Shining Cliff

Over the weekend during my walk I passed through Shining Cliff a place we use to Larp in and what once contained a useful youth hostel to sleep in and provide toilet facilities.


The hostel has now been taken over by a youth trust, who work in conjunction with the Grith Pioneers who own part of Shining cliff. The hostel and woodland have seen extensive refurbishment, a lot of dead wood has been cleared, with extensive stocks of logs lying about, the main path to hostel appears to be being used by vehicles and is now vehicle width all the way to the point we left the track, the awkward car park has all so received attention, all looks good but they want the area for themselves and consider walkers a pain that have to be allowed through so long as they don't stray and Larper a serious hazard to the undergrowth since they will no doubt stray from the paths and ruin the forna.

Following the link to the former hostels web site I get the impression for now at least there will be no way of renting it, the poster on the path says they are protecting the rare species of trees, ferns and mosses, for scientific interest, I don't know perhaps they are I want to protect such things also, but I feel they just want the area for themselves, whatever the reason I don't see us larping in that part of the woods anytime soon and will follow thier rules about visiting, the rest of the woods still remain fair game for all, that includes trail bikers tearing up the paths.

The Poster.


The path to the hostel


The Lake at the bottom of another path

The hill down to the lake

Kit Kat Thieves

Possibly the last Ascendancy weekend at Candleston due to price increases although I hope not and the October weather was at its best, putting the damp summer months to shame in fact by midday it was lovely tee shirt weather.

I camped at this event with Dave only since Julie was cat sitting although from reading her blog, more like cat fighting. I also learned today Jock and Bridgettes cat Monty had died, probably of old age, apart from this last few months looked he quite young for age possible because he was a small furry ball of a cat, he will be missed.

I decided to cater this event and brought a big pack of donuts, upon arriving at Dave's he produced a big pack of donuts, so catering sorted we ate donuts the whole weekend, although Dave did scoff 10 out the 12 packets of crisps, not complaining since don't eat crisps. A squirrel also ate a half used packet of bread roles while I nipped the loo and a packet of kit-kats bars went missing, could have been crack squirrel team, they left no evidence, the alternative is they will turn in years time next time I use the tent or rolled up in a jumper.

Talking of tents, as I was taking down my tent a tent pole broke at the metal joint tube for no could reason, Dave said it looked like fatigue, I do use the tent a lot, but its still only just a year old, lucky no more camping events this year.

The event was bitty, I mean that in good way though, lots of plot bits resolved or created, but no single plot thread running through the whole event, it was in a way a pleasant change from too much world saving. I had my enjoyable little bit of political gaming and business dealing, but found knowing stuff and not being able to pass it on a little frustrating, I must have heard at least half a dozen times a player say, Izzanbard would know, and he did, Alfonso didn't.

I got home about a hour earlier than usual, since travelling with Dave we only stopped for a quick burger and fries, although we intended to meet up with Sam and Jak, but somehow overtook them and thought we where late and had missed them.

Today I seem to have pain in right shoulder which hurts for no apparent reason, it even made driving difficult and is certainly going to make it hard to sleep.

Blueberry & Apple

Last weekend I was at Ascendancy, Saturday was wet and very dull which seem to make everyone rather tired and the event seemed to be over in flash. We were well kitted for camping since between me and Julie we have a fair amount of camping kit, nothing excessive like a Winibago just enough to make life very comfortable even when it rains a lot, saying that we did have 3 tents all capable of sleeping at least 5 people each and that was between the 2 of us.
On the way back we plotted for a future event since its something I enjoy and like to do a bit of here and there since without my Medieval murder mysteries, Strangehaven and running table top roleplay I don't get chance to use that side of my brain. I had several ideas but Julie came up with very good story to hang it all from, based on something from the past which I had forgotten.

Having got back home and unloaded in the early hours of Monday morning, by the time I reached work at 8am the same morning I was shattered, a few cups of tea kept me going and I was fine until about 3pm when suddenly I just couldn't think anymore my head was wanting to do nothing and my body had decided my legs no longer worked and refused to get up and make a drink.

