So much fun was had by quite a few, Stuarty,mad max,TFC,chevy g20 and quite a few others about the fact that I (& Stevie) were going to C&H16 as we dislike Country music so much. The build up was great craic, believe it or not I had our tickets before most on MHC, but kept that quiet as I was enjoying the banter.
We headed off on Thursday, I was expecting nothing, didn't expect to enjoy it and didn't expect to dislike it, I'll let it ride and see how it flows. Julie was excited.
We arrived in Ballinamore Marina and The Flans, Stuarty & Linda were already there, Ken & Anna shortly arrived along with Esther & Stevie. Maurice made a brief appearance but was handing out free diesel so couldn't stay.
Stuarty, John and I headed into to Ballinamore to use the cash machine. Taking time to enjoy the local tourist attractions.
We had a few beers in a local pub as the cash machine was out of order until the pubs closed, enjoyed some great games of pool with the locals, an English man & an Irish man, no this is not the begining of a joke, finally winning the last match by sheer skill alone. Stuarty and I stayed until the death but John had to make a quick exit back to the Marina as there was trouble brewing.
The local firemen had arrived with their hoses and were entertaining the woman left behind.
The Friday we spent enjoying the amazing sunshine, chatting to some yanks on a boat and watching the lock gates.
Cowboys and heroes opened at Midday but Ken & Anna being the experts said that C&H would let us in early so they headed off at 08:30 to try and get in, horsebox in tow, stetsons on their head they were very excited. We got a SMS very shortly afterwards saying "don't arrive until midday, they aren't letting anyone in".
Being newbies, Julie and I were asking everyone what time we should leave at, now after last years fiasco which we gladly never witnessed, people got towed out of the field due to the wet weather. So the majority of us had booked hard standing, personal dislike of mine is parking on gravel, concrete, tarmac, so decided as the weather was good we would try for the field beside the lake instead.
John & Emily in front we followed them into the place that was to be my introduction to Country music for 4 days "oh god let me out of here". It didn't start too good...........
The Flans being the sneaky devils that they are had sort off, in a strange way, booked hard and soft standing and they got to the field with the lakeview. We were told under no circumstances were we allowed into the field as we had booked hard standing and both places were booked out so we needed to go were we booked. This was a bit of a pain as we would then be parked on our own with no craic'ers. We spied Ken & Anna's van on the way in and asked could we park with them to be told a certain "NO" - luckily enough as we waited in the long, very slow moving, queue Stuarty, Linda, Stevie & Esther pulled in behind us. Then the fun started......
Bumper to bumper and 4 foot between vans is how they were parking them, we were that close we would share the same step (thank you for that saying, Emily) .............
As you can imagine some different debates arose, H&S, Fire Safety, to name a few but the grumpy old man directing us in was not changing his mind. The above photo was then tweeted by Stevie and things started to quickly change, we weren't any further apart side to side but we moved forward allowing us enough room to get out if need be. Further arguments arose later on with different people & different outcomes. Dave and Naomi having booked hard standing were made to go into the field - go figure! a lot more happened and the owner of the venue eventually came down and to cut a story short things changed a lot and then all of a sudden we could park were we wanted. I would assume things will change for next year.
Having brought no checked shirt not realising that this was the attire for the weekend i was quickly lent one by Colin...(on the left) ........... Gee thanks Colin.
Then it was a matter of "LET THE GAMES BEGIN" and they did!
Followed by some dancing...
The next day quite a few of us headed for the lake and sat around drinking cups of tea with all the craic'ers, it was great craic!! not a country tune to be heard, only laughing and banter.
But I am going to backstep a little........... what about the Country music on Friday night?? well I was there and it was there, not wishing to annoy
you country music fans as each to their own, but having a load of carlsberg and ignoring it as much as possible helped a lot. It was ok, it was bearable.
Right back to it.......
Saturday night was exactly the same as Friday night, same music sung by different bands in the same fashion. But as ever the craic was mighty!!
Except, we had the very dissapointing Nathan Carter, now I don't like his music but I wasn't expecting him to be that bad! I did have a plan for Wagon Wheel which involved a Unicorns head and if I say so myself I think it worked a treat, I am sure there are plenty of photo's
Sunday was the same as Friday & Saturday same music sung by different bands in the same fashion, but the craic was mighty!
(I might of got the days of these photos mixed up, but hard to tell as it was much the same each day.)
There were of course a load of things craic'ers were getting up to through the course of the weekend, but if you need to know then you should of went.
A load left on Monday and a few die hard country fans like myself stayed for another night.
Guess what...................??? same music, different bands, same fashion, until......!
We moved into the bar and found a great wee Bluegrass band and then realised that is where all the better music (for a lot of us) had been all weekend, the band were great!!
Sadly.........
,....... it was time to leave on Tuesday morning, luckily for myself and Julie we didn't have to be home so headed back to Ballinamore Marina along with The Flans and Dave & Naomi. Wednesday morning it was time to say sad goodbyes until next time.
We wanted to tour up the Shannon for the rest of the week but unfortunately our leisure batteries started failing so we headed for Farmside Marina and Campsite in Enniskillen, had a great night there and then headed for the beautiful Dungannon park, why had we never been there before!! (review to follow)
So to finish...........
