I had an easy drive home via Stow on the Wold and Chipping Norton - a route we used quite often back in the camping and caravanning days.
The festival itself was fantastic, and I’m really pleased I was in costume for one day, at least. Whether I’ll be back next year remains to be seen but I’ll certainly go again soon.
The hotel, Tewkesbury Park, was very good, thoughtful touches such as putting a flat sheet in each room so if you wanted to just cover yourself overnight in the heat you could. The genuine friendliness of staff is often an indication, when the KP says good morning as he’s taking out the gash i consider it a good sign. The price wasn’t silly either, someone in the Festival bar reckoned he’d paid around £30 a night more than me in an OK pub, having not booked early enough. There was one down side - the overly strong scented shower gel! 😀
Scooter - I’ve been considering this one on and off all year. Around the town and shops Friday it was perfect and it coped, just, with the festival site. I had to get off a couple of times due to wheel spin and it cut out twice, the heat probably didn’t help, but the real issue is it just isn’t comfortable enough on rough ground for long periods. It does have suspension, which helps a bit, but I reached the point where every bump was painful - a discussion I had with a blacksmith who stands on his scooter to try and cushion the blow. The seat is also flat foam and not really comfortable for sitting on all day so I’ve already looked at options for an addition to the fleet.
Cameras - a definite cock up on my part. I regret not taking a big camera, especially for the battle where I couldn’t really see the phone screen so it was just point and hope. In costume I could at least have had the small camera and I’ll work on thoughts for the big one.
The heat was a problem, although the festival organisers had done their best with drinking water taps spread around the site and a couple of shady areas marked out as such. I suspect the most welcome cooling off of all was the paramedic standing at the exit to the battle field holding a hose with spray head!
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