their jobs were always going to struggle but they played their hearts out, they may have only scored one penalty but it got the biggest cheers of the afternoon! 

Unfortunately the one act I wanted to see on the main stage, The Red Hot Chilli Pipers, start at 21:30, the last bus back to the campsite is at 22:00, there’s no way I can risk walking back so I’m having to miss them. It’s raining quite heavily anyway. 

*A couple of people in the queue were quite impressed by the fact my compact 3-wheel Walker has a seat - one of the rails I’m using it is I can sit down when in queues and the like. 

Bunkfest 25 -Friday

 Having managed to stay dry on Thursday things deteriorated. 

It had rained overnight, heavily at times, and was still bad when I wandered over the the clubhouse for breakfast. One full English and two coffees later it had largely stopped so I geared up to walk up into the town centre. This time I took the walker as, if nothing else, it means I’ve got a seat with me. 

I generally have a stroll round when I visit, I didn’t buy anything but a couple of items in the antique arcade were of interest, there was a good model of a gaff rigged pond yacht that I quite liked but it didn’t have a price on it and was too big anyway and another stationary steam engine model but at £290 it was too much without knowing if it worked. 

After a wander it started drizzling slightly, and I was in need of a sit down, so I found myself strangely attracted by the Old Post Office who provided s comfortable seat and a pint of the local Loddon Bitter. 

I continued the wander, ending up back at the Coach and Horses knowing that was the likely destination for friends, I was right ‘cause one of them arrived a few minutes later. The afternoon was then spent drinking the best London Pride* I’ve enjoyed for a long while and listening to the jam session until finally things deteriorated  and I decided I needed food. One huge pork sub roll with all the trimmings later I decided to head back to the site. The evening was spent with more beer at The on site ceilidh and jam session. 

Overall I’d managed a lot more walking than I’ve done for a while but I was struggling towards the end and the nerve signals to my left leg were definitely iffy. For the next couple of days the courtesy bus will be running so I’ll make use of that. 

*Pride used to be a very reliable beer but for a while it’s been a bit iffy. My local took it off in the end after several bad barrels- they get replaced but it makes stock control difficult. 

Bunkfest 25 -Thursday

Bunkfest is a free music and entertainment festival held annually in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, I’ve been a few times before and it’s generally good fun. 

As it’s not that far from home I left across lunch time, grabbed something to eat on the way, and arrived at the campsite not long after they officially opened. It was the first time I’d fully pitched the tent (in hindsight I really should have followed my instincts and made sure I’d had a complete dry run at home) so it took me a bit longer than I’d have liked but overall I was pleased, particularly as I’d just got the last bits in out of the car when the heavens opened for several minutes. 

The tent itself, ostensibly the three person model, is just about right for one and, the main reason I chose it, had standing headroom. I think I got the equipment about right, the electric pump and screw in tent pegs with an impact driver both eased the pitching considerably even if they do disturb the peace a bit. 

After relaxing and having something to eat I had a slow wander up into the town to the Coach and Horses where a friend was going to be joining in the jam session. I made a slight mistake, it was pleasant sitting outside while the session got going but when I did go in there was nowhere in the bar to sit so I ended up in the adjacent room; I could still hear most of it though and enjoyed both the music* and a couple of pints of Fullers ESB. Eventually I ran out of steam and decided to walk back - as a bit of an experiment I was only using a walking pole, not the walker, which was OK for the mile or so. I had to put a bit more air in the airbed once I got back - I’m not sure if it had lost some or if I’d just not got it well inflated to start with so I’ll monitor that. 

*Most of the music and singing was good but you always get some duds, in this case a, to my mind, murdered version of When the Boat Comes In at Les than half the speed I’d expect. 

Kent Trip - Conclusions

Just a few conclusions from the trip. 

The two hotels I used weren’t cheap, but that’s partly down to where I visited. The Premier Inn was OK, no more that that, and I’d be wary of another one with The Social as the meal option other than for an odd night. The Hythe Imperial was great, one of the most comfortable hotels I’ve stopped in, and wasn’t a silly price. As a guide the Premier Inn averaged £109/night for B&B, the Imperial was £149. Both hotels were perfectly located for the planned activities so I don’t think I could have done better. 

Could I have managed without the mobility scooter? Sort of, but the visits to Chatham and Greenwich would have been very truncated and I’d have struggled with some others; I’d also have had to take the car into Hythe. Whether it goes on future holidays will depend on the state of my sciatica and likely activities while I’m away. 

The car behaved impeccably, and with a lot of traffic jams I’m really glad I bought an auto. The only issue was the puncture but, having been fortunate, that cost me about an hour and £280 for two new tyres that I’d have needed soon anyway. I deliberately bought a smaller size SUV, I’m not regretting that but a slightly larger boot would make things easier! 

Overall a great holiday to an area I’d not previously explored, thoughts are now turning to 2026 when the North East is definitely on the agenda. 

Kent Trip - Day 8, Ashford and Home

Sadly all good things must come to an end. 

Some years ago plans were announced for a major international model railway centre at Ashford. Premises were identified, layouts donated and some funding secured. Sadly it then all fell apart, money wasn’t forthcoming and then COVID hit so the project was never completed. Today I was able to visit the Phoenix that’s risen from the ashes of that project. 

As things settled down a small industrial unit on a farm was secured and the Ashford International Model Railway Education Centre was born. I was aware of this but also that it mainly opens up for prebooked groups however, on checking their website, they were open today and as it’s only a few miles off the route home I decided to visit. Currently they have several smallish layouts on show, including the three built by The Men of Kent for the 2019 TV series of The Great Model Railway Challenge, which include the winning layout. They also have a small shop and serve drinks and excellent home-made cakes!

The Series Winning Layout

N Gauge - Originally built for a book. 

I arrived a bit early but was immediately treated to some breaking news, although it’s also hit the press this week. They’ve now leased another, much larger, unit on the same site and will finally be able to display the layouts they have in store including The Gresley Beat, one of the finest layouts ever to grace the show circuit, but only for a while as it was too large and too expensive (it needed 4 7.5t vans just to transport it) for regular showing. I was given a brief tour of the new facility which was supposed to be open for August but issues over a fire break wall (it was used as a hay barn and the wall separating it from the tractor shed was just plain block) have delayed things to October. One other thing they’ve been building is a 5” gauge miniature railway, it’s still a work in progress but they were running today. 

I’ve signed up for their email list though and we’ll definitely be back. I have to say it was also busy with visitors, whether for the refreshments or the layouts didn’t really matter. 

I’d like to say the journey home went smoothly, but it didn’t. Sheer weight of traffic caused significant delays at the Dartford Crossing then there was a long, and largely unnecessary, 40mph stretch on the M11 where I was nearly taken out by a VW that sped off a slip road just missing me then had to stand on the brakes to avoid running into the back of a van.