Hi de hi campers. In an earlier post on this forum I shared a video of a failed Haversack Challenge camp where I bailed out during the night. I made a few mistakes with my shelter which led to me suffering somewhat with smoke inhalation. It wasn't my finest hour, but I explain all in my earlier post and set out some of the lessons learnt.
In that video, I promised to come back for another crack at this minimal kit camping malarkey, and here it is...
For this adventure I changed things up a bit. I swapped out the Helikon Tex Haversack in favour of my Savotta Kahakka 25 daysack. I also swapped out the poncho and survival bag in favour of my wax canvas tarp and sheepskin.
In my previous post I wrote about my disappointment of using the plastic survival bag and how it got destroyed after a single use. This time, I wanted to stop obsessing over squeezing whatever I could in to a tiny haversack (and jacket pockets) and instead compile a daysack full of kit which will not only prove to be more practical, but also something that I can rely on time and time again.
Suffice to say, the canvas and wool kit has never let me down and served me well on this adventure. We had quite a lot of rain on day one, but the weather was much more favourable for us this time and the wood was a little less wet than it was earlier in the season. My friend (Descatty's on youtube) and I opted to pitch our tarps in a plough point configuration with a fire out front. Unlike last time we took care to ensure the wind was blowing through camp and vent the smoke away from us. This worked very well indeed! We enjoyed a great camp with many laughs along the way. We indulged in a spot of carving and also enjoyed some good food.
Outdoor companies and influencers alike will tell you that you need a sleeping mat with an R value of 4+ to survive the night. What a load of poppycock, I'm not a particularly warm sleeper and can assure you that the sheepskin is a surprisingly effective insulator from the ground and kept me very warm indeed.
However, there were some niggles of course it wasn't all plain sailing! The ground in this part of the woodland was strewn with stones and chalk and didn't make for a particularly comfortable bed. There also wasn't much in the way of leaf litter and debris to help make our beds more comfortable (mostly Ash trees in this area of woodland). It was ok though, I slept on a rock atop a tor in Bodmin Moor once and that was much worse!
I also had cold feet during the night and probably should have squeezed in a second pair of socks - lesson learnt. Although I've also had some very sound advice from a fellow BCUKer (thanks Pete!) that I could have put my feet inside my rucksack
As a reminder, the objective of this challenge is for us to enjoy a relatively comfortable night (or two) out in the woods without any conventional sleep kit. This is a challenge that my friends and I have undertaken a few times over the years and we choose to make life harder for ourselves by doing it during the colder months! We have permission to camp in this woodland and have chosen a spot which meant we could easily bail out if things were to go wrong. I also chose this particular spot because I knew the deciduous woodland and chalky ground would be safer for a ground fire. Barring a minor mishap in the early hours of night one where the firewall started to ignite, we managed the fire very carefully indeed and ensured that it was fully extinguished before we went home (usual LNT rules apply!!).
All in all it was a great camp and I look forward to doing something similar next winter. Although I am also looking forward to using a sleeping bag again for the next camp!!
In that video, I promised to come back for another crack at this minimal kit camping malarkey, and here it is...
For this adventure I changed things up a bit. I swapped out the Helikon Tex Haversack in favour of my Savotta Kahakka 25 daysack. I also swapped out the poncho and survival bag in favour of my wax canvas tarp and sheepskin.
In my previous post I wrote about my disappointment of using the plastic survival bag and how it got destroyed after a single use. This time, I wanted to stop obsessing over squeezing whatever I could in to a tiny haversack (and jacket pockets) and instead compile a daysack full of kit which will not only prove to be more practical, but also something that I can rely on time and time again.
Suffice to say, the canvas and wool kit has never let me down and served me well on this adventure. We had quite a lot of rain on day one, but the weather was much more favourable for us this time and the wood was a little less wet than it was earlier in the season. My friend (Descatty's on youtube) and I opted to pitch our tarps in a plough point configuration with a fire out front. Unlike last time we took care to ensure the wind was blowing through camp and vent the smoke away from us. This worked very well indeed! We enjoyed a great camp with many laughs along the way. We indulged in a spot of carving and also enjoyed some good food.
Outdoor companies and influencers alike will tell you that you need a sleeping mat with an R value of 4+ to survive the night. What a load of poppycock, I'm not a particularly warm sleeper and can assure you that the sheepskin is a surprisingly effective insulator from the ground and kept me very warm indeed.
However, there were some niggles of course it wasn't all plain sailing! The ground in this part of the woodland was strewn with stones and chalk and didn't make for a particularly comfortable bed. There also wasn't much in the way of leaf litter and debris to help make our beds more comfortable (mostly Ash trees in this area of woodland). It was ok though, I slept on a rock atop a tor in Bodmin Moor once and that was much worse!
I also had cold feet during the night and probably should have squeezed in a second pair of socks - lesson learnt. Although I've also had some very sound advice from a fellow BCUKer (thanks Pete!) that I could have put my feet inside my rucksack
As a reminder, the objective of this challenge is for us to enjoy a relatively comfortable night (or two) out in the woods without any conventional sleep kit. This is a challenge that my friends and I have undertaken a few times over the years and we choose to make life harder for ourselves by doing it during the colder months! We have permission to camp in this woodland and have chosen a spot which meant we could easily bail out if things were to go wrong. I also chose this particular spot because I knew the deciduous woodland and chalky ground would be safer for a ground fire. Barring a minor mishap in the early hours of night one where the firewall started to ignite, we managed the fire very carefully indeed and ensured that it was fully extinguished before we went home (usual LNT rules apply!!).
All in all it was a great camp and I look forward to doing something similar next winter. Although I am also looking forward to using a sleeping bag again for the next camp!!
