beardeddan wrote:
1. The beard looks great.
2. I saw on Avocadoshake's thread you just got into archery. I used to shoot all the time, way back in the day. I even had a bow made for me by a mongolian master bowmaker. These days I move around too much and always live in cities. People get nervous if you shoot a bow in the park... What do you shoot?

Thanks beardeddan,
I just got into archery in September when a gear shop opened nearby (closest for 100 miles). I bought a (english) longbow and a friend let me use his quiet field, shooting at a bag target from about 15 yards. It was a wonderfully peaceful thing to do for a bit of solitude, even though I didn't really know what I was doing (I read a book...).

When the cold and dark days took over I didn't want to stop, so I joined a local club in November and kept shooting. I've since bought myself a recurve bow (sights, stabilsers, the lot), but I enjoy keeping my hand in with the longbow and have been submitting scores at both over the winter indoor season in the UK (@20m).

I shot a personal best score with each bow last week, so I'm still improving (and still a long way to go) - I simply can't get enough of it.

The Mongolian bows look very interesting and unique, there are so many different aspects of archery to explore and google is very much my archery friend at the moment. So much to learn and totally engaging. I'm very much looking forward to my first outdoor season, shooting from much greater distances than ever before. Shoud be an education.

Are there no clubs near you? There are a few people at our club who only turn up when they are occasionally in town, and with my 'Archery GB' membership card, I believe I could (probably by prior arrangement) shoot at any club in the land without jumping through hoops. Of course it depends how you travel and what you shoot - it would have to be portable.