I had a bit of a decent trip out this weekend, as I am on stand down at the moment I could go out bushcrafting for a fair few days. It gets me away from the wife and kids too!! I packed my kit up, and Jamie and myself got dropped off near our secret bushcrafting area. We wouldn't see a soul until the last day when we left!
We had dropped off a jerrycan of water in advance as we knew there wasn't a decent water source in the area. We still had water left at the end and that is still cached on the area for our next day trip. The first day we decided to construct a debris shelter, but we didn't stick strictly to the normal design. As you can see, we started off in the normal way but we changed our minds halfway through and put more rafters on and thatched the lot.
We decided to leave the head end open, and thatched all of the rest of the shelter, which left us enough room to get in, but our kit stayed outside. Next time it will be bigger, but it was a first attempt and we learnt some good valuable lessons. It rained during the night and we stayed warm and relatively dry, I think we scrimped on the shelter roof near the foot end a bit! In fact, it was to be our warmest night and we didn't use a fire!
Just to the left of the opening in this picture is a big beech with a full compliment of green leaves. I think it helped us significantly during the rain!
Each meal we had bar breakfast was helped along with fungi found in and around the area we were in and was a trend that continued for the whole trip. We found Parasols, Boletes and puffballs, and they certainly make a good meal more enjoyable. We also saw stink horns and an unidentified specimen, I hope somebody can tell me what it is! Of course, we only ate what could be ID'd 100%.
A few Boletes!
Stinkhorn.
ID me please!
During the trip I decided it would be a good opportunity to try out the Nova Plus that my wife bought me, but in the end I only used it to boil water and to simmer a bit of food which had cooled down.
The simmer worked just fine, and the cooker on the whole is fantastic, but I had a few problems with it. When the cooker has been used previously, there seems to be a slight problem with the cleaning needle internally. It tends to jam in the jet and this makes lighting the stove quite difficult. Obviously, once you are aware of this problem, it ceases to be a problem as you are prepared for it but it caused a few moments of dread until I figured it out!!
Simmering away!
We also had a few problems with our fire, the damp wood tended to produce a lot of smoke that was quite acrid, but once we got wood dried out we didn't have any problems and we relished the chance to cook over a good bed of embers. A bit of flame was nice too!!
This picture is untouched, the billy can is red as Jamie took a picture at the same time and his camera emits a red light to focus. I like this picture so included it as you can almost feel the warmth of the fire!
The second night we spent in the Hex 3 to try and get a feel for how well it would cope in wind and rain. Apart from the boar that woke Jamie up and had him gripping his GB Hunters axe ready for action, it was a quiet night indeed. Without the insulation of the leaf litter above us though, I felt very cold and had quite a rough nights sleep. I was in a Softie 6, maybe I should consider a warmer bag at this time of year!!
Night three was a basha night, and we decided on a long log fire to keep us a bit warmer aswell. In an effort to stave the cold off, I slipped into my issued Softie suit trousers, but I was way too hot with the fire raging near our heads. The heat of the fire almost knocked me out, I slept very well and woke the next morning fully refreshed. The only problem that night was the unknown creature that found a glass bottle or two, the sudden clinking noise making the hairs on the back of our necks stand on end, and Jamie was gripping his GB Hunters axe again!
We stayed in a small area, maybe not even a square kilometre, and did some foraging and walking during the day. We saw woodpeckers landing in trees above us, but they were startled and quickly dissapeared, and a wood eagle flew stright past our camp which was a fantastic sight. I also saw two Roe deer jumping off into the woods flashing their white tails at us, but Jamie was looking the wrong way and unfortunately missed them. It was a bit strange as I thought they were solitary animals.
And finally, this was what we woke up to on the day after our night in the debris shelter. The rain had gone and the sun was shining. We went for a walk before breakfast and came back with a few parasols, it was a fantastic morning!!
We had dropped off a jerrycan of water in advance as we knew there wasn't a decent water source in the area. We still had water left at the end and that is still cached on the area for our next day trip. The first day we decided to construct a debris shelter, but we didn't stick strictly to the normal design. As you can see, we started off in the normal way but we changed our minds halfway through and put more rafters on and thatched the lot.
We decided to leave the head end open, and thatched all of the rest of the shelter, which left us enough room to get in, but our kit stayed outside. Next time it will be bigger, but it was a first attempt and we learnt some good valuable lessons. It rained during the night and we stayed warm and relatively dry, I think we scrimped on the shelter roof near the foot end a bit! In fact, it was to be our warmest night and we didn't use a fire!
Just to the left of the opening in this picture is a big beech with a full compliment of green leaves. I think it helped us significantly during the rain!
Each meal we had bar breakfast was helped along with fungi found in and around the area we were in and was a trend that continued for the whole trip. We found Parasols, Boletes and puffballs, and they certainly make a good meal more enjoyable. We also saw stink horns and an unidentified specimen, I hope somebody can tell me what it is! Of course, we only ate what could be ID'd 100%.
A few Boletes!
Stinkhorn.
ID me please!
During the trip I decided it would be a good opportunity to try out the Nova Plus that my wife bought me, but in the end I only used it to boil water and to simmer a bit of food which had cooled down.
The simmer worked just fine, and the cooker on the whole is fantastic, but I had a few problems with it. When the cooker has been used previously, there seems to be a slight problem with the cleaning needle internally. It tends to jam in the jet and this makes lighting the stove quite difficult. Obviously, once you are aware of this problem, it ceases to be a problem as you are prepared for it but it caused a few moments of dread until I figured it out!!
Simmering away!
We also had a few problems with our fire, the damp wood tended to produce a lot of smoke that was quite acrid, but once we got wood dried out we didn't have any problems and we relished the chance to cook over a good bed of embers. A bit of flame was nice too!!
This picture is untouched, the billy can is red as Jamie took a picture at the same time and his camera emits a red light to focus. I like this picture so included it as you can almost feel the warmth of the fire!
The second night we spent in the Hex 3 to try and get a feel for how well it would cope in wind and rain. Apart from the boar that woke Jamie up and had him gripping his GB Hunters axe ready for action, it was a quiet night indeed. Without the insulation of the leaf litter above us though, I felt very cold and had quite a rough nights sleep. I was in a Softie 6, maybe I should consider a warmer bag at this time of year!!
Night three was a basha night, and we decided on a long log fire to keep us a bit warmer aswell. In an effort to stave the cold off, I slipped into my issued Softie suit trousers, but I was way too hot with the fire raging near our heads. The heat of the fire almost knocked me out, I slept very well and woke the next morning fully refreshed. The only problem that night was the unknown creature that found a glass bottle or two, the sudden clinking noise making the hairs on the back of our necks stand on end, and Jamie was gripping his GB Hunters axe again!
We stayed in a small area, maybe not even a square kilometre, and did some foraging and walking during the day. We saw woodpeckers landing in trees above us, but they were startled and quickly dissapeared, and a wood eagle flew stright past our camp which was a fantastic sight. I also saw two Roe deer jumping off into the woods flashing their white tails at us, but Jamie was looking the wrong way and unfortunately missed them. It was a bit strange as I thought they were solitary animals.
And finally, this was what we woke up to on the day after our night in the debris shelter. The rain had gone and the sun was shining. We went for a walk before breakfast and came back with a few parasols, it was a fantastic morning!!
