In the winter of 2015 I was offered the use of a cottage that an old friend had recently purchased. I declined use of the cottage but obtained his permission to camp on his land which formed part of the owned plot. I posted on the forum at the time (under planning) and recently I travelled North to spend 6 nights camped at the cottage. Days were spent making basically circular exploratory walks from base camp into the quite remote countryside of the area. Nothing spectacular, about 10-12 miles a day, but the terrain can be testing of personal fitness.
The cottage in February..
And as I first saw it after driving from home on the South Coast a week or so ago.
I really don't care for long journeys on four wheels, I much prefer my Motorcycle but a weeks supplies plus camping gear offered the prospect of this old codger trying to coax a heavy Moto Guzzi over some pretty rough tracks, so four wheels it was...
OK, look away now Bushcraft gourmets and wilderness Chefs...
The cottage is isolated meaning a re-supply would be a logistics headache, so I took all I needed.
This promised to be a sheltered position out of a surprisingly (July) chill wind coming down off the surrounding hills.
I had a nice view from camp and the neighbours were friendly and seemingly unafraid of the strange character who lived in the green tent.
For meals/brews I used a little wood gas stove which is handy and allowed me to burn either foraged wood or the fuel I use most with this stove...Pussy Cat litter..
That small plastic jar holds enough fuel for 5 or 6 burnings, bearing in mind I don't make Bushcraft Souffles or knock up the occasional 5 course meal. I open the rat-pac packet, chuck it in the mess tin, wait for it to bubble a bit and that's done for me....
Ally mess tins too...I'm gonna die!!!
Back to the cat litter...this stuff..must be wood based obviously.
I fill a plastic 1 litre milk bottle with cat litter and pour.. approximately..100 Mil of paraffin in on top. Give it a shake and leave it to absorb the Paraffin. This allows me to light the cat litter without tinder, simply put a match to it and you're in business. A bit of blackening shows on the cooker but is easily cleaned if you wish to, and the litter makes a convenient, transportable fuel in poor wood foraging conditions.
An idea of the surrounding countryside..
The sky in the last photo bears a mention. This is not an area where you can afford to get caught unprepared. Even in July the wind was chill at times and the rain quite sudden in coming down off the hills. This is not an area where hordes of walkers "Do" the tourist trail and Park Rangers have to repair eroded footpaths. There are way marks...Ha! but the "Way" isn't that obvious...
This was one of the more obvious footpaths...
The Magnetic variation is currently just less than 2 degrees West for the area so I allowed 2 degrees knowing that if I failed to apply it I could be 35 metres off my objective after one Kilometre. Not a problem, but after 10 K in poor visibility of say 150 metres??
There are places where it would be unwise to be lost in poor visibility..
The drop here is sheer from an almost flat area of marshy ground.
My days were spent just wandering really, a Bergan with all I needed if caught out overnight, work a course out on the map and off for the day.
The very feint track left of centre? Follow that just over the hill and you're in Scotland..
Sheep country so I filtered all my water.
Some sights along the way..
Valley full of Foxgloves.
I don't recall ever seeing pure white Foxgloves in the wild before.
Brew stop with Basha windbreak.
The old Sheep Folds are works of art..
A Curlew getting upset because her nest was close by to where I was walking.
Another bird at Mach 1 by the sound of it..
Blimey!! That's a big Rabbit!!!
Ah! stand down on the Bunny sighting..
And finally. In the barn some items from a bygone time. The smoothing Iron (left) is of the type that took a heated water container or sometimes I believe even a heated brick to heat the iron.
A decorated head Halter? Perhaps from the big horse that once wore the shoe in the previous photo?
Home now and looking forward to some time spent in a Southern wood, but I recommend to all a trip North of the wall.
The cottage in February..
And as I first saw it after driving from home on the South Coast a week or so ago.
I really don't care for long journeys on four wheels, I much prefer my Motorcycle but a weeks supplies plus camping gear offered the prospect of this old codger trying to coax a heavy Moto Guzzi over some pretty rough tracks, so four wheels it was...
OK, look away now Bushcraft gourmets and wilderness Chefs...
The cottage is isolated meaning a re-supply would be a logistics headache, so I took all I needed.
This promised to be a sheltered position out of a surprisingly (July) chill wind coming down off the surrounding hills.
I had a nice view from camp and the neighbours were friendly and seemingly unafraid of the strange character who lived in the green tent.
For meals/brews I used a little wood gas stove which is handy and allowed me to burn either foraged wood or the fuel I use most with this stove...Pussy Cat litter..
That small plastic jar holds enough fuel for 5 or 6 burnings, bearing in mind I don't make Bushcraft Souffles or knock up the occasional 5 course meal. I open the rat-pac packet, chuck it in the mess tin, wait for it to bubble a bit and that's done for me....
Ally mess tins too...I'm gonna die!!!
Back to the cat litter...this stuff..must be wood based obviously.
I fill a plastic 1 litre milk bottle with cat litter and pour.. approximately..100 Mil of paraffin in on top. Give it a shake and leave it to absorb the Paraffin. This allows me to light the cat litter without tinder, simply put a match to it and you're in business. A bit of blackening shows on the cooker but is easily cleaned if you wish to, and the litter makes a convenient, transportable fuel in poor wood foraging conditions.
An idea of the surrounding countryside..
The sky in the last photo bears a mention. This is not an area where you can afford to get caught unprepared. Even in July the wind was chill at times and the rain quite sudden in coming down off the hills. This is not an area where hordes of walkers "Do" the tourist trail and Park Rangers have to repair eroded footpaths. There are way marks...Ha! but the "Way" isn't that obvious...
This was one of the more obvious footpaths...
The Magnetic variation is currently just less than 2 degrees West for the area so I allowed 2 degrees knowing that if I failed to apply it I could be 35 metres off my objective after one Kilometre. Not a problem, but after 10 K in poor visibility of say 150 metres??
There are places where it would be unwise to be lost in poor visibility..
The drop here is sheer from an almost flat area of marshy ground.
My days were spent just wandering really, a Bergan with all I needed if caught out overnight, work a course out on the map and off for the day.
The very feint track left of centre? Follow that just over the hill and you're in Scotland..
Sheep country so I filtered all my water.
Some sights along the way..
Valley full of Foxgloves.
I don't recall ever seeing pure white Foxgloves in the wild before.
Brew stop with Basha windbreak.
The old Sheep Folds are works of art..
A Curlew getting upset because her nest was close by to where I was walking.
Another bird at Mach 1 by the sound of it..
Blimey!! That's a big Rabbit!!!
Ah! stand down on the Bunny sighting..
And finally. In the barn some items from a bygone time. The smoothing Iron (left) is of the type that took a heated water container or sometimes I believe even a heated brick to heat the iron.
A decorated head Halter? Perhaps from the big horse that once wore the shoe in the previous photo?
Home now and looking forward to some time spent in a Southern wood, but I recommend to all a trip North of the wall.
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