A while ago I arranged to do a weekend overnight with my mate Dave. He asked for the end of November as he wanted some cold weather. Well this weekend the weather finally obliged.
We went to a new sport for us in the south of the county, to a forest school area with a fire pit for camping and educational purposes. being winter, It was not in use. We wandered around the woods for a bit looking for a less obvious location, but ended up at the forest school place. A little exposed, but we saw no-one until the morning.
Dave had new toys to try out, including a Polish lavvu (pitched the traditional inside-out for a first timer) and Gransfors axe. He got on very well with both.
[/url]Lavvu by Michael Kilner, on Flickr[/IMG]
I had my first hammock camp in absolutely ages, and it was blissful.
[/url]Home for the night by Michael Kilner, on Flickr[/IMG]
We did the traditional bushcrafty thing of pitching less than 200 yards from the car. It just happened that that was where the best spot was. I found some nice birch bark about 2 yards into the woodland, which Dave appropriated as he wanted another go at getting birch scrapings to take a spark, having last managed it about a year ago. I got my stove on (cotton wool and a spark, fire in under a minute, including preparation).
40 minutes (and most of a ferrocium rod) later....
[/url]Dave makes fire by Michael Kilner, on Flickr[/IMG]
It went out again
Still persistence is a virtue, and after I sacrificed some of my precious store of honeysuckle bark to Dave's efforts, he succeeded properly 5 minutes later. We soon had a nice fire going, as there were lots of fallen ash twigs from the night before, and I foraged up some birch, and a fallen and dead larch which had stayed off the wet ground. Dave did some wood splitting, and I showed him how to limb the larch without removing any of his own limbs. By now it was dark. The strong winds from the night before had dropped away, leaving a clear and cold night. Dave cooked up some tinned cassoulet (almost a traditional food with us now) and I did chicken & sweetcorn rice with added smoked bacon lardons.
(The jokes about being in the woods and having a lardon have already been done, thanks)
[/url]Fire by Michael Kilner, on Flickr[/IMG]
Dave then realised that he had forgotten his headtorch (I had a spare torch) and I had forgotten my lantern. We built up the fire and sat in the entrance to the lavvu being warmed by the fire and really not suffering the cold. I had taken my Swedish winter parka, but ended up using it as a blanket to lie on as I didn't need to wear it. I had brought some Westons Organic Cider which went down very nicely, and we just relaxed for a few hours. I found myself completely at peace with the world, which is why I go and do this in the first place. The peacefulness was abruptly terminated when I adjusted a log on the fire and grabbed a hot one, burning my thumb. I then discovered that my burn gel in my first aid kit has expired and were useless (note to self to keep things up to date) so I ended up sat with my thumb jammed into into a canteen of cold water to relieve the burn. This worked after most of an hour, thought I have a good blister now at the burn site.
We turned in a little after 10. Dave found himself with an unexpected female in his lavvu, but despite her enormous beauty he turfed her out. We don't know if the queen wasp survived the night. Apparently she didn't look too healthy. Three minutes later, Dave was snoring. I wasn't awake much longer after that.
I had the inevitable two urgent trips out of the hammock in the night (drank rather more than indended) but slept really well, and was warm and very comfortable. Dave seemed to sleep well too, as he was snoring every time I woke up.
[/url]This morning from my hammock by Michael Kilner, on Flickr[/IMG]
I was woken by two male blackbirds having a loud difference of opinion about where their respective territorial boundaries were, and then some ravens doing a noisy flyover. A little later two retrievers checked out our site before being called off by their owner. We got up about 8.30, and had a leisurely breakfast. Dave tried to make a bowsaw by bending a hazel rod to fit his new blade, but the rod snapped during assembly. I disappeared into the trees for a call of nature, and grabbed a dead tree to pull myself upright, and was narrowly missed by several large chunks of said tree that promptly fell from above. Woke me up better than coffee
So we packed up, and took a leisurely route home, checking out a few other potential sites for next time. I really enjoyed this one, and I think I needed it, as I have been a bit grumpy and irritable of late (not that anyone noticed any difference from my usual grumpy irritability). My thanks as always to Dave for being great company and putting up with me.