The rest of week I have been putting together a few props during my spare time, which I can't show here since they may be seen by people who read this and play Ascendancy and that would spoil things.

Today I did go down Bournemouth way for a work meeting, the journey was mostly sunny until I hit Warwick on the way home when the rain bucketed it down slowing most of the traffic to 20mph or less although a few idiots did drive past quite a bit faster, I can't work out how they could see, so they must have been using the blind faith driving technique, although it technique did fail for a BMW driver just outside Coventry who hit a small hatchback in the rear and spun all over the road.

On one last note I have last found the Twinnings Apple and blueberry tea, it was nice but unfortunately tasted like many of the other berry varieties, the blueberries overpowering the apple which I hoped to taste.

Sand Conga

I was at Ascendancy again this weekend, but now we have 5 week break and as a fellow player said to me at the event, I will miss not playing Ascendancy in two weeks, but I will now have chance to catch on other things since I spend the weekend between event preparing for events, I can only agree.

The event went well and the creep to total nocturnal events was well and truly halted with Heather rallying the refs at 9am and the refs rallying the players the events got started by 10.30am. In fact on Sunday after we called time out after quite busy mornings of play I was surprised to discover it was only 12.30 and if I had made haste and not stopped for lunch and a natter I could have easily without rushing left site by 2.00, I still left at 3.30 and was home by 7pm when I'm usually home for 11pm that's quite a difference.

One of the highlights of the event was 20 people doing a conga through the sand for whole 2 hours, clinging to each other for safety, perhaps not to everyone taste and not something I want repeating, but by the time we had traversed a sand pit about 20 paces wide everyone was thoroughly worked up and scared, I did gain a little thanks for carrying a large treasure chest on my own which severely unbalanced me and made me a easy target for the sandy crew as I walked the path of doom, HeatherRef's constant smile as she picked her next target trying not give it away and poor Amy who must now have a very good digestive system with the amount of sand she swallowed.

I camped at this event on my own since my usual companions had abandon me for Maelstrom and Cat sitting so I got to try out my tent as a cooking area and it worked well, easily put up on my own, I fitted in my large camping table and chair in the porch with all my other bits and felt very happy with the set up and pleased with the tent.

My new character came out to play for the majority of the event, now in full length trousers since the white socks and breeches attracted far too many insects bites on my calves, the trousers worked a treat, I have only 5 bites this time all on my hands and wrists.

The weather was good as well, the ideal temperature, perhaps midday was little sweaty if you got into fight, but not too bad.

A good weekend

Windy Larp

This weekend I tried out a new character a noble with lots of lace handkerchiefs, this was difficult because I had to forget all the knowledge I had, however the character was a lot more useful in a fight than my primary character who normally stands around because he's a pacifist and very fragile, one blow drops him. The costume I'm told looked good, although because it was shinny and new I found a reluctance to lie in the dirt, which will fade as the costume gets worn in, one of the refs liked my hat so much he kept firing arrows into it mainly he said it was the look of disgust on face that my hat was ruined.






The weekend was very windy with bits falling out the trees, one small branch (about the diameter of finger) hit with a bang and actually punctured our day tent, only the leaves and smaller branches stopping it passing straight through onto out heads.

On Monday the rain came with a vengeance, pulling guy ropes out of the ground which collapsed the tent so I had to dash and re-peg the ropes mid fight, getting my costume very wet, saying that I was nowhere near as wet as the crew who did a stirling job fighting outside the tavern while most stayed dry. I should not complain since it appeared other friends around the country had worse problems with broken tent poles, and a whole tree blocked the main road not far from our camp site.

Windy weekend

I had a relatively quiet weekend larping, taking a bit of a back seat to allow others to use their skills and spent it mostly with a cold finger because in game when my finger is in air it represents your character as not being there, or invisible. Since we had plenty of Horologist about, I decided to be more of a lookout and tracker, not that I was very successful, but I did manage to find one person.

