Despite the weather forecast being so evil with a storm with damaging winds being predicted and my deciding to cancel our monthly meeting in my usual woods I and one other (who will remain nameless for reasons that will become evident) decided to risk a cheeky one nighter in my other favourite wood (which is a little more sheltered) as we were both desperate for some tree time.
I got to the woods ahead of my mate and set up the communal shelter and my own pitch. While testing the structural integrity of my bed frome one of the side poles and the bottom of one of the tripod legs failed so I had to rejig one tripod and find a new 12@ pole that was straight and strong...
The choice was limited and the new pole was bendy to the point that I had to get that side of my bed a bit higher than the other to allow for the "sag" when I lay in bed... but it was strong enough....
Once my pal arrived I got the fire lit with my trad flint and steel ... luckily there was lots of Birch twiglets amongst the recent mass of small, dead, wood the winds had brought down and we soon had a brew and lunch on the go. We both set to making camp gadgets - I made a billy stick and a wrap warming grill - put the world to rights, listened to the wind in the trees and enjoyed the shelter of the tarp, until it was time to cook dinner. I had boil in the bag stuff but my buddy had real, butchers, burgers.
The temperature plummeted and as neither of us are night owls we had n early night.
During the night the temp kept falling, the wind kept howling (with gusts that sounded like trains roaring through the treetops) and the sound of falling wood was occasionally heard.
I slept like a baby, only waking when a fairly large branch fell somewhere off in the woods, and awoke to enjoy the dawning of a new, drier day, at about 7am.
My companion, however, had been so intimidated by twigs falling on his tarp, the rattle of branches thrashing in the wind above him and being slapped in the face by his tarp during gusts of the wind, that he binned the camp and took his sleeping bag off with him to sleep in the dubious safety of his van (parked where last week a substantial branch had fallen...) only to rejoin me as I got the fire going for breakfast.
He was surprised to find his pitch intact, despite the weather ... I was surprised that he had wimped out....
The wind was still blowing after breakfast - he had fried spam, I had home cured bacon - and we inspected the newly fallen branches littering the woods. Some of these newly fallen bits of tree could have caused serious injury if they had hit anyone (so perhaps he was not such a wimp - more cautiously sensible - I put my faith in a double hawser ridge line to catch any possible debris...) and we found lots of good firewood...
All too soon it was time to pack and go - but I was spiritually refreshed after a good night in the windy woods
I got to the woods ahead of my mate and set up the communal shelter and my own pitch. While testing the structural integrity of my bed frome one of the side poles and the bottom of one of the tripod legs failed so I had to rejig one tripod and find a new 12@ pole that was straight and strong...
The choice was limited and the new pole was bendy to the point that I had to get that side of my bed a bit higher than the other to allow for the "sag" when I lay in bed... but it was strong enough....
Once my pal arrived I got the fire lit with my trad flint and steel ... luckily there was lots of Birch twiglets amongst the recent mass of small, dead, wood the winds had brought down and we soon had a brew and lunch on the go. We both set to making camp gadgets - I made a billy stick and a wrap warming grill - put the world to rights, listened to the wind in the trees and enjoyed the shelter of the tarp, until it was time to cook dinner. I had boil in the bag stuff but my buddy had real, butchers, burgers.
The temperature plummeted and as neither of us are night owls we had n early night.
During the night the temp kept falling, the wind kept howling (with gusts that sounded like trains roaring through the treetops) and the sound of falling wood was occasionally heard.
I slept like a baby, only waking when a fairly large branch fell somewhere off in the woods, and awoke to enjoy the dawning of a new, drier day, at about 7am.
My companion, however, had been so intimidated by twigs falling on his tarp, the rattle of branches thrashing in the wind above him and being slapped in the face by his tarp during gusts of the wind, that he binned the camp and took his sleeping bag off with him to sleep in the dubious safety of his van (parked where last week a substantial branch had fallen...) only to rejoin me as I got the fire going for breakfast.
He was surprised to find his pitch intact, despite the weather ... I was surprised that he had wimped out....
The wind was still blowing after breakfast - he had fried spam, I had home cured bacon - and we inspected the newly fallen branches littering the woods. Some of these newly fallen bits of tree could have caused serious injury if they had hit anyone (so perhaps he was not such a wimp - more cautiously sensible - I put my faith in a double hawser ridge line to catch any possible debris...) and we found lots of good firewood...
All too soon it was time to pack and go - but I was spiritually refreshed after a good night in the windy woods
