Wednesday 9 May 2007

Fitness Camp... (ish)

As some of you may know, I reluctantly partake in circuit training classes three times a week in an attempt to fight the flab and lessen the guilt of not doing much in the way of exercise.

Most of the people who attend the various classes are a great bunch and this weekend saw the annual circuit training camping trip, were about 30 of us gathered in a field to have a bit of a laugh, light a big bonfire, do little exercise and drink responsibly*!

It's the 2nd time I've been and although a little tamer than last year, much fun was had.
It also gave me chance to try out my new Pentax Optio S7 digital cam:


View down to the farm and campsite by the Long Mynd



My fitness instructor Deane
(... and you should see him when he's pulling a funny face :0)


One couple turned up with a fab dogga called Ben, who I befriended straight away.
He's
an incredibly intelligent and playful hound.


As well as Dean's camper van blowing up on the way there, we spotted this screw that Andy had acquired along the way too!!! Luckily it still got us there and back OK.


The loos on this site are something 'special'.
If you think the outside looks bad, you wanna try inside!


Ben shaking-a-paw with my niece Amy



My nephew Luke whittling sticks for marshmallow toasting later


The scenery round the campsite is lovely and typically British



In the afternoon we all played cricket... Well sort of cricket, but more like "Whack the ball as hard as you can and try not to get caught out!"




Ben was the best fielder and brought the ball back to the bowler if no one caught it



Good dog


To use the phone, a small trek up this steep track was needed to find signal, but the views from the top were good


A new filter to play with on my new camera :)



"Bah"
Sheep against sunset



Next was food, followed by beer, cocktails, beer, more beer...


...Which lead to this cool shot of Ben :0)


Angry Farmer:
There was a large mix up with whether we were or were not allowed to have a fire which led to the farmer coming over and giving us all a good rollocking and demanding we put it out. He even threatened to fine us £20 (Appox. 70p each) and that the 'Shropshire Star' would hear about this... The Shropshire what?


We sorted it all out and could light the somewhat now damp fire again, which was nothing a pint of petrol from Deane's van and a blowtorch held at arms length didn't sort out! WHOOOSH


The dog knew were to come and sit to get fussed and he became my personal hand warmer for the evening in return :]



[* Blatant Lie]


Today, I'm Most Angry About: Having an unusually large craving for a packet of 'Nice 'n Spicy' flavour Nik Naks and then not being able to obtain any despite going to two garages and two shops... Grrr :[
Grrr-O-Meter Rating: 2/10

Today's Top Tip:
Dog Owners: If your dog accidentally fouls the footpath, remember this carries a big fine, quickly drop your trousers and tell passers-by you were 'caught short'

23 comments:

mellowlee said...

Wow, fancy new camera! I just got my first digital camera a couple weeks ago (second hand, only 3.2 megapixels) Im so jealous! Your photos are terrific as usual. Ben looks like a barrel of laughs. I want to try those nik naks. Not sure which flavour....

Phil said...

Mellow:
3.2 megapixels is fine. To be honest, anything more than 4MP on a compact just leads to larger file sizes, fitting less on the SD card and slower transfers etc.

Ben was awesome, I so could of taken him home with me :]

Nice 'n' Spicy is the most popular flavour of Nik Nak, followed by Rib 'n' Saucy!

b o o said...

ben is a darling!

i
want
to
see
your
butt

no butt shot!!??!!

:-X

Pat said...

Pic No:8 looks like Teletubbyland, I expected to see Tinky Winky hiding behind a voice trumpet!

Phil said...

Boo:
Ben is indeed adorable!

Have you not seen enough of my bum as of late? You can have too much of a good thing you know, LOL :]
I'll get one for you in my next post or two... especially for Boo :X

Phil said...

Pat:
Hahaha, hey you're not the first person to say that about the picture, but yes it does indeed!
Unfortuantly no tubbies around and the sun didn't have a odd childs face in it either :[

Lord Hutton said...

Circuit Training? Is that the new name for Camping, arsing around, molesting strange dogs and drinking too much? Nice camera. How did you get the negs, and the low height, wide width sheep image? I suppose you pissed around on your PC?

Anonymous said...

Fantastic pics Mr D! Very funny stuff. I stayed at that place -I remember the loos - shit they were bad. I have linked you - so there!!

Phil said...

Hutters:
Hahaha, I wish doing that kept me fit yeah, I'd go eveyrday then :]

The camera is lovely... the negative shots are a built in feature and the wide sheep was a normal photo that I let Photoshop 'Straighten & Crop' and it did that to it, but I thought that was rather cool, so left it :0)

Mutley:
Cheers and welcome!!!
Ah, you've experienced it too then. I'm having nightmares about those bogs.
Linked too :]

Kayla said...

Ben is quite the model!
He looks like he poses for the camera.
*Blatant lie* on the drinking? haha

I would have liked to see a photo of the angry farmer who threatened you with the Shropshire Star! What a mouthful! It looks like a bit of a piece of crap publication, doesn't it?

Love the photos DoGGa!
And cool new camera you have
:-)

Phil said...

Great shots DoggA, it looks like you had a wonderful time. There is something special about exercising, then drinking beers.
:-)

Phil said...

Kayla:
The dog is just superb and very obedient!

The farmer was quite scary and he made all the children cry with his shouting and threats :`[

The camrea looks like it was a good buy!
Cheers Kayla :]

Phil:
Cheers mate!
Yeah, after playing cricket for a few hours, the beers felt well deserved yes :]

Dakota said...

Damn, I feel jealous now! An amazing new camera, another fun filled weekend spent in the great outdoors and a new friend called Ben :)

You’re one lucky guy!

I love the new header :D

Anonymous said...

A brilliant weekend!

Me Myself and I said...

That portable loo is terrifying! I think I will have nightmares tonight.

Love the pic of the nephew whiddling sticks. Very cool effect Dogga!

Anonymous said...

Looks like you and your camera are working quite well together! Ben is very cool.

Your Grr-o-meter is off the scale today!

Phil said...

Dakota:
Hehe, cheers Dakota!!!!!!!

The new header took me AGES to do, but I got there in the end :]
Glad you like it!

Amy:
Twas indeed dudette :]

Celeste:
The loo was easily enough to give anyone nightmares, although that was the gents; the ladies were marginally nicer E.G. The cubicles had a lock on the door :[]

Good effect that new one aye!

Rob:
The new camera is an update of my old one, so quite at home with it :]
Ben is awesome!!!

Aoj and The Lurchers said...

eeewwwww....not a nice toilet

Andre Veloux said...

You have too much fun you do, certainly didn't see much sign of circuit training in all that.

kat said...

I was going to ask if the ladies loo was any better but I see you have already answered that question.

I glad you are not too worried about the Shropshire Star. :-)

Phil said...

Angela:
No... How long can you hold your breath for? :[

Andre:
Hahaha, circuit what? No exercise done that weekend! :]

Kat:
Yeah! :]
No, the local paper threat doesn't have much clout with me :0)

Jenny! said...

Great pictures! So where are the pics after ya'll drink all that beer and cocktails???

Phil said...

Jenny:
Thanks mate!!! :]
There were an unusually low quantity of drunken photos surprisingly :[