Skills wise..
I take huge enjoyment in being able to craft an item from the resources in the woodland. With time and practice (over the years) it has become a smoother transition from the idea/requirement, to gathering the materials. The task of crafting to using the tools feels almost effortless. This weekend has reinforced to me the importance of continually practicing skills to become efficient when you need to get multiple tasks done.
This was my first attempt at making a super shelter. I knew I would likely make mistakes but understanding the properties of the materials I had access to made the building of the shelter easier and quicker.
I should state that the shelter was made from the woods. The hazel poles were gathered elsewhere and brought to the woods for the weekend as Sam said there was only one small hazel stand in the woods and little in the way of thin straight poles for the shelter.
If I was to redo the shelter again I would make it a bit lower and bring the poles in to decrease the volume that needs heating, this would also have given me the extra length I feel I needed to get the poly sheet cover the shelter better.
The shelter was comfortable with the flexible hazel and I was comfortable in my t-shirt and mor survival scarf until about 2am when I put on my insulated jacket, at 4am I put the wool blanket over me. In the UK with our current temps I feel I would have cooked so the candle heating worked surprisingly well, again this would have worked even better if the shelter was a little smaller.
I would love to do this again in colder temps and design the shelter differently.
The final thought is... I was making an effort to drink through the weekend, especially while working. I felt like I was drinking lots of water but I still got dehydrated by the end of the weekend. Today I still feel like have a hang over even though this was a dry weekend.
Kit wise...
I missed a small folding saw, ideal for those small jobs such as gathering the saplings and cutting the hazel to length.
The 2 kilo survival kit needed a small bag to put the bits in when I was actually using the pot
It was good to be using the Mora classic again, so light I often forgot it was around my neck.
and finally I apricate my 4 season £300 down quilt