Aug

Webtogs at Croissant Neuf Festival – 14th, 15th & 16th of August.

seb

I spent the last weekend at a fantastic boutique festival in Wales called Croissant Neuf. Taking place just outside Usk, Monmouthshire, it has been going for around 30 years and has a distinct hippie vibe to it, reminiscent of the Woodstock-era.

The entire event was solar powered (from the lighting and amps to the showers), had a “healing area” full of alternative health shops and chill-out hammocks, various arts & crafts workshops (including Chinese lantern making!) and more – you get the picture. Even better, all the food was organic, local produce as were the ales and cider.

The music selection was eclectic, ranging from Hip-Hop to Ska, Reggae, Folk and Electro, and the crowd was really diverse, including families with small children, old hippies, teenagers, students and more. In true Webtogs fashion, it was of course an absolute prerequisite for me to go to the festival adequately prepared for the outdoors madness to come. The weather forecast predicted some heavy rain on the first night (the rest of the time we were lucky to enjoy some dazzling sunshine) and the fact that the whole festival was solar powered made me think that at night time, the lighting wouldn’t be great.

I picked my gear accordingly:

Vango Festival Pack

Gerber Recon Torch

Mountain Equipment Graviton Jacket

Exclusive to Webtogs, the Vango Festival Pack provides fantastic value for money. It includes two Vango Adventure sleeping pads, two Vango Tundra Square Sleeping Bags and a Vango Zetes 200 tent. The tent was a breeze to set up, spacious enough to comfortably fit in two people and not a single rain drop came through despite rain showers that reminded me of the average monsoon. The sleeping bag were just right – not too warm, perfect for the warm Summer weather and the sleeping pads were good enough to ensure I wasn’t obliged to go consult one of the many hippie osteopaths present at the festival.

The lighting was quite bad and it got quite dark at night, which was the perfect opportunity to whip out my Gerber Recon torch. This is quite possibly the most awesome torch / gizmo / generally awesome thing that I have ever owned. Although I didn’t use all 4 colour settings for their intended purpose (instead of using the green light to read maps I was using it to create dazzling light shows for all those present), the white light packs a punch, illuminating the path in front of you better than the average football pitch floodlight. The best thing about this torch is that it’s TINY, fitting neatly into your pocket awaiting to serve you in your time of need.

The Mountain Equipment Graviton Jacket was also absolutely perfect. Incredibly waterproof, it protected me perfectly at all times from the wind and rain. What’s really good about this jacket, is that it includes a little pouch you can fold it up into, allowing you to either hang it around your belt once the rain has subsided, or better, stealthily place it in the handbag of one of the girls you may have in your company, to avoid having to carry it at all (a tactic I used on several occasions). In any case this jacket is so light that the bearer will hardly notice carrying it at all.

I would highly recommend this festival to anyone looking to just kick back, relax and enjoy some nice music & arts. It was quite possibly the nicest, most chilled out festival I have been to, full of nice, happy people.
My only criticism was that although it was called Croissant Neuf, they didn’t…. sell…. ANY ……. croissants!!