We agreed last night that we would go out as a family to the forest. We woke up this morning to a cold, wet overcast day. I'd packed my erm, pack, the night before so after a hearty breakfast we threw children, dog and pack in the car regardless. A short while later, with chatty children in the back, a dog that barks when he sees another dog as we zoom by, rubbish pop music and a smattering of rain, we got to the forest, in absolute silence...
Shouldering my pack and zipping my youngest into his coat we all bimbled off the tarmac and onto the gravel and mud. It was chilly but the walking kept us warm. As we headed upwards into heavily forested hills the mist and low cloud got worse. For a while I honestly thought the children or my wife would suddenly turn around and head back. But they didn't and morale was kept high with mushroom spotting and a slow trickle of sugary sweets... autumn colours are coming on in a March.
The children made it to 4km until they started to flag. So I turned the conversation to what we need for a good campsite. My oldest shouted 'a fire!'. Not a bad idea I thought, but first we would look for level, sheltered ground and put the tarp up. I set about putting up an Adriondack shelter with my 3x3 DD tarp. I put down my JervenBag as a ground sheet and as we were feeling the cold I pulled out a faithful US army poncho liner as a light blanket. Fire was my next thought so I pushed over a small dead standing pine and used my Laplander saw to process it. Everything in the forest was soaking wet so I made some not so pretty feather sticks and lit them with a bic lighter. With chilly children now was not the time to mess about! 20 minutes later, camp was set and a fire going well.
Everyone needed hot chocolate. I filled my 12 cm Zebra and made a pot hanger to hold it over the flames to boil. I used a lot of pine to get a roar going and in good time everyone was warming their hands round a hot cup. Time for lunch. For the grown ups, pasta carbonara and for the children? Sweet pancakes.
I used my LiTech Teflon 11 cm fry pan to make the pancakes while the pasta cooked. Then we all sat in the shelter, quietly chewing and sipping our hot drinks.
Fed and after a short time of all of us wrapped in the poncho liner, I left the wife by the fire and the children and I went exploring. We circumnavigated the shelter, finding a fresh deer couch, more mushrooms, a giant dew covered spiders Web........ we all got back from the mini adventure safe and sound.
Time to wash the dishes and Stoke the fire. I took the log facing the shelter away and put on more dead standing beech branches. I used moss to glean the pans, cups etc. Moss is an amazing natural sponge scourer and incredibly effective. I dried the zebra send metal cups in the fire to sterilise them before packing everything away.
Heading back into the mist, we walked back to the car and more hot chocolate!
Apologies for the bad pictures, I really need to get a decent camera......
Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk
Shouldering my pack and zipping my youngest into his coat we all bimbled off the tarmac and onto the gravel and mud. It was chilly but the walking kept us warm. As we headed upwards into heavily forested hills the mist and low cloud got worse. For a while I honestly thought the children or my wife would suddenly turn around and head back. But they didn't and morale was kept high with mushroom spotting and a slow trickle of sugary sweets... autumn colours are coming on in a March.
The children made it to 4km until they started to flag. So I turned the conversation to what we need for a good campsite. My oldest shouted 'a fire!'. Not a bad idea I thought, but first we would look for level, sheltered ground and put the tarp up. I set about putting up an Adriondack shelter with my 3x3 DD tarp. I put down my JervenBag as a ground sheet and as we were feeling the cold I pulled out a faithful US army poncho liner as a light blanket. Fire was my next thought so I pushed over a small dead standing pine and used my Laplander saw to process it. Everything in the forest was soaking wet so I made some not so pretty feather sticks and lit them with a bic lighter. With chilly children now was not the time to mess about! 20 minutes later, camp was set and a fire going well.
Everyone needed hot chocolate. I filled my 12 cm Zebra and made a pot hanger to hold it over the flames to boil. I used a lot of pine to get a roar going and in good time everyone was warming their hands round a hot cup. Time for lunch. For the grown ups, pasta carbonara and for the children? Sweet pancakes.
I used my LiTech Teflon 11 cm fry pan to make the pancakes while the pasta cooked. Then we all sat in the shelter, quietly chewing and sipping our hot drinks.
Fed and after a short time of all of us wrapped in the poncho liner, I left the wife by the fire and the children and I went exploring. We circumnavigated the shelter, finding a fresh deer couch, more mushrooms, a giant dew covered spiders Web........ we all got back from the mini adventure safe and sound.
Time to wash the dishes and Stoke the fire. I took the log facing the shelter away and put on more dead standing beech branches. I used moss to glean the pans, cups etc. Moss is an amazing natural sponge scourer and incredibly effective. I dried the zebra send metal cups in the fire to sterilise them before packing everything away.
Heading back into the mist, we walked back to the car and more hot chocolate!
Apologies for the bad pictures, I really need to get a decent camera......
Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk
