Pick of the Big Shakeout

Pick of the Big Shakeout - highlights from a gathering of outdoor enthusiasts and adventurers.

As the new girl in the Alpkit team I’m quite excited to be writing my first daring deed! Jim has asked us to write about our favourite bit of this weekend’s Big Shakeout festival. Yeh. just one bit! It’s pretty quiet in the Alpkit office today, maybe because we’re all shattered, or maybe because we’re all sifting through pictures, tweets, messages and great memories of the festival. So here is my pick of the weekend. My favourite bit of Big Shakeout 2011 part A: Saturday evening. where to begin? Saturday’s weather had been absolutely perfect and as the sun set over the Big Shakeout festival there was a smell of wood smoke in the air and a very special atmosphere settled around the campsite; that atmosphere where you just know that the whole festival is gearing up for a good party. We had a few special things up our Alpkit sleeves to add a bit of sparkle to the night. These included some awe-inspiring films, fire logs, excellent bands and about 200 tealight candles (oh and a well-stocked bar). After chilling out watching the films we busied ourselves with lighting the pathway of candles up to the yurt and through to the campfire circle while the rest of the team set up for the music. Once all the prep had been done we got a chance to let our hair down a bit and enjoy the evening with all the brilliant people we’d met during the day. It was a crisp 4ºC and I think we could safely say that the summer had gone, but it didn’t seem to matter when we were stood by the roaring fire under the golden trees and listening to Rik Warren’s blues. It was great to hear people commenting on all of the things we’d worked hard to organise that day. Later we moved back down to the marquee for some faster tempo music (and to re-visit the bar). The evening then faded into the very small hours of the morning with some serious dance moves, some games involving stones, some beatboxing (!) and a lot of Alpfun. I think one tweeter summed it up perfectly; any party that ends in a yurt is a very good party! My favourite bit of Big Shakeout 2011 part B: (Yes ok, I’ve picked 2 things and cleverly disguised it as one article but I can’t choose between them.) Having caught the dreaded and potent Alpcold I’ll admit I was not particularly motivated to get up early to do 360 Oudoors resin-to-rock bouldering course on Saturday. Having emerged from my tent to a field of mist and frost I tried to convince myself that my lack of appetite for breakfast was due to my cold and not nerves. I’d seen some of the bouldering moves from the climbing competition a couple of weeks ago and wasn’t convinced that a pair of borrowed rock boots and freshly-stuffed Alpkit Phud was going to turn me into a climber. Oh, and did I mention I’m not great with heights?!