Yesterday despite a pretty poor forecast the weather was a solid 19 degrees and dry.
That was all I really needed to persuade me out to try the Wynnchester Adventure Bag I bought from Kevin the owner of Wynnchester last weekend at the Wilderness Gathering. However, we also found we were missing a chicken during the day and so staking out the henhouse was completely in order.
We got back home around 6.30 and I grabbed my bedroll, pack and boomstick before my two daughters started making "Me too Dad" type noises.
I picked a spot in our paddocks that had not had animals in since April. This ensured no dung was present and so should minimise the horse flies that follow our ponies. This area is also away from our pond for the same reasons as well as being secluded and only about 100m from the hens.
By the time the girls turned up I had thrown down my bedroll and pitched 2 pop up tents for them and concluded that Charlie Fox was probably not on the cards. So I chose a spot for a fire and put up the tripod.
The girls went and bedded down our menagerie and collected firewood before Mum and our boy turned up to complete the party. Together they collected a wheelbarrow full of firewood as twighlight started to descend.
Oh well might I will use the opportunity to practice a skill I have struggled with while I have the chance. So out came flint and steel bought from Shark Tinderbox last weekend also. Thanks so much for their extra patience in helping me to get the right technique and kit. It didn't take me long to catch a spark on the fragment of Amadou fungi. I tipped the ember into a bundle of fence snagged fleece, cotton wool and straw. Gently I nurtured this to flame.
Unfortunately for me the girls had not collected anything smaller than a finger thick so things were not looking good for my fledgling flame. I grabbed some fatwood from my fire kit and got that going while my wife went and grabbed "nothing thicker than a match"
Soon with much blowing we had fire!
We built a lay to be big, bright and warm as the temperature fell off a cliff.
So then started an impromptu brew, marshmallow cook out and later a sing song.
All my tension slowly ebbed away. It was not far short of 10pm when Mum an Boy headed home. The girls and I lingered another hour as the fire burned lower and the songs turned more mellow and quieter.
It was turning chilly but the clear sky showed an amazing starscape. I picked out some obvious ones and showed them how to find the Big Dipper and North Star. I must learn more.
Time to turn in. Getting damn right cold now and the dew had come down hard.
I unzipped my Adventure Bag. Into this I had placed a doubled over Sebian Army wool blanket. On this sat my Thermarest Neoair and a doubled over fleece blanket on that. I found an old cottony square sleeping bag in the loft and fancied using that as a quilt on top of me.
I kicked off my shoes and stood slightly precariously at the head end while removing my jeans, Flecktarn Parka and Swanndri Ranger shirt then slipped in between the covers. I bundled these clothes up and stuffed them into the big pocket at the head end provided to be my pillow. My shoes fitted ok in the gap above my pillow but if you suffer from smelly feet you might want to bag them up. I don't so I dumped my pocket content into one shoe as there is no provision for these in the bag. With my usual sleeping bag there is a pocket but not on el cheapo quilty millets kip gear.
The glow from my Midnighthound groupbuy Tritium Keyring was really useful once again on my car key in the shoe. I deposited my glasses and zipped up the bag, securing the hoop that makes a vaulted space above your torso to keep the canvas off.
I wriggled and snuggled myself into my bag tucking in to avoid cold spaces and trying to keep away from the cold metal of my gun, for which there was ample room beside me. Peace descended, nothing stirred but an odd pop from the glowing fire. I enjoyed being able to spread out unlike in my hammock. My usual relaxed position on my back "The Frog" as my wife calls it. The adventure bag has heaps of leg space.
I was worried about being stuffy in there so had turned the mesh end into the prevailing breeze. I needn't have worried. The air was fresh around my face all night and I woke a couple hours later with a cold nose and became aware of my younger daughter whimpering. She was too cold. My eldest daughter woke too and kindly invited her in to her tent for a sleepover and I think they both enjoyed a cuddle up for warmth as the temperature hit 5 degrees C. I was very comfortable in my cocoon.
Soon peace returned and I buried my nose against the cold vowing to avoid being oriented into the breeze again.
At one point in the night I thought my phone buzzed but it was a distant cow mooing.
Then it was daylight. One of our Cockerels crowed. The ponies grazed in the next paddock. I fiercely needed a pee! So I unzipped the bag, unVelcro'd and dumped back the canvas to reveal a beautiful sunny morning. I wriggled out and struggled to stand up and slipped on my shoes having tipped out the contents first. So probably time to reflect in the lack of privacy offered both by hammocks and bedrolls. I'm planning a more substantial canvas tarp set up for longer camps. God knows the image of me emerging to answer the call of nature is not one is willingly inflict on you.
I then took off my dew soaked shoes and wriggled back in. The sun was surprisingly strong and so I lay out with the canvas thrown back for an hour or so before the breeze picked up, clouds filtered the sunlight and I zipped myself back in.
Next thing it was nearly 10am! I normally only Sleep 6 hours tops.
Morning!
Well I obviously got myself comfortable. I will try to lighten my bedding going forward but I was glad for all of it last night. Dew dampens the Adventure Bag but it dried rapidly in the sun. There was a bit of condensation above me on the canvas but I remained dry. More importantly so did my gun.
I have a small concern that had Charlie turned up my scope may have fogged between internal and external temperature change but I will see about this in future.
Lack of storage for wet shoes and pocket contents really are my only criticisms of the Wynnchester Adventure Bag.
I'm waiting for a neighbour to turn me two spreader bars to use the bag as a hammock and rigging a tarp will obviously give me more possibilities for storage and privacy.
