Part 3
After the fire had got going and the place had warmed up a bit we got dinner on the go. We boiled up some pasta and mixed in some bolognese. No need to make a pot hanger, we just suspended the pot from some chord tied around the Lavvu apex. I tied an adjustable loop knot on the end which I normally use for my tarp guy lines. It worked a treat, letting us raise and lower the pot. To make it even better, you could carve a small hook to attach to the loop so you don't have to untie the knot every time.
After eating our fill we settled down for the night. The fire burnt well with little smoke, keeping the place warm and we only had to re-stack it a couple of times each throughout the night. It was like having our own wee log cabin!
The main problem I had, being so close to the fire was that I was paranoid of melting my bivi bag with a stray spark. I had brought a reindeer skin with me to use as a ground mat. But the bed I was lying on was good and thick, so I stuck the skin on top of my bivi bag instead to protect it. When I go again, I won't take my synthetic sleeping bag and bivi, instead I will take a wool blanket. Wool isn't going to burn through in a hurry and its much tougher. Combined with the reindeer pelt, this would be a better sleeping set up for the tipi. The same can be said for clothing and rucksacks, non-synthetics are a safer bet.
I woke up first in the morning, with the fire smouldering by my side. There was a definate chill in the air, I stumbled out of the Lavvu and winter had descended!
Yours truly:
A good inch or two of snow had fallen overnight and it was continuing to fall heavily. Jonathan woke at this point and we decided to go for a pre breakfast exploration. We followed the river down to the loch and out of the trees there was quite a wind blowing the snow. I was regretting not bringing the fur hat, but we were loving it!
We headed back to the lavvu and we really appreciated the warm and dry space where we could hang up our coats to dry off. We could see the difference a shelter like this would make if you were staying long term. My breakfast fare is always porridge, so I got a good amount bubbling away and johnathan toasted some bread. This was the only point where smoke became a problem. Basicly we were too hungry to bother splitting any more wood, so we cooked over whole logs...mistake, the place soon got smokey.
With breakfast eaten we prepared for the trek back. The weather hadn't let up and the snow was still falling heavily, we though it best to get out while we still could. It was really difficult to leave our warm, cozy refuge for the blizzard outside. We finally packed up our bags, extinguished the fire and wrapped up for the hike out. Walking down past the loch, the snow was lying heavily and the trek through it made a fantastic ending to our trip.
The tipi/lavvu type shelter is a lot of work to complete but there is something magical about it; with the light of the fire dancing around the walls and the scent of spruce boughs in the air. These shelters have been used for thousands of years...and its easy to see why.