Norwich and Norfolk group new thread!

[Snufkin]

I have been stuck for ever in the Royal Forest Of Cones in Lowestoft.... I am lost, I can't find my way and I forgot my compass I have seen a couple of water holes and loads of weird creatures in heavy boots and yellow hats all over the place.. , they seem to be moving among the cones and digging holes, looking down there , obviously can't find what they're looking for and moving a few feet to dig another one, so the whole place looks like the surface of the moon. maybe I'll find my way out by following the river on a balsa raft........

 

[Snufkin]

i have just look at the link for that woodland, i was thinking what would the min. size of woodland would you need to do bushcrafts in.

That's a tricky question. That particular wood is part of a larger forest so it would feel bigger. A small area would get denuded of firewood pretty quickly if it was used regularly. I'd imagine 3 or 4 acres could support a small group of weekenders if they felled timber for firewood and weren't too excessive. If you had established coppice a smaller area may suffice.
As for chipping in to buy a wood, I've got a £6.97p to put in (means I can't eat until payday though ).

 

[Dino]

i can hold back my boys pocket money for a couple of years, 50p a week.

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

Wow feels like i've been away ages!

i hate computers!!!!

i had a Victor meldrew moment today, after trying to get the laptop working, for ages(all the right noises but a blank screen) i'ver been soo busy i haven't managed to fix it, but today i took the laptop up to PC world after trying numerous times to start it and sat it on the help desk, i said to the assistant thees a problem blah blah, switched it on and the laptop started perfectly pcture and all!
did i look stupid?.....
he said its probably a loose/squashed wire so i can expect further problems, i'll probably have to get a refund/swap, so i may be offline again soon.

today though this Ba***rd laptop is working perfectly :aargh4:

thanks to Snufkin for the pictures of our last meet i still reckon i look like a tw*t though!

happy days :yelrotflm

 

[Dino]

welcome back RAPPLEBY2000. it good to see you back on line

i am glade i am not the only one who has trouble with these electrical thingie bob . i think, as we i bushcrafter, we should e-mail/commnuicate by smoke or drums, their more relaible.

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

smoke signals are complex and involves lighting a fire

i've got my eye on some pretty nifty communication gear though made from two empty bean tins and some string!

 

[Dino]

smoke signals are complex and involves lighting a fire

i've got my eye on some pretty nifty communication gear though made from two empty bean tins and some string!

a more modern approch a i see,

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

went on a family wander sunday just gone, a spare of the moment thing, i drove us up to "Devils Punchbowl" in Thetford forest, had a great time 2 kids finding loads of interesting(to them) stones sticks etc, this was all on public footpaths (not MoD!) i remember a couple of years ago walking the same route and whilst walking past a forest block i noticed a massive camo net hung up in the trees, sort of big enough to hide a truck, well i found the same place again, no net, but sadly plenty of Army ration evidence that someone had stayed there, whilst the kids played i looked into the woods a bit further to scout around a bit.
i found a site sadly that was full of rubbish, and army rations, (i'm thinking it was kid's as soldiers clear up after themselves) on my way back i stepped on something very soft.....no not doggy doo! far more dangerous!
the rather flimsy but perfectly hidden trapdoor for a full sized underground hand built bunker complete with wooden struts, (very damp and mouldy though!) it would have easily slept 4 or 5 people in it! i had my torch with me i reckon it was 6ft x 8ft x4ft huge!
i covered it back over and left it shut, goes to show you can find wierd stuff in them woods!

we'd left it so late my boy was enjoying building a house, night was closing in and we headed back to the car, on the way we saw a muntjack, and i saw a huge red deer stag, a nice day!

 

[KevB]

Hi Guys - Long time no say.
Also had a great weekend. Did and out and return 30 mile overnight trip from Southwold to Aldeburgh along the Suffolk Coastal Heath path. Am training up for the West Highland Way in early May.
Used a new Golite Hex 3 single skin shelter for the first time in anger - absolute brilliant piece of kit. Easy to put up (had to do it in the dark) bags of room (two of us) and only weighs 1lb 12oz ! Kipped on a slight rise under some Pine trees with the sunrise direct into the shelter door - great
Saw 4 Marsh Harriers around Dunwich on Saturday. Early Sunday we came across the largest herd of Roe deer I've seen in the Dunwich area. We counted 65 as they walked past about 30 yards away before losing count. We Reckon there were at least 100 in the herd !
Collected a few more bits of Daldinia Concentrica on the return leg. Much of the fauna is already out this year. Woods were covered in Daffs and Snowdrops. Lords and Ladies abound and Angelica is already just about to flower.

 

[Jay-Jay]

So Rappleby can we have our camo net back then?
My brother and his mates built the Bunker but the army moved in almost straight away, leaving a ring of trip flares.......so we moved out

And no, not all soldiers clear up after.

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

i recognise that hole!
it's seriously well made but i woulden't fancy staying in it!
100 points if anyone ese can find it!
by the way i only noticed the camo net because it was so high, 10 ft lower i'd never have seen it, also the wood in question has loads of evergreen bushes in it that look out of place, which drew my attention to it. it was pure luck i came across the bunker though, i didn't see it at all!

so there really were soldiers there, i thought so but coulden't prove it, i saw loads of issue green string left on tree trunks and the give away "mine tape" next to paths.
the thing i thought was strange is that area is public land not Mod, so what were they doing there with trip flares?

