Good Weekend

I went down South to visit family and managed to fit in some archery too.
Surely one of the most unusual archery venues is Fort Purbrook on the Portsdown Hill just North of Portsmouth. The archery took place in one of the dry moats which is accessed via a tunnel cut through the chalk of the Downs (you can see the strata if flint in the tunnel wall.). I was made very welcomed and I let some of the archers try a couple of bows.
The 40# bamboo backed Yew I'd made a while back found a new home. The guy who had originally commissioned it suddenly disappeared, which is fine, stuff happens that is more important than bows, but it was good to find a home for the bow.

Daniel the guy who runs the club had a go with the 50# spliced Yew billet bow. He was favourable impressed and it was good to see it shot by someone who is a good shot.
I like the way the curve of the bow is echoed by the arch in the wall behind him and the way the arrow is framed in the line of brickwork...The picture was carefully framed like that of course (cough splutter).
I showed off the Molle' too and had a shot into a target on the indoor range before we walked down to the moat. It slammed into the target impressively and Daniels expression showed some surprise at the speed.


The weather was poor over the few days I was away, two days of heavy rain and two of sun. I got some odd jobs done for my Mum and some archery shopping at Quicks.
Had a walk in the woods too which was glorious, following the heavy rain there was a hint of Autumn in the air. I spied one dead Yew tree that had a glorious limb on it like the spar of a ship, unfortunately it was rotten and covered in orange red blobs of fungus.

In the garden, the bumble bees made the best of the sunshine and watching them on the Echinops made me smile. They managed to go about their business like giant furry aliens on these Purple planets without bothering each other. If only we could exist on our world with such good manners.


Update:-
Damn! When will I learn, just spent ages making a point for a flight arrow (1/4" shaft) I put a sliver of horn in the back end and cut the nock. I thought I should see if it flew before "wasting time" putting on the flights. damn thing nosedived and smashed in half on the garage floor. Now maybe the point was too light (24gn) or maybe I'm just an ass for trying it without flights.
(Answers on a postcard to You are an Ass Del. PO box 123 Harlow Essex)
I'm just writing this as a reminder to myself and a note of the point weight.
I still have the point and have just stuck it onto a 9/32" shaft... I'll fletch it before testing this time...