Well no fox but a great fun night for my family made adventure for me by Kevin and Wynnchester.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That was all I really needed to persuade me out to try the Wynnchester Adventure Bag I bought from Kevin the owner of Wynnchester last weekend at the Wilderness Gathering. However, we also found we were missing a chicken during the day and so staking out the henhouse was completely in order.
We got back home around 6.30 and I grabbed my bedroll, pack and boomstick before my two daughters started making "Me too Dad" type noises.
I picked a spot in our paddocks that had not had animals in since April. This ensured no dung was present and so should minimise the horse flies that follow our ponies. This area is also away from our pond for the same reasons as well as being secluded and only about 100m from the hens.
By the time the girls turned up I had thrown down my bedroll and pitched 2 pop up tents for them and concluded that Charlie Fox was probably not on the cards. So I chose a spot for a fire and put up the tripod.
The girls went and bedded down our menagerie and collected firewood before Mum and our boy turned up to complete the party. Together they collected a wheelbarrow full of firewood as twighlight started to descend.
Oh well might I will use the opportunity to practice a skill I have struggled with while I have the chance. So out came flint and steel bought from Shark Tinderbox last weekend also. Thanks so much for their extra patience in helping me to get the right technique and kit. It didn't take me long to catch a spark on the fragment of Amadou fungi. I tipped the ember into a bundle of fence snagged fleece, cotton wool and straw. Gently I nurtured this to flame.
Unfortunately for me the girls had not collected anything smaller than a finger thick so things were not looking good for my fledgling flame. I grabbed some fatwood from my fire kit and got that going while my wife went and grabbed "nothing thicker than a match"
Soon with much blowing we had fire!
We built a lay to be big, bright and warm as the temperature fell off a cliff.
So then started an impromptu brew, marshmallow cook out and later a sing song.
All my tension slowly ebbed away. It was not far short of 10pm when Mum an Boy headed home. The girls and I lingered another hour as the fire burned lower and the songs turned more mellow and quieter.
It was turning chilly but the clear sky showed an amazing starscape. I picked out some obvious ones and showed them how to find the Big Dipper and North Star. I must learn more.
Time to turn in. Getting damn right cold now and the dew had come down hard.
I unzipped my Adventure Bag. Into this I had placed a doubled over Sebian Army wool blanket. On this sat my Thermarest Neoair and a doubled over fleece blanket on that. I found an old cottony square sleeping bag in the loft and fancied using that as a quilt on top of me.
I kicked off my shoes and stood slightly precariously at the head end while removing my jeans, Flecktarn Parka and Swanndri Ranger shirt then slipped in between the covers. I bundled these clothes up and stuffed them into the big pocket at the head end provided to be my pillow. My shoes fitted ok in the gap above my pillow but if you suffer from smelly feet you might want to bag them up. I don't so I dumped my pocket content into one shoe as there is no provision for these in the bag. With my usual sleeping bag there is a pocket but not on el cheapo quilty millets kip gear.
The glow from my Midnighthound groupbuy Tritium Keyring was really useful once again on my car key in the shoe. I deposited my glasses and zipped up the bag, securing the hoop that makes a vaulted space above your torso to keep the canvas off.
I wriggled and snuggled myself into my bag tucking in to avoid cold spaces and trying to keep away from the cold metal of my gun, for which there was ample room beside me. Peace descended, nothing stirred but an odd pop from the glowing fire. I enjoyed being able to spread out unlike in my hammock. My usual relaxed position on my back "The Frog" as my wife calls it. The adventure bag has heaps of leg space.
I was worried about being stuffy in there so had turned the mesh end into the prevailing breeze. I needn't have worried. The air was fresh around my face all night and I woke a couple hours later with a cold nose and became aware of my younger daughter whimpering. She was too cold. My eldest daughter woke too and kindly invited her in to her tent for a sleepover and I think they both enjoyed a cuddle up for warmth as the temperature hit 5 degrees C. I was very comfortable in my cocoon.
Soon peace returned and I buried my nose against the cold vowing to avoid being oriented into the breeze again.
At one point in the night I thought my phone buzzed but it was a distant cow mooing.
Then it was daylight. One of our Cockerels crowed. The ponies grazed in the next paddock. I fiercely needed a pee! So I unzipped the bag, unVelcro'd and dumped back the canvas to reveal a beautiful sunny morning. I wriggled out and struggled to stand up and slipped on my shoes having tipped out the contents first. So probably time to reflect in the lack of privacy offered both by hammocks and bedrolls. I'm planning a more substantial canvas tarp set up for longer camps. God knows the image of me emerging to answer the call of nature is not one is willingly inflict on you.
I then took off my dew soaked shoes and wriggled back in. The sun was surprisingly strong and so I lay out with the canvas thrown back for an hour or so before the breeze picked up, clouds filtered the sunlight and I zipped myself back in.
Next thing it was nearly 10am! I normally only Sleep 6 hours tops.
Morning!
Well I obviously got myself comfortable. I will try to lighten my bedding going forward but I was glad for all of it last night. Dew dampens the Adventure Bag but it dried rapidly in the sun. There was a bit of condensation above me on the canvas but I remained dry. More importantly so did my gun.
I have a small concern that had Charlie turned up my scope may have fogged between internal and external temperature change but I will see about this in future.
Lack of storage for wet shoes and pocket contents really are my only criticisms of the Wynnchester Adventure Bag.
I'm waiting for a neighbour to turn me two spreader bars to use the bag as a hammock and rigging a tarp will obviously give me more possibilities for storage and privacy.
Well no fox but a great fun night for my family made adventure for me by Kevin and Wynnchester.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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, but fortunately in the uk I'm in no rush to try it 
