So with plans for all adults to have received a 1st vaccination in the UK by July 19th it seems now would be an appropriate time to set an initial date and time for the first London Outdoor Splunch/Kinknic as per my proposal here: https://umd.net/groups/london-park-picnicsoutdoor-splunches-pro


So for a quick and brief overview of the event:


What is it:
A chance the meet up with fellow sploshers in one of London's park for a chat and a picnic. In the interests of limiting the possibility of any Covid spread AND so that people can cater to their own dietary requirements and/or tastes please bring your own food and drink to this event. Note that this is NOT an event to get wet or messy, so leave the custard pies at home unless you plan to eat it.


When is it:
Starting Saturday July 31st 2pm (British Summer Time) weather permitting I'll be checking the weather forecasts from Wednesday July 28th onwards if they're in agreement about a load of rain on Saturday but Sunday is going to be dry then the Kinknic may be moved to the Sunday. So do please keep checking back. However as people will need some time to plan their journeys I will not be changing the date any later than 00:01 (British Summer Time) on Friday July 30th. So whatever the date being shown on the website on Friday is the date that it will be going ahead.


Where is the first Kinknic:
Greenwich Park. I shall post a map of the park in this thread on the day in question with the general area where we will be looking to meet up. I will bring something distinctive (such as one of the water roulette hat games, the one I have is broken/doesn't work so no there won't be games with it but it seems like an appropriate prop) that I will include in the info along with the map post. There are plenty of shops, restaurants and fast food places between the train/DLR stations and the park entrance for people to grab food from if they wish. There is a pub by the park entrance for those looking for a little Dutch courage beforehand. For those looking to make a full day of things/want an excuse to leave at any point the local area has many attractions including the Meridian/Royal Observatory, Royal Maritime Museum, Old Royal Naval College, Cutty Sark as well as the park itself.


If you have any special concerns, requirements or needs please do either feel free to drop a message below or send me a DM and I'll see what I can do.

Just so that I can gauge possible numbers (so that on the day I can work out if we need a picnic space for like 5 or 25) I'd appreciate it if you think you might attend if you can give this post a like.


Depending on how this event goes there may be further outdoor splunches/kinknics planned at different London Parks (I'm thinking Hyde or Regent's Park next followed possibly by Olympic Park in Stratford), but if you have a park you think you would recommend instead (must fulfil requirements of being easily accessible by public transport, close to places can grab food and have nearby attractions those further afield can use to make into a day trip afterwards) then do feel free to drop in a recommendation below.


Hope to see some of you later this month.

I am tempted depending on workload, so tentative yes.

Also, how is this not at "Mudchute park", just north of Greenwich Park? Seems way more apt

Good good.

Being an ex-Pokemon Go player I've managed to accumulate experience on most of London's parks (apart from a small pocket of parks around Battersea/Clapham Common area in Zones 1-2 of SW London (though the outer SW parks like Richmond and Bushy I have got experience of) and based on that experience I was looking for the first meetup to try locate the park that had the fewest reasons for it to fail (that way if nobody turns up I can attribute it to lack of demand than say something like perhaps people would have been able to drive and park at a park outside the congestion zone etc).

Greenwich Park seemed to be the best all round choice based on all the factors I weighed up (access by public transport, quality of that public transport [ie is being roasted on the Central/Bakerloo lines in the height of summer likely to affect many people going], parking/congestion charge, proximity to food outlets, nearby attractions for people wanting to make a day out of it/have an excuse ready to leave if they wish and the size of the park relative to its local area to determine what is the likelihood of being able to find a space for a group if the weather is good and all the locals flock to it. Greenwich Park proved the best all round option in that analysis and it was only if it turned out everyone interested in attending an event like this had said in the proposal thread they're all coming from the opposite side of London that perhaps another park would have been a better first option.

Whilst Mudchute Park is certainly a possibility for a future meetup if there are people interested in attending it however for the first meetup factors that played against Mudchute as option for the first meet up were: Lack of nearby food outlets (pretty much just Asda and the Mudchute City Farm Cafe, few nearby attractions for people to disappear to (whilst Mudchute City Farm is nice to go round it isn't an all day thing and with just that nearby attraction people have less options to shake off anyone who they feel might follow them), with most of Mudchute Park taken up by the city farm and nearby Millwall Park taken up by a cricket pitch that could be in use that time of year there is a good chance of not being able to find a space to congregate if much of the Isle of Dogs come out to bask in good weather.

That being said Mudchute Park and the farm are certainly decent options for a future meet if a regular group/event is formed but in terms of weighing up locations with the least risk factors for the first meetup there were many parks higher on my rankings.

However because of the farm it does mean that there is mud at Mudchute... Except the pigs have laid claim to all of it!

Thanks...but it was just a joke on the name. I have never be sarf of the river and know nothing about the various places.