Would we go back to C&H?? we originally thought, yes maybe if there was nothing else on, it wasn't for me but truthfully I can see how others love it and the craic was great!! But after thinking about it some more, we will not go back, we enjoyed it, but we have done it now and there are things we would rather be doing with the few short pounds that we have for festivals and events. After seeing Bertie's photo's of Vantastival I was well and truly sick. The final nail in the coffin, Julie saying "I'm not going back"
Keep 'er country folks
We headed off on Thursday, I was expecting nothing, didn't expect to enjoy it and didn't expect to dislike it, I'll let it ride and see how it flows. Julie was excited.
We arrived in Ballinamore Marina and The Flans, Stuarty & Linda were already there, Ken & Anna shortly arrived along with Esther & Stevie. Maurice made a brief appearance but was handing out free diesel so couldn't stay.
Stuarty, John and I headed into to Ballinamore to use the cash machine. Taking time to enjoy the local tourist attractions.
We had a few beers in a local pub as the cash machine was out of order until the pubs closed, enjoyed some great games of pool with the locals, an English man & an Irish man, no this is not the begining of a joke, finally winning the last match by sheer skill alone. Stuarty and I stayed until the death but John had to make a quick exit back to the Marina as there was trouble brewing.
The local firemen had arrived with their hoses and were entertaining the woman left behind.
The Friday we spent enjoying the amazing sunshine, chatting to some yanks on a boat and watching the lock gates.
Cowboys and heroes opened at Midday but Ken & Anna being the experts said that C&H would let us in early so they headed off at 08:30 to try and get in, horsebox in tow, stetsons on their head they were very excited. We got a SMS very shortly afterwards saying "don't arrive until midday, they aren't letting anyone in".
Being newbies, Julie and I were asking everyone what time we should leave at, now after last years fiasco which we gladly never witnessed, people got towed out of the field due to the wet weather. So the majority of us had booked hard standing, personal dislike of mine is parking on gravel, concrete, tarmac, so decided as the weather was good we would try for the field beside the lake instead.
John & Emily in front we followed them into the place that was to be my introduction to Country music for 4 days "oh god let me out of here". It didn't start too good...........
The Flans being the sneaky devils that they are had sort off, in a strange way, booked hard and soft standing and they got to the field with the lakeview. We were told under no circumstances were we allowed into the field as we had booked hard standing and both places were booked out so we needed to go were we booked. This was a bit of a pain as we would then be parked on our own with no craic'ers. We spied Ken & Anna's van on the way in and asked could we park with them to be told a certain "NO" - luckily enough as we waited in the long, very slow moving, queue Stuarty, Linda, Stevie & Esther pulled in behind us. Then the fun started......
Bumper to bumper and 4 foot between vans is how they were parking them, we were that close we would share the same step (thank you for that saying, Emily) .............
As you can imagine some different debates arose, H&S, Fire Safety, to name a few but the grumpy old man directing us in was not changing his mind. The above photo was then tweeted by Stevie and things started to quickly change, we weren't any further apart side to side but we moved forward allowing us enough room to get out if need be. Further arguments arose later on with different people & different outcomes. Dave and Naomi having booked hard standing were made to go into the field - go figure! a lot more happened and the owner of the venue eventually came down and to cut a story short things changed a lot and then all of a sudden we could park were we wanted. I would assume things will change for next year.
Having brought no checked shirt not realising that this was the attire for the weekend i was quickly lent one by Colin...(on the left) ........... Gee thanks Colin.
Then it was a matter of "LET THE GAMES BEGIN" and they did!
Followed by some dancing...
The next day quite a few of us headed for the lake and sat around drinking cups of tea with all the craic'ers, it was great craic!! not a country tune to be heard, only laughing and banter.
But I am going to backstep a little........... what about the Country music on Friday night?? well I was there and it was there, not wishing to annoy
you country music fans as each to their own, but having a load of carlsberg and ignoring it as much as possible helped a lot. It was ok, it was bearable.
Right back to it.......
Saturday night was exactly the same as Friday night, same music sung by different bands in the same fashion. But as ever the craic was mighty!!
Except, we had the very dissapointing Nathan Carter, now I don't like his music but I wasn't expecting him to be that bad! I did have a plan for Wagon Wheel which involved a Unicorns head and if I say so myself I think it worked a treat, I am sure there are plenty of photo's
Sunday was the same as Friday & Saturday same music sung by different bands in the same fashion, but the craic was mighty!
(I might of got the days of these photos mixed up, but hard to tell as it was much the same each day.)
There were of course a load of things craic'ers were getting up to through the course of the weekend, but if you need to know then you should of went.
A load left on Monday and a few die hard country fans like myself stayed for another night.
Guess what...................??? same music, different bands, same fashion, until......!
We moved into the bar and found a great wee Bluegrass band and then realised that is where all the better music (for a lot of us) had been all weekend, the band were great!!
Sadly.........
,....... it was time to leave on Tuesday morning, luckily for myself and Julie we didn't have to be home so headed back to Ballinamore Marina along with The Flans and Dave & Naomi. Wednesday morning it was time to say sad goodbyes until next time.
We wanted to tour up the Shannon for the rest of the week but unfortunately our leisure batteries started failing so we headed for Farmside Marina and Campsite in Enniskillen, had a great night there and then headed for the beautiful Dungannon park, why had we never been there before!! (review to follow)
So to finish...........
Would we go back to C&H?? we originally thought, yes maybe if there was nothing else on, it wasn't for me but truthfully I can see how others love it and the craic was great!! But after thinking about it some more, we will not go back, we enjoyed it, but we have done it now and there are things we would rather be doing with the few short pounds that we have for festivals and events. After seeing Bertie's photo's of Vantastival I was well and truly sick. The final nail in the coffin, Julie saying "I'm not going back"
Keep 'er country folks
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