Living out for a year?

[Tadpole]

To be honest, I don't care if people agree, or not.
Back in the 1980's I lived in a tent for 14 months, (Blackgang Chine, on the Isle-of Wight) I had a good, quite large, tent and a cast iron pot belly stove, the main problems is that unless you are there all the time, there will be a point where the stove is out, (I worked 12 to 14 hours a day) when the stove is out the tent gets cold damp and quickly. Keeping clean, dry and warm is a battle that you are bound to lose unless you have a mound of dry seasoned wood and somewhere to store it where it won’t get nicked, or set fire to by the local kids.
Living for a week or so in a tent is winter is ok, maybe even up to a month, but in my experience, one that I would never repeat, unless I was made homeless again and didn’t have much choice. South of France or Spain, I am sure it is a different kettle of fish.
You asked for people to comment on the idea, I didn’t realise you only wanted positive feedback from people who “liked the idea”, but had never done it.

 

[leon-1]

I've just read through the thread, nice to see.

Not everyone agrees, but that is to be expected, everyone will have different experience and ideas, but to me it doesn't sound like Nick is asking whether he should do it, he is asking for advice about actually doing it. Tadpole sounds negative about his experience, well listen to the problems that he had and work out ways around them. From the sound of your initial post I think you have thought about some of them anyway.

Nick, to me it sounds like you have made up your mind, I am not going to try and give loads of advice, but I will say good luck mate and drop me a line when in the west country.

 

[BushVen]

It is possible to erect a 5 person arctic tent on your own. I've put up a 10 person tent on my own, although it was hard work.

I do not recommend wooden or plastic boxes, they may look nice but mice can chew through them. Some ammuntion boxes are ideal and they tend to come with a seal.

Another piece of advice I forgot to mention is get a medical, this may seem like overkill but if you already have a chest problem and then spend long periods of time in a damp environment and using fires, you could be asking for trouble if you already have an underlying problem. This is one of the reason's why our ancestors didn't live as long as we do today.

There should be no reason why you can not be very cossy and comfortable, after-all thats what bushcraft is all about, LIVING comfortably in a natural enviroment and not just SURVIVING !

If you really want to this, then go for it ! You may regret it if you don't and wonder, what if ?

Hope this helps and thanks for the comments !

 

[Tourist]

Nice one.

Whilst I would not be without my nearest and dearest I do sometimes day dream.

 

[spamel]

The other good thing is that you are planning to start middle of next year. That means you can investigate extended periods in a tent over the coming winter months and then have the rest of next year to prepare for what you learnt this year and hopefully make life more comfortable.

 

[JohnC]

will you still be registered at a gp? I cant remember if you need an address for that?

 

[scanker]

Great idea. I think I'd get fed up if I had to stay on a commercial camp site though. Would it be worth trying to find a land owner or farmer who would let you have a semi-permanent pitch, maybe paying your way by doing some chores at the weekend/in your time off. Just a thought.

 

[Toadflax]

I'm not going to offer an opinion as to whether or not I think your plan is a good idea, but it's good to hear both positive and negative comments about what you are proposing. At least by posting your thoughts, you get other peoples' ideas of what does and doesn't work. I suspect that it may be one of those things that if you don't try it, having had the opportunity, then you may always regret not doing it, even if it doesn't work out. From the sound of your situation, it doesn't appear to be a massive problem if /when you decide to stop the exercise and return to 'normal' living.

It sounds from at least one of the postings that, as long as you keep people here informed about your progress, then you may well be offered places that you can stay. If you were to go ahead with the plan then I don't feel able to offer advice but if you wanted a bit of company around the campfire while you are stopping near Oxford, I'd be happy to pop over for a chat.


Geoff

 

[crazyclimber]

I'm fascinated by this already. Not really much advice either, just to say best of luck to you - I think it'll be a brilliant experience - and if you did ever decide to write a book about it I'd definitely buy one! Take lots of pictures, just in case!!