No worries I got the joke, I make similar ones about it being called that because there is a "snowless" toboggan run there on the rare occasion I'm going past it on the DLR with someone I know who doesn't know any better.

But with its city farm there it isn't actually an potentially interesting venue and in case anyone from the Isle of Dogs was wondering well why not thought I'd clarify the reasoning. Was also a good opportunity to articulate the reasons for opting for Greenwich Park just in case anyone thought that I was opting for it because I "probably lived in the borough". I once did but haven't lived in the borough of Greenwich for more than 20+ years now. In the interests of protecting my actual location I shan't eliminate any of the other 31 boroughs, or the City of London...

This sounds like so much fun! I'm new to the site and just saw this - I'd love to come and meet up with people in London

I now can't make it due to riding BIIIGGGG motorbikes. Hopefully the next one.

Might be interested in coming if nothing else comes up. I'm more concerned about extreme heat than C19.

I'm well up for meeting fellow sploshers I'll be there

Totally understandable, when coming up with the idea my biggest personal concern was about the possibility of a heatwave on the date in question as I do badly in the heat. I'm acclimatised for arctic conditions and would probably have been looking for a spot on the edge of the shadow line caused by the trees so people could choose either the shadows or to catch some rays.

Judging from the long term forecasts though may not be that bad for heat, more the possibility of showers that could be a concern.



Good stuff hope to see you both there.


What this big? https://www.musclecarszone.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/003-Monster-Bike.jpg In which case I wanna have a go too...



Also I've eventually got round to putting my fat arse back on FetLife with a characteristically waffly profile (before anyone shoots over there in the hopes of potentially finding any additional WAM content I may have posted it's a BDSM centric one, I'll be keeping my splosh/WAM focus here) so if anyone has any suggestions for groups over there (besides the London Splosh group) that may wish to receive notification of the outdoor splunch event (ie they allow event postings and isn't a local group on the other side of the world) then feel free to let me know and I'll see about posting the event there when I sit down to post to the London Splosh group.

It might be an idea to put this on the FetLife calendar?! (I can do that if you don't have an account)

@theStickyTrickster: The sooner the better to gain attendees...

Hi Jim,

I have just recently re-joined FetLife with my new StickyTrickster account to be able to post the event to the London Splosh group.

I have for the past week been monitoring the long weather predictions on a number of weather services (BBC, Accuweather etc) for the 31st/1st weekend with the hope there would be a clear picture as to whether the weather would be fine on the Saturday or whether it may need moving to the Sunday and that with a clear picture I would be able to post the event details with certainty.

Unfortunately each time I seem to check each of them they each keep changing their mind whether it will rain or not on either Saturday or Sunday and saying the opposite from each other.

I shall make a brief post to the group tonight with the caveat saying that by Thursday evening a final decision will be posted on whether to hold it on the Saturday, Sunday or following weekend based on the available weather information.

I was hoping the weather information might be more certain to avoid having to post such uncertain information but alas it looks like it will be unavoidable.

So after many days of disagreement the weather services are each in agreement that it is going to rain on Saturday 31st July, Saturday 7th July and Sunday 8th July. The one point of disagreement is Sunday 1st August with some thinking it will rain and others thinking it won't. In my personal experience I have found Accuweather to generally be the most accurate of the weather services and it reckons it is unlikely to rain with only a 25% chance of any rain for Sunday 1st August. This combined with all the weather services being in agreement for rain on the other days means I'm going to gamble on Accuweather and move the outdoor splunch to Sunday 1st August at 2 pm.

So the weather for meeting up this Sunday is now looking pretty 50:50 as to whether it will rain or not. Can totally understand if the threat of rain means nobody fancies taking the chance to meet up but having posted for an event this Sunday now I'm committed to going ahead in case anyone fancies chancing the weather. Unfortunately weather next weekend looks no better and in an effort to keep these two weekends free for a potential splunch I had to schedule things into the two weekends after next.

Anyway my intent is to find a spot somewhere in the circled area in this map of the park. I'll bring with me a bucket as a symbol so people can work out where we/I am.

If you plan to take a chance on the weather and come still but might be running late please do drop me a DM to let me know. Given I suspect the questionable weather situation might put a lot of people off I wouldn't want to assume after about 15 minutes that nobody is showing up only to find some were running late and I'd left already.

Did many people make it in the end?

Event defeated by threat of possible rain. Hung around until drizzle started around 2:25 ish but with no sign of anyone or any messages saying people on the way I took off rather than sit in the drizzle. Was worth a try, just a bit of bad luck with all the weather forecasts.

With Covid regulations now making indoor meets possible and having no way to control the weather for outdoor meets I'm of the belief it is best waiting for the normal indoor splunches to resume. As stated from the beginning I'm not seeking to usurp/replace whatever events ran pre-Covid so shall wait for the pro's to restart theirs.