Hi Kev it sounds like you had a nice time!

Early Sunday we came across the largest herd of Roe deer I've seen in the Dunwich area. We counted 65 as they walked past about 30 yards away before losing count. We Reckon there were at least 100 in the herd !

:wow1: where do those deer hide?

i've notice alot of flora and fauna about too!
yesterday i saw an active Wasp, a bright yellow butterfly (sulpher?)last week we noticed ants just ouside my house and every day this week i've seen bumble bees about a friend mentioned they'd seen mozzies in december, and from my walk on sunday i collected 2 ticks!
our weather is definately changing!

 

[Jay-Jay]

Any-body camping anywhere around those woods(and Devils Punch Bowl) will have a very good chance of being over-run by squadies at night.
I know we have, but if they know you're there they normaly leave you alone. (not that you can sleep through the din anyway :AR15firin )
I collected all the trip flares and anything else usefull

 

[weekender]

Hi all
good to see you back on-line rappelby, have sent you pm, Jay-Jay from the looks of the photo that is some bunker/hole how on earth did you dig that without getting seen and how did you get rid of the soil was it like in the great escape and you hid it in your trouser legs

 

[Jay-Jay]

how did you get rid of the soil was it like in the great escape and you hid it in your trouser legs

Ahaa! I got big pockets

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

i don't want to give away too much info as to it's position but it's fair to say the bunker is surrounded by bushes you can't see it from any direction, the roof is completely flat, and is indistinguishable from the forest floor (i only found it because the trap door wobbled when i stood on it!) there are no piles of earth to be seen though there was some loose earth under a nearby bush, basically they must have piled the earth under every bush in the woods! or on the footpath

i've a couple of trip flare stands (the long metal peg things with bent arms) i desperately want to find a use for them they somehow seem really usefull!

be carefull because i can't remember but i think the flares use white Phosphorous, which is really nasty stuff! you can't put it out with water!

good to see you back on-line rappelby

yup but it took me over an hour to start the lap top today, i had an idea :thinkerg: that it may be my house causeing the problem (damp ) so i blasted the laptop with a hair-drier for 5 mins and guess what! it worked!
(i reckon sitting on the warm dry laptop bag, on a warm sunny seat in my car yesterday probably had the same effect!)

did i mention my new house is horrible!

 

[Snufkin]

Glad your computer's up and running again Rappleby. Sorry to here you're not liking the new house .
Got out down the woods today . The weather was just superb. I sat in the sun whittling (tested my latest knife, cut through a 3" diameter birch log and it stayed shaving sharp, so I think it's a good'un). While I was sitting there a sparrowhawk swooped down and tried to take a blackbird but missed.
As I was heading out I stopped to watch four roe deer, a mother and last years kids, one in velvet. I suspect it was a family group as Mum spotted me right off but the other three didn't and just followed her off.
I left to the sound of all the dumb townies who take their dogs to sh#t in the woods. Why do they have to take them their to shout at them? Can't the selfish gits stay home and do it?

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

tell me about it!

at my local woods (rough ground nearby) i was happily making a cuppa under my tarp when i heard a very woofy-growly dog, the sort you back away from!

well a strange man in a balaclava and puffa jacket walked up to me with the dog, and told me how the dog is friendly but he takes the dog for walks to BARK! aparently it barks alot at home and they get it out as much as possible.
great!
that put paid to me seeing any wildlife! i have previously seen a deer a fox many birds in the area before!


litter is more common that S*** in my local area! , strange thing is, people bag the doggy doo, and for some unknown reason chuck it into bushes (and sometimes hang them on branches), sort of get the "idea of bagging it " but somehow in a fit of confusion miss the "binning it" bit !

if they'd left it on the path it would decompose, and eaten by insects much faster, so in a stupid way it would be better for them to leave it there and not bother!

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

Laptop Woulden't Work Again This Morning, I'm Writing This From The Local Library , (haven't Go Time To Changes Caps) Have 2 Minutes Left

Laptop Is Going To Get Fixed Tomorrow!

I May Be Offline Again For A Few Days!

 

[Dino]

I have been stuck for ever in the Royal Forest Of Cones in Lowestoft.... I am lost, I can't find my way and I forgot my compass I have seen a couple of water holes and loads of weird creatures in heavy boots and yellow hats all over the place.. , they seem to be moving among the cones and digging holes, looking down there , obviously can't find what they're looking for and moving a few feet to dig another one, so the whole place looks like the surface of the moon. maybe I'll find my way out by following the river on a balsa raft........

hi jojo,

have you got out of the royal forest of cones in lowestoft, i venture to the edge of lowestoft, but i am to scared to go into the woods.

Dino

 

[jojo]

hi jojo,

have you got out of the royal forest of cones in lowestoft, i venture to the edge of lowestoft, but i am to scared to go into the woods.

Dino

Yes I did finally escape, covered in bruises and scratches!! A nervous wreck as well Went back into there wednesday, big mistake, everything had changed again.. I think I'll never want to venture there again Are you well Dino? The most buscrafty think I've done lately is to find some cramps ball fungus 2minutes walk from home!! I am drying them now on top of the wood stove, and i'll try them soon with the fire steel.