Every June, for almost 20 years, Helen and I have organised The Gogarth Meet. Despite my best efforts, and the climbing on The Best Crag In The World, this has become known as the Barbecue Meet!
Due to the Covid crisis, 2020 was a bit different, with gatherings of more than 6 people banned, and no one allowed to drive more than 5 miles in Wales. Still, it takes more than a mere global pandemic to dampen the enthusiasm of The Rucksack Club, and the meet was reconvened from Port Dafarch Beach into back gardens and front rooms across cyberspace. More than fifty of us got together on Zoom to enjoy Burgers, BBQ, Beers, Bonfire and Banter – you could argue that’s all the best bits, without the carbon footprint or the terror of Main Cliff!
Thanks everyone for joining us for such a fun evening – with the banter flowing and fire crackling it was almost like the real thing. Special thanks to John Beatty, Dave Crilley, Adam Bowman, Gareth llewellyn, Rob and Mike Ferguson, Martin Cooper and Alan Firth for sharing their pics and tales, and to Jim Burton and Bill Deakin for chipping in with stories from Back In The Day.
The prize for best BBQ fare went to Ian Winterburn (roasted Lamb Shank), best BBQ Beverage was Jim Burton (next-door’s 7% home-brew) and the winner of the quiz was Martin Cooper. Rucksack Club T-shirts and calendars in the post. Meanwhile, if you missed the quiz you can still enjoy it in hindsight . Here are the photos from the picture round:
…and here the multiple-choice Gogarth Trivia section: Gogarth Quiz – Questions
If you want to catch up on the whole evening, you’ll find the video here:
A few of us (fewer than 6!) made it climbing on Sunday – Chee Tor might not be Main Cliff, but it is water-side and has a host of tough E5s too. Jake managed Golden Mile which isn’t a bad substitute for Mammoth!
Hopefully normal service will be resumed for 2021! Provisional dates: 12 & 13 June. Get it in your diary. Meanwhile, hopefully catch up on the crag more locally for some small-group, socially-distanced climbing.
Cheers, Dom and Helen