Bushcraft Trip 2005

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TheViking

Native
Jun 3, 2004
1,864
4
35
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Hello all. Just returned from our yearly trip to Sweden. This time we had good weather, but the last few years we have had at least one rainy day. We started the 26th of June at 07.00 in the morning and drove to Sweden, which took a good 6 hours at least. I can't remember the exact time. The town was called Fegen and the route was 70 km. long. We arrived in the afternoon in Fegen and after 30-40 minutes we sat in the canoe. The first day we paddled 4 km. in 45 min. which is a good speed. It was getting late and we were a bit hungry after the long cardrive. We erected a good shelter (there's a pic of it below here) and quickly went to sleep. But not much sleep we got, at least not me. For 3 straight hours, I got irritated by all the mosquitoes. There was unbelieveably many and it is in situations like this, where a £3 mosquitonet will save you and not a shiny, brand new AW Woodlore or something like that. ;)

All the mornings we stood up pretty late at 08.30 and was in the canoe at 09.30 or there abouts. The food was crap most days to say the least. Canned food, but different every night. Well, we paddled on and saw that tere was a knifemaker very nearby so we decided to visit him, but the way to get to him was a diversion from the original route. When we had paddled a few kilometres to get to him, we couldn't even get up anywhere. That was a 2-3 km. detour. :rolleyes:
The rest of the week we just paddled and paddled, 70 km. in 4 days and 45 min. which is fairly good. There were two times where we had to carry the canoe (we had a little cart to drive it on) a good 400 m. This is peace of cake when you have this little foldable cart. One time we had to carry it for 2 kilometres and one time we had to carry it for 3 km.

After the 3 kilometre carry, we suddenly stood face to face with a little waterfall, something we have tried many times before, but this time the current was very, very strong. There were rocks and you could probably get badly hurt if you fell onto them. Nonetheless we scouted after a possible way through it as it looked like fun, but dangerous. But we couldn't find any. There were rocks and stones in the water everywhere, and because it was low water, the "foss" as they call it was much more powerful. Every man with just a little brain would have gone around this one and we decided to do to.

Problem was we were stuck on 2 stones on the water and the current was pushing us further into the "foss". :eek: We spotted a little less powerful foss over on the right, my guess is we were only 7-8 metres away from it. It was covered from the big foss by some stones.
We tried to break free and get over there, but the current was simply too strong. Finally we did manage to get the canoe free from the stones and head over there, but that foss wasn't done with us yet. Problem now was that my father sat in the back and he was being dragged by the current into the foss. So as I have said so many times before, don't just let things slide. With one leg I jumped into the water and tried to find a good stand. I pulled the canoe away from the current and onto some rocks where it could rest and my dad get his breath again. :)
Once again it is not an AW Woodlore that is going to save your a*s, when it burns, but energetic and control. :)

Standing on some stones later on, looking at the foss we could see that he could've got hurt, more or less badly, especially if the canoe had tipped over. :cool:

That was it I think, questions are welcome. :D Pics to follow in the next post.
 

TheViking

Native
Jun 3, 2004
1,864
4
35
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OK, here are the pics. I think they speak for themselves. :)

















This is the great foss. ;)


And this is my leg after the foss.
 

tenbears10

Native
Oct 31, 2003
1,220
0
xxxx
Great write up Andy. Who were you travelling with? I recognise the canoe it's just like the ones we used on the Vildmark course.
 

TheViking

Native
Jun 3, 2004
1,864
4
35
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Thanks Bill and Marts. I was travelling with my dad.

The canoe is a 2 person Inkas 545 IIRC. :)
 

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