 

[Ogri the trog]

I can't believe I missed this for so long,
I worked away from home, staying in an old and leaky caravan for about five years (on and off, following the shifts, sometimes up to 8 days at a time) - no water no electric etc - so I can see some of the situations you're likely to face. I worked nights too, and apart from the "damp when cold" that has already been mentioned there are two notable others. Heat in the summer keeping you awake and cold in the winter when you wake up in the afternoon and its already dark! On the morning you ran the bowdrill workshop, I woke to minus 18 degrees inside, though it had risen to minus 10 by the time we started drilling.
Are you thinking of leaving the tent pitched for a few weeks at a time? If you're pitching and striking every week, thats going to get tedious very quick. Though during the wet months, you might want to move pitches just to move away from the muddy trails between van and tent door, or the slippery tire tracks of repeatedly driving the van over the same track. It might be worth having a smaller travel tent for the summer trips away from base.
Having recently got a Bison Tundra 8 with a stove I'd recommend them to anybody, but keeping it fuelled all through the winter is going to be hard work. Certainly you'll want somewhere to store wood ready for when you return to your tent/pitch to drive the chill out of your bones ready for the first shift in work, it might even be worth having a calor heater for the convenience when you are tired etc.
I can offer a field in Mid Wales if you want to spend any time in this neck of the woods, so just shout if you want it.

Finally I'd like to offer my best wishes for your adventure.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[spamel]

Can you use charcoal in these wood burners? I'd expect that would continue banging out heat all night if you set it right.

 

[Matt Weir]

Do you mean BBQ charcoal spam? Not a bad idea I will try that.

 

[spamel]

BBQ charcoal would be just the ticket. If you can get the stuff that has big lumps of charcoal, even better. Once it is going, you could restrict the air and get a long slow burn. Probably get charcoal in bags quite cheap aswell.

 

[Tadpole]

Can you use charcoal in these wood burners? I'd expect that would continue banging out heat all night if you set it right.

wood = £100 per tonne
charcoal= £100 per 100kg or £107 for 150kg if you buy it loose
( 600kg of wood to make 100kg charcoal)

 

[dave k]

Isn't there some law to prevent you from staying in one peice of land using a `temporary structure` or something? I read this a while ago - apparently it's to stop the gypsies and people in caravan's just camping up. I think it's something stupid like a moveable structure or something - e.g a caravan and a tent are the same, but a yurt isn't as it's designed to be non-moveable or something. I'm sure the law prevents you from staying longer than a certian number of days.

Clear as mud as always

 

[spamel]

Fair enough, but when you are trying to source dry seasoned wood from gathering in the forests to burn in your stove that night, you may have a problem! I'm looking at it from a necessity point of view, and I know which I would rather have: wet wood or charcoal? Hmm!

 

[spamel]

Isn't there some law to prevent you from staying in one peice of land using a `temporary structure` or something? I read this a while ago - apparently it's to stop the gypsies and people in caravan's just camping up. I think it's something stupid like a moveable structure or something - e.g a caravan and a tent are the same, but a yurt isn't as it's designed to be non-moveable or something. I'm sure the law prevents you from staying longer than a certian number of days.

Clear as mud as always

There was a guy who wanted to live off the grid and he was in a yurt down in Devon. He said he needed to be near the charcoal burn to tend it overnight. He was allowed to stay put, but the were gonna kick him off before that!

 

[Ogri the trog]

I'm sure the law says a maximum of 28 days.
But it depends on the landowner as mine was of the opinion that because I was travelling home every week or so, it didn't count as continued habitation. You could of course, just strike the tent and pitch it somewhere else on the same site!

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[twisted firestarter]

Isn't there some law to prevent you from staying in one peice of land using a `temporary structure` or something? I read this a while ago - apparently it's to stop the gypsies and people in caravan's just camping up. I think it's something stupid like a moveable structure or something - e.g a caravan and a tent are the same, but a yurt isn't as it's designed to be non-moveable or something. I'm sure the law prevents you from staying longer than a certian number of days.

Clear as mud as always

It's 28 days but this is the important bit... 28 days from when someone reports you.

Keep it low key if you can and just avoid the whole authority 'thing'

 

[stotRE]

Isn't there some law to prevent you from staying in one peice of land using a `temporary structure` or something? I read this a while ago - apparently it's to stop the gypsies and people in caravan's just camping up. I think it's something stupid like a moveable structure or something - e.g a caravan and a tent are the same, but a yurt isn't as it's designed to be non-moveable or something. I'm sure the law prevents you from staying longer than a certian number of days.

Clear as mud as always

Yeah it really works when it comes to pikeys,they always respect the law

If you own your own wood then you can do whatever you like,well i can because i don't give a toss.

It also helps to be good at fighting.........with or without weapons.