January saw John, Lee and Chris at the OS Outdoors Show at ExCel in London's Docklands in their guise as The Three Broadsketeers. We spent four long, hard days spreading the message about how wonderful the Broads National Park is and talked to loads of people about how to Discover the Broads at Clippesby Hall, so thanks to all those who took the time to stop and chat.
We stayed in a motor home on the other side of the Thames at a C&C club site in Abbey Wood, near Greenwich. Good site in a slightly less than salubrious location, good facilities, just a little too much tarmac for Chris our extreme camper.
Travelled into ExCel every day on the Docklands Light Railway, which surpassed our expectations. Great service, which bodes well for the Olympics in 2012. One tip for Boris though; sort the ticket checking arrangements out - we bought travelcards every day and despite going on into central London most nights, they were only checked once or twice during our whole stay!
Our stand at the Show was next to Simon King promoting his new online wildlife community http://www.wildlifewhisperer.tv/ Was great to see him there on the stand each day working hard, not just letting his team do the work. Shared our stand with Norfolk Tourism http://www.visitnorfolk.co.uk/ promoting all things Norfolk and TheCanoeMan http://www.thecanoeman.com/ a partner of ours in exploring the Broads and a great provider of canoe trails and bushcraft stuff.
Celebrity highlight of the weekend: Ben Fogle (without his pass) not being allowed entry to the Show, trying to convince the security girl he was a celebrity, in the end having to point to his photo on the poster hung next to her in order to get in!
Of course it wasn't all hard work, and after a tough day at the Show there didn't seem a better way to unwind than heading into central London, so many thanks to the Argyle Arms near Oxford Circus for fantastic real ales (amazing traditional pub with Victorian glass interior), the Wong Kei Chinese restaurant on Wardour Street near Leicester Square (one of Chris's old haunts from 25 years ago and still serving brilliant food in unpretentious surroundings and with unique service!) and various Indian restaurants on Brick Lane in east London (just an amazing place to visit).
The next date on the Broadsketeers Tour 2011 is the Outdoor Leisure Show at the NEC, Birmingham from 25th-27th February. Tickets available from http://www.outdoorleisureshow.com/ Hope to see you there.
