Vantastival 2012
Last weekend was spent at one of the best small festivals in Ireland!
www.vantastival.com
Imagine a few thousand people, lots of vintage VW and other campervans, Lambrettas and Vespa scooters. Add some brilliant friends, great music and cheap tickets. Oh, and a yurt.
Good times!
I had kicked off the week before Vantastival feeling pretty gutted. Beautiful Days had sold out just hours before we could buy tickets this year, and the weather forecast for County Louth was looking, well, typically Irish. I think I spent the majority of Tuesday being Little Ms Grumpy.
But, the torrents held off for the most part. The worst shower we suffered happened when we were trying to get our tent and the giant yurt up. All hands on deck meant that 12 people got a lot of hazel rods, endless canvas sheeting and a VERY heavy wood burning stove set up in less than 15 minutes. Luckily our tent could be pitched flysheet first, so we stayed mostly dry too.
Over the three days, we saw some incredible music: The Bonny Men, The Barley Mob (Reggae sung in a Dublin brogue works SO well) and an amazing masterclass on fiddle by Paddy Glackin. We also discovered The Henry Girls and watched Eoin Dillon's kids dancing across the stage as he throttled some jigs and reels out of his Uilleann pipes.
As with last year, most of the music was made inside the yurt, sat round the stove. A succession of mates and friends wandered in for a song or tune and then went to see a band or two, before coming back for more craic. I realised that I need to buy two pieces of essential equipment before my next yurt session: a camping chair with a rigid seat (director's chair style just gives you a crick in your spine when playing) and a reading light (to clip onto the end of the fiddle so that I can see where I'm bowing!)
One big downer was the unseasonal temperature drop. Now, I will fully admit to being an 'outdoor type' with all the camping, hiking and rock climbing but, seriously, winter camping!?? That's just masochistic.
I really did not enjoy leaving the warmth of the stove in the yurt for the fridge/tent. Sleeping involved donning ALL the rest of my clean clothes, putting my "3 season" (not bloody counting May in Ireland were they? Needs a whole extra season for that!) sleeping bag inside another one, before adding gloves and a t-shirt to wrap around my ears and head. And I was still cold.
When we heard that Pace had been sick whilst staying with friends for the weekend, it was a slight relief to decide to leave on the Sunday evening. That duvet never felt so warm!!!
Here's a picture from last year, WHEN IT WAS PROPER MAY WEATHER! Tan and everything. Of course, we found some dogs at the ISPB stall:
www.vantastival.com
Imagine a few thousand people, lots of vintage VW and other campervans, Lambrettas and Vespa scooters. Add some brilliant friends, great music and cheap tickets. Oh, and a yurt.
Good times!
I had kicked off the week before Vantastival feeling pretty gutted. Beautiful Days had sold out just hours before we could buy tickets this year, and the weather forecast for County Louth was looking, well, typically Irish. I think I spent the majority of Tuesday being Little Ms Grumpy.
But, the torrents held off for the most part. The worst shower we suffered happened when we were trying to get our tent and the giant yurt up. All hands on deck meant that 12 people got a lot of hazel rods, endless canvas sheeting and a VERY heavy wood burning stove set up in less than 15 minutes. Luckily our tent could be pitched flysheet first, so we stayed mostly dry too.
Over the three days, we saw some incredible music: The Bonny Men, The Barley Mob (Reggae sung in a Dublin brogue works SO well) and an amazing masterclass on fiddle by Paddy Glackin. We also discovered The Henry Girls and watched Eoin Dillon's kids dancing across the stage as he throttled some jigs and reels out of his Uilleann pipes.
As with last year, most of the music was made inside the yurt, sat round the stove. A succession of mates and friends wandered in for a song or tune and then went to see a band or two, before coming back for more craic. I realised that I need to buy two pieces of essential equipment before my next yurt session: a camping chair with a rigid seat (director's chair style just gives you a crick in your spine when playing) and a reading light (to clip onto the end of the fiddle so that I can see where I'm bowing!)
One big downer was the unseasonal temperature drop. Now, I will fully admit to being an 'outdoor type' with all the camping, hiking and rock climbing but, seriously, winter camping!?? That's just masochistic.
I really did not enjoy leaving the warmth of the stove in the yurt for the fridge/tent. Sleeping involved donning ALL the rest of my clean clothes, putting my "3 season" (not bloody counting May in Ireland were they? Needs a whole extra season for that!) sleeping bag inside another one, before adding gloves and a t-shirt to wrap around my ears and head. And I was still cold.
When we heard that Pace had been sick whilst staying with friends for the weekend, it was a slight relief to decide to leave on the Sunday evening. That duvet never felt so warm!!!
Here's a picture from last year, WHEN IT WAS PROPER MAY WEATHER! Tan and everything. Of course, we found some dogs at the ISPB stall: