Given a 10 figure grid reference, I had thought it would be easy for half a dozen people to meet up in the woods at a specific place, or at least get close enough to each other for visual contact... After all, everyone has a GPS now, even most phones come with a GPS on them...
So I sat on a chestnut stool[1] in the woods, with my GPS saying I was just 8m from the meeting point, awaiting the arrival of the others...
And waiting... I had phone or twitter contact for some of those who I knew were coming, and they were updating me on progress.
It was a chilly grey day, with an indecisive slight breeze that seemed unable to choose a consistent direction to blow in. So I sat on my stool wondering where everyone else was, idly pondering if they were all sat 50m away wondering where everyone else was.
*clap*
That wasn't a twig breaking. Thing is, here I am a woman, in the woods on my own, I don't really want to shout out or otherwise draw attention to my location, except to the bushcrafters.
I whistled. I bird type whistle, entirely not native to these woods. Hoping that a bushcrafter would know it was human, but your average muggle out for a walk would just think it's a weird bird...
I listened for the response. I could hear voices. Voices that I recognised. I stood up to see 3 figures moving through the woods in my direction. Contact, visual contact at last.
"This isn't the coordinates you gave us"
"Yes it is" I proffered my GPSr, showing me within the margin of error of the target location.
Pebblybeach proffered a GPS showing us 50m west of where his device thought the target was. I then asked to see Tankie's GPS. An OS map and compass was presented.
"oh"
Well we'd found each other now, 2 hours later than intended, and not quite as easily as hoped. But now we were 4.
Evaluating the location, we all decided we were better off relocating 50m east of our location. We trudged through the fallen trees, me pushing a loaded Brompton through terrain it really wasn't designed for.
We found a better site, in the shelter of a large Holly tree, next to a fallen chestnut stool. It was flat enough, for us to pitch in, but also concealed enough that noone would be able to see or disturb us.
We set about making camp. I picked a pair of trees and strung up my tarp, choosing a simple lean to with a very steep slope to it, I was mostly wanting some shelter from the wind and some concealment, more than protection from rain. Afterall the forecast was for a dry night...
Tankie got a fire going in the scrape left by the fallen chestnut. The flat root plate providing both a heat reflector and wind shield.
While I was playing with my camp setup pebblybeach started to put up what looked like a marquee, but turned out to be a MLD trailstar. Those things are huge!
Camp up, fire lit, British passport holders present, there was only one logical option. Tea.
At this point we got into a bit of a show and tell, with various bits of titanium appearing for the construction of tea. Me with my evernew set, and pebbly beach with a BPL pocket stove. We extended the show and tell to some other new gadgets and toys, Pebbybeach's new quilt which is mind blowingly light, I held it up to my sleeping bag in it's 20L dry bag, it dwarfed it.
After playing with each others toys for a while, we got a text from Birchwood indicating she was nearby. A search party was dispatched, to lead her in the final 30 yards.
"Where did your GPSr think you should be?"
"My what?"
"oh"
Birchwood set about putting up her camp, while Pebblybeach + Mrs Pebbylbeach had to run off at this point, taking us from 5 to 3.
A few minutes after Tankie wandered back to the car to get his camp kit, I noticed a figure approaching camp from the wrong direction. The figured became 2 figures as it got closer. JPL and Mrs JPL had arrived.
"Did your GPS send you over that way too?"
JPL offered an OS map and a Compass.
"Nope, went to where the coordinates said to go, then headed the 50m east your text mentioned"
At least somebody could use the 10 fig reference to get here then... I had expected it to be easier than this...
Alas it was just a flying visit from the JPL's, but coffee/tea and good conversation was had, during which he suggested that I might want to repitch my tarp a little for when it rained.
They headed off. Back to 3.
The hope had been that with a 1300 RV time, we would have an afternoon to put up camp and mooch around playing with toys and doing some bushcrafty things. Alas it was gone 3 by the time we had all started to meet up, and by the time we had a camp up and running, there wasn't much day light left. We all chose to use that little amount of day light to cook some food. I had shopped in a rush, so hadn't really thought my food out properly, but still managed a very tasty chicken breast roasted in the fire, along with a tasty gravy. I had failed to pick up any carbs or veg to go with it, so had to make do with an Apple pie and some chocolate chip cookies. It worked. Tasted good too.
Our shortage of time also meant that we hadn't really had a chance to collect a pile of firewood to keep the fire going over the evening, so as we sat round the fire to enjoy the evening, we each had to get up and make the occasionally torch lit foray to find more wood.
It felt good to sit back with a bottle of home brew, a fire and good company in the woods. A very pleasant way to spend an evening.
Having turned in early we were all awake pretty early, Tankie woke first, using it as a nice chance to snap some photos, including a rare photo of me.
No really, I'm in this one, if you look closely you can see the top of my sleeping bag, the blue bit inside the DPM under the flecktarn...
He also used it as a chance to pack up, by the time I ventured from my bivvi bag at 0900, his camp was mostly packed up.
During the night it seems we had some rain, nothing heavy, but it had lasted a while. I was glad I had taken the advice to repitch my tarp. I had a nice warm dry nights sleep. Interestingly the rain seemed to only have beaded on one side of my tarp.
Tankie had to head off early, leaving just Birchwood and myself. After a brew and a fried egg sandwich, we also started to break camp. I snapped a couple of photos first.
Birchwood's setup:
Normally when I am bivvying with the Brompton I fold it up and hide it inside my flectarn poncho, locked to a tree. But as there were 3 of us, I had left it folded next to my tent, simply draping the poncho over the top to keep the rain off.
Camp packed up, we cleared up the fire, making sure it was cool and extinguished before covering the fire scar. All that was left now was to head back to civilisation, via a bit more comedy offroading the Brompton really wasn't designed for...
Not a bad weekend, in total 7 people turned up at one point or another, and those that camped survived the night in the warm and dry. Tho next time, maybe we won't rely just on a 10 figure grid reference to meet up by...
Thanks
Julia
[1]That's in the Arboriculture sense of the term, not the furniture sense.
