Hi All,
Well the date and time were right, so Helene and I met up with Dark Horse Dave at the Company of Sixty's grounds in Oxshott, for the 'field archery and bit of bushcraft" day. Unfortunately Mike did not make it. It was clear, cold, windless day, and perfect for a spot of woodland walking.
We started the day with a look at a selection of bows and arrows, and then Dave tried one at short range at the practice butts with a little light instruction. Dave, who said he had shot a few times before, was a quick study and so we soon set off to complete a half round of the permanently laid course.
Helene shot round with Dave, and I was there to supervise and encourage. Dave was shooting straight and with a little practice the distance estimation was coming to him. Pretty soon he was into the 'kill' scoring lines and otherwise hitting the targets:
After a good morning going round the woods, we stopped for lunch. Dave impressed us with the efficiency of the Kelly kettle he had brought to boil the water for our cuppas. I really must look into getting one for this kind of day. We spent some quality blokey time too, chatting about shiny and sharp things, while Helene gathered some bags of leafmould for her raised veggie beds at home.
Dave cooking his lunch:
Some of my stuff on the table
Yours truly scoffing a baked spud.
After lunch and tea, we started doing some more bushcrafty stuff. We began with firelighting - ferro rod and steel, using birch bark as tinder. I choked the fire off at the first attempt - the tinder round about was a bit damp and it was taking too much heat to dry out before the fire died. On the second attempt it went better (more birch bark), and then we built the fire up a bit. Dave also gave me some cotton wool with vaseline to try - half a stroke of the ferro rod and whoomph - I've really got to make myself a pot of that! Once the fire was good and hot, Dave got out a golden syrup tin prepared for making charcloth - so that was next up. The shredded T-shirt was left to cook off for about a half hour, and then we checked it over.....
Making charcloth - the moment of truth - opening the tin
We have charcloth
Then Dave produced a flint and steel striker, so we tested the charcloth:
Success! So now I have a supply of it in my car emergency tin and my tinderbox. Very handy.
All too soon Dave had to make a move so we cleaned up the fire pit, washed up and said our goodbyes. I think (hope!
)Dave had a good time, I know that Helene and I did.
I hope to do this over again in the April/May time frame, so if anyone is local-ish to Surrey/Middx etc and fancies a 'go', then keep an eye out and I will setup a post for it nearer the time.
Cheers, Bob
