Scruffy dog said:
Hi all, I would definately be interested, bit of a newbie to 'real' BCing, but have spent some time bivvied up in the wilds of Wales and done a bit of canoeing.
Also I can cook and know a bit of 1st Aid.
Ah well enough of the CV, any more info on dates / cost would be great.
Cheers
Scruffy Dog
Hi matey, sorry for the delay but I'm awfully busy at the mo. Dates are decided at 2007 now, I will do all I can to get it to go ahead then although it's as hard for me to fit in as anyone else. It must be in August, spilling into September if necessary.
This is for a number of reasons - 1 that we need light really, so it has to be between May and September, 2 that we need to gather food, so it again must be May - September, 3 that it must be late summer (July-September) to ensure that the ground is ground and not mile upon mile of thawmarsh, 4 that it needs to be warm enough, which is June to August, 5 that it'd be a lot better with less mosquitoes, which is August to September. September is pretty cold up there, especially on exposed land and in the water (which is all of it, pretty much), and the evenings draw in, so August is the only ideal month.
It will take about 4 weeks, 2 of which will be walking with canoes, 2 of paddling in canoes. They weigh a fair bit (about 17 kilos) so there will be a buddy system of kit carrying (ie one man has a canoe, his buddy has both of their kits eg sleeping bag). Food I intend to reconnoitre in next summer, failing that in the months before it goes ahead.
Costs are much less easy - the canoes cost about 2 grand. If we hire them it could well be cheaper but there are complications with getting them back, and cross-border insurance etc. Also, there are complications full stop with crossing the border into Sweden (and inadvertently Finland, if we go onto the wrong river bank
), regarding knives, firearms if anyone is hunting (this is still in question and rightly so, at least until I can nail down a list of committed people), etc etc. A return to Tromsø is between 100 and 200 quid. Personal bushcraft kit I am assuming you have but if not, the basics are: a knife, a sleeping bag, a basha, a sleeping mat (inflatable or otherwise), a small axe, a billy, cutlery (or just a spoon), a mug, a firesteel (because matches run out
).
In terms of canoe orientated kit, a buoyancy aid (cost about 40 quid or you can hire one), a decent windproof shell (on Matt's recommendation I tried a Paramo one, he claimed it would wick water off you so fast you'd get hypothermia; it did! very impressed, recommended!), some sandals or little neoprene aquashoes, some quickdrying trouser/shorts zipoffs, plus waterproof overtrousers, and a hat for sun and rain. Also a woolly hat and two towels - two because you might get wet too often to use one, you never know.
Hope that covers your questions; shout if I missed anything
