Cwm Carn Forest Drive Barbecue - 23rd June 2002
Pictures (rapidly) provided by Ros. They
are "thumbnails", so click on them for a full size view.
The usual suspects met up at the M4 junction 30 services. The weather looked
very promising, so it was a quick dash to ASDA for the necessary charcoal, food,
drink etc. and off to Cwm Carn Forest Drive for the Barbecue.
Marilyn said her mother would be watching us go by on the dual-carriageway to
Risca and we all had to wave, but no sign of her (that wouldn't be the last time
we were to completely miss her on the day).
We
arrived at Cwm Carn in glorious sunshine, paid our £3.00 a car to get in, drove
to the first barbecue spot and parked up. I tried to negotiate a group discount
from the gatekeeper to swell the charity funds, but it was apparently more than
his job was worth. Then it was a major unloading exercise to get all the stuff
onto the table and start the barbecue with the quick lighting charcoal bags
(excellent things!!). The ever-organised Mark had a nifty little gas lighter and
even a two ring gas cooker for cooking onions to go with the burgers (he must
surely have been in the scouts).
As
soon as there was a fire to play with, all the male members gathered around it
to discuss cooking techniques and avoid any food or table preparations.
After
Mark S had tried to do a double salco, one and a half twisting dive down the
bank, he decided to have a bit of a sit down while Mark J and I discussed the
finer points of stuffing enough luggage into the boot for a 2 week trip to
France.
There
was plenty of back-seat barbecuing from the female contingent. Ros was even
brave enough at one point to come to the camp fire and try to take part in the
male activities. She was soon seen off.
The variation of food was wide, from civilised little bite sized burgers, to Ray's wagon wheels. Paul wouldn't wait for the sausages
to cook and ate most of his raw, but then had a cremated steak to make up for
it. There was barbecued cheese (oh yes!), barbecued Salmon with bits of bacon
wrapped around it, barbecued vegetable kebabs and of course the NATO standard sausages.
It
was an excellent afternoon with some interesting sculptures in the barbecue area
to look at. The area we parked up in was called Giant's Court. Here's a picture
of his ring and totem pole.
Once
we were all thoroughly stuffed, we carried on around the rest of the drive
circuit, stopping now an then to take in the views and watch Ray clamber over
the countryside to get that "just right" artistic shot of the group
(for Ray's pictures, click
here).
Marilyn's mother called to say she had got fed up waiting for us to arrive as
she'd driven up to meet us and had gone home :-(
Finally, we went back to the visitors' centre for a cuppa and an ice-cream
before making our way home. The weather had been kind to us again and the
afternoon passed beautifully making what had seemed like a slightly dodgy idea
into a very pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
The driving was sedate, but the scenery stunning.
Thanks as ever to Mark and Chris for organising it and "persuading"
us all to go along.
Click
here for lots more pictures
Hi Ho Silver 24/06/2002
We
arrived at Cwm Carn in glorious sunshine, paid our £3.00 a car to get in, drove
to the first barbecue spot and parked up. I tried to negotiate a group discount
from the gatekeeper to swell the charity funds, but it was apparently more than
his job was worth. Then it was a major unloading exercise to get all the stuff
onto the table and start the barbecue with the quick lighting charcoal bags
(excellent things!!). The ever-organised Mark had a nifty little gas lighter and
even a two ring gas cooker for cooking onions to go with the burgers (he must
surely have been in the scouts).