We went to a new sport for us in the south of the county, to a forest school area with a fire pit for camping and educational purposes. being winter, It was not in use. We wandered around the woods for a bit looking for a less obvious location, but ended up at the forest school place. A little exposed, but we saw no-one until the morning.
Dave had new toys to try out, including a Polish lavvu (pitched the traditional inside-out for a first timer) and Gransfors axe. He got on very well with both.
I had my first hammock camp in absolutely ages, and it was blissful.
We did the traditional bushcrafty thing of pitching less than 200 yards from the car. It just happened that that was where the best spot was. I found some nice birch bark about 2 yards into the woodland, which Dave appropriated as he wanted another go at getting birch scrapings to take a spark, having last managed it about a year ago. I got my stove on (cotton wool and a spark, fire in under a minute, including preparation).
40 minutes (and most of a ferrocium rod) later....
It went out again
Still persistence is a virtue, and after I sacrificed some of my precious store of honeysuckle bark to Dave's efforts, he succeeded properly 5 minutes later. We soon had a nice fire going, as there were lots of fallen ash twigs from the night before, and I foraged up some birch, and a fallen and dead larch which had stayed off the wet ground. Dave did some wood splitting, and I showed him how to limb the larch without removing any of his own limbs. By now it was dark. The strong winds from the night before had dropped away, leaving a clear and cold night. Dave cooked up some tinned cassoulet (almost a traditional food with us now) and I did chicken & sweetcorn rice with added smoked bacon lardons.
(The jokes about being in the woods and having a lardon have already been done, thanks
)
Dave then realised that he had forgotten his headtorch (I had a spare torch) and I had forgotten my lantern. We built up the fire and sat in the entrance to the lavvu being warmed by the fire and really not suffering the cold. I had taken my Swedish winter parka, but ended up using it as a blanket to lie on as I didn't need to wear it. I had brought some Westons Organic Cider which went down very nicely, and we just relaxed for a few hours. I found myself completely at peace with the world, which is why I go and do this in the first place. The peacefulness was abruptly terminated when I adjusted a log on the fire and grabbed a hot one, burning my thumb. I then discovered that my burn gel in my first aid kit has expired and were useless (note to self to keep things up to date) so I ended up sat with my thumb jammed into into a canteen of cold water to relieve the burn. This worked after most of an hour, thought I have a good blister now at the burn site.
We turned in a little after 10. Dave found himself with an unexpected female in his lavvu, but despite her enormous beauty he turfed her out. We don't know if the queen wasp survived the night. Apparently she didn't look too healthy. Three minutes later, Dave was snoring. I wasn't awake much longer after that.
I had the inevitable two urgent trips out of the hammock in the night (drank rather more than indended) but slept really well, and was warm and very comfortable. Dave seemed to sleep well too, as he was snoring every time I woke up.
I was woken by two male blackbirds having a loud difference of opinion about where their respective territorial boundaries were, and then some ravens doing a noisy flyover. A little later two retrievers checked out our site before being called off by their owner. We got up about 8.30, and had a leisurely breakfast. Dave tried to make a bowsaw by bending a hazel rod to fit his new blade, but the rod snapped during assembly. I disappeared into the trees for a call of nature, and grabbed a dead tree to pull myself upright, and was narrowly missed by several large chunks of said tree that promptly fell from above. Woke me up better than coffee
So we packed up, and took a leisurely route home, checking out a few other potential sites for next time. I really enjoyed this one, and I think I needed it, as I have been a bit grumpy and irritable of late (not that anyone noticed any difference from my usual grumpy irritability). My thanks as always to Dave for being great company and putting up with me.
