So, Sunday was over. The journey from the UK lasted 26 hours - but that was mainly because I left in plenty of time on Saturday morning knowing that my old Camper Van - the "Bothy" named after the Scottish shepherd's huts that are moved from pasture to pasture, was heavily laden with all my tents and kit and that it is a long way to Folkestone and there are many opportunities for delays along the motorways.
In fact, there was little in the way of delay. The worst was trying to get out of Wales - but there is no change there !!
And just to prove that I can park properly in a Services Car Park - in case anyone wanted to post upon my parking galleries...
The Channel tunnel had been backed up due to the heat - apparently the air conditioning had failed due to the excessive heat - so they were packing the cars and vans in as fast as they could get them away - running trains every twenty minutes - meaning that I gained an hour and a half on my voyage schedule.
Last minute notification that the bridge was closed at Essen meant that I opted for the slightly longer journey (28 km) via Cologne, which is where I found myself at about 2am local time, and four hours away from Brokeloh.. So I took the opportunity to sleep in the services and got up at 8am local time having had a decent rest.....
Last year I pushed forward to get there early but ended up in the queues as the gates did not open until 12 midday. This time I times it better and got there about 12.20 and to my surprise drove around the circuit with no delays - and got to the sign in area - where they had 12 lanes organised for cars - and my Sign saying "Künstler TROSS" got me into my own lane and I was signed in within minutes - very well organised... I do not think other players were delayed much either.
I did note that my "free" Bard's ticket - face value 80 Euro would have cost €250 including the extra for early arrival. My trader colleagues inform me that the company charges the advance fee for staff who are traders as well - certainly an advantage being a Bard.
I had set most of my tent up the night before in the cool - so only finishing touches were now required and a walk around the Tross showed that there was not a lot of improvement from the day before.. but the ground was well laid out and clearly marked
And so it was time to renew acquaintances with friends old and new and to start trying to get my German back up to scratch. My near neighbours were the Fire dancers - Flammantasche -
And so to introduce my German friends to the Ancient British custom of Pimms o'clock - drunk of course from Jam Jars - they lovingly provided an umbrella for my drink - a nice touch.
Language is not a real problem at Conquest. Most are able to use English and as it is so international much of the conversations will default to English. No-one should be put off form thinking of coming to this event by worries about the language. For me it was quite difficult at the meetings as things got involved and very fast - and as the only English Speaker in the Guild - the meetings were of course held in German...
So Monday was a chill day - walking around and meeting people from around the Tross.
This year I had been tasked by Rob at LARP Book to take some video of the set up - and so that is what I did. It actually seems to be a bit of a pub crawl... From one point of hospitality to another - did I say how much I enjoy this event ???
I will put the video into order later - but here is the Leather Shop - Skelmir Leder and another find friend - oh - and a Gin and Tonic....
And so the day moved onwards - more tomorrow - but once again to give an idea of the scale of this event - here is a short video of one of the Monster Crews - the Schwarze Eis - or the Black Ice. They are a Borg like mind creature - seem to feel no pain and are hard to kill though great fun to fight. I doff my hat for the way that they continue to fight in the heat - did I mention the heat - over 30 degrees every day - and they still keep coming ....
and this is just the monster crew!!
And so another day was over ... and another stunning sunset..
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