I fed Julie and Dave for the weekend, their only complaint was my extra large portion size, which is more to do with me making sure I cook enough than being a big eater.

The weather was very windy, so listening to conversation was very difficult and the hut roof was flapping about in the wind keeping me awake, but the promised rain did not materialise in any great way, it rained, but it was over in 20 minutes.

Everyone I spoke to seemed to enjoy themselves, the 2 very new players survived being pummelled by lots of information relative to back plot, I've no idea if they enjoyed themselves.

I have today off, and have just taken Jasmine for a check up at the vets, she meowed loudly all the way there and back and cost me £ 60 for a couple of booster injections.

Good idea to camp in sub zero temperatures?

This weekend I attended a larp event in a reproduction Viking village full of poor fitting shutters and draughty thin walls, I was not expecting to be warm but was sufficiently comfortable to make the whole event very tolerable.

On Friday after a very wet start, the skies cleared and the temperature dropped overnight sufficient to freeze the puddles so wearing my thermal underwear I tucked myself away in a 3 seasons sleeping bag, fully enclosed so only my nose was exposed, then covered in a 2nd sleeping bag and blankets I managed to feel cosy enough to sleep.
So I slept about 4 hours until around 5am when my bladder became desperate for the loo, surviving another hour I resisted the bitter cold I could feel outside my warm world but could last no longer, so in thermal underwear I left my sleeping bag found my boots in the dark and walked to the loo and back over frozen mud.
By the time I returned my bedding was cold and I could not warm myself back again to feel comfortable but stayed in bed till just before 8 when Julie got up, put the kettle on and started a fire.

The only other side effect of the cold was the butane gas preferred to stay in liquid form in the can so barely produced enough heat to boil a kettle, solved by putting the cans under my clothing and swapping cans between uses.

The rest of the weekend was slightly warmer, and we also discovered fire in the huts which although very smoky and needing a shutter open to create an air flow warmed the hut a degree or more.

The event itself was good, a good main plot that allowed for plenty of skills to be used, overall I enjoyed myself. There where plenty of players new and old, and chance to pass on various pieces of information gained during downtime.
It felt a little strange to be there as player not ref, but I quickly got over it although still wished at certain quiet moments to get in there and move things along, finish odd plot areas that were left from the last Strangehaven event, although if numbers improve for the site as they did I've been told Strangehaven will probably re-start for 2009.

On Sunday I got back home to a pile of cardboard litter and brown gorilla fur created Jasmine as a present to impress Julie and Dave who stopped for a warm drink or two on the way home.
I was very tired by then, and Julie looking particularly sleepy and she had another hour and half drive, so after a shower and food (baked potato and cheese) I fell asleep on the sofa with a cat asleep on my chest from around 8.30 until 11.30 when I found enough energy to relocate to my bed.

New Tent

I spent the weekend gone tweaking the Shards web site and left the house rarely, the web site I promised to get up and running by end of August and failed, not my fault.

Apart from that I went looking for a slightly bigger modern tent something Julie reminded me about, something I said I would look for last year but never did, something I did look for in the spring this year but never found the right beast, so said I would wait for the end of season sales. I went off to try and find a tent suitable for one person, but tall enough to stand in if I need to, even with my neck bent would do, and with area to cook in should I need to, sound easy, but to get tall enough you need 4 person tent, (in tent speak that actually really means 2 people) and one with porch so the footprint tends to be big.

I tried 2 camping shops and the Internet, the shops where rubbish, either small dome tents, one with no height or then they jumped to family sized monsters, the Internet provided clues and couple of option but unless you can see them 1st hand you don't get a sense of proportion.

However having discovered Julie had made her mind up and along the same criteria, since its for use when she is not with Dave, I decided since she was going to the shop again to ask her to get a duplicate of her choice which is this one can't wait to see it up at the next event.