There I was, in a field with around 500 other geeks, makers, and hackers, with power and cat5 to any tent that wanted it, wifi to the entire field, a 380Mbps link to the major Milton Keynes datacenter, 1 hop from telehouse, and a grin that lasted all the way to the coach trip home.
There were talks, workshops and general geekiness in every direction.  The badges that we all received before the end of the camp were Arduino-compatibles with RF (nanode/winode compatible), two RGB LEDs, IR send/recieve, Li-Ion battery with charging circuit and a micro-usb programming port which charges the battery too!
The talks were many and varied as well – from Bees to Quadcopters! Â There were even a group called MindHack – a group of amateur hypnotists who meet at the London Hackspace. Â They put on a workshop and a stage show on one of the evenings.
I had to keep popping to the nearest tescos, as you always do when camping, but not only for stuff that I’d forgotten/didn’t have (yeah, glowsticks and extra alchohol as I don’t drink beer), but for cash! I took advantage of many suppliers having kit with them and bought a nanode, a winode, a pibow and a couple of other bits.
Talking of alchohol – there was a bar – a real ale bar – under the M1! And it had a UV Glowing dinosaur and a screening of Doctor Who.  There was also a floating led matrix in the river at one point.
I’ve levelled up my soldering skills, including surface mount soldering so if anyone wants a hand soldering something, I’m happy to pass on the knowledge I’ve learned.
It really was an amazing weekend and I even got that post-amazing-event blues on the coach back, knowing that although I work with geeks, I won’t be interacting with anywhere near as many until at least barcamp blackpool.