Just a relatively quick trip out today as wanted to force myself outdoors to enjoy the rain rather than sit and be miserable indoors.
Headed out to one of my regular haunts with Finn. We found a spot of beech, sycamore and birch in amongst the tall pines.
First job: get the tarp up. The trusty old British Army poncho is up in no time. It always has two clips with paracord attached ready to go. Then there’s not much that can’t be done with bungees, I find. A hastily sharpened branch tensioned with two bungees became the fourth corner of my home for the day.
The breeze wasn’t bad at all, so no need for anything further. Shelter sorted.
Next up was fire. Fire hot. Ugg. Cleared a spot in amongst the leaf litter - this bit seems to have been an old forestry track and there’s a layer of stones a few inches down. Finn helped clear a spot for his fire too. Good lad.
I tried a new method of starting fires. I can recommend it:
1. Gather a handful of pine mulch and mud, about 50/50 proportions. Scrunch it up into a little nest.
2. Find a fairly round small stone, or a decent sized pebble. It is important that this is smooth.
3. Hold the mud and mulch nest in your left hand making sure to keep the pebble on top
4. With your right hand, remove your butane lighter from your pocket and light the birch bark you prepared earlier
5. Look at your left hand and go “why the **** am I holding a ball of mud with a rock on it?”. Discard it.
6. Add sticks to the burning birch bark
Bushbox XL Titanium again today. I am not sure if I bent part of it slightly or it warped in the heat, but it was slightly trickier to set up today - the base kept kinda folding out. I will keep an eye on this, as had no such issue with the steel one. Loads of deadwood about the place and was able to get branches caught in trees or stood up handily against things. Birch bark to get it going and voila!
I find in the wet it’s helpful to stack some thicker sticks around the bushbox to dry them out, and it works a treat.
Fire sorted. Next step, of course, is to brew up. I have a roll top Brown’s Bushcraft waxed canvas bag for my brew kit and I absolutely love it.
I have found a slight flaw with the newer British Army rations though. Don’t get me wrong, the fact you get a tea bag and not those godawful sachets of powdered tea like you used to, is great. But this was almost the world’s most disappointing cup of tea.
I mean really. Did they have to make the wet wipes and the tea bag look so similar? Anyway, spotted it just in time and went back rummaging for a teabag.
All in the world is better when you are in the dry, rain all around you, and you have a hot brew in your hand.
I needed to process a little bit more wood to keep the bushbox going. I have to say, I am so impressed with the saws that Victorinox put on their knives. It’s really quite aggressive and cuts through thumb-thick sticks in no time.
Also needed to add a little bit of oxygen to get the flames going again. For that I have my trusty pocket bellows. Preventer of wet knees, saviour of lower backs.
Anyway, it wasn’t an eventful day but sitting in the woods with a fire and enjoying a nice cup of tea is one of my favourite ways to spend a Sunday. Finn and I did wander around for a while looking for animal sign and fungi - quite a lot of deer sign about and absolutely loads of squirrel sign unfortunately, as it’s all greys around here. Only fungus we found was hoof fungus on some fallen birch, but not much else.
Hoping to get an overnight camp in these woods some time soon, ideally on a nice cold night. Got a new sleeping bag to put through its paces so a nice subzero night would be ideal.
Anyway, we tore the shelter down, slushed up all the ashes with water and made good the spot we’d been kindly allowed by Mother Nature to use today.
The only sign I left was where I’d been sat on a mossy old stump.
As they say; take nothing but photos, leave nothing but a*se prints.
Finn and I spent about 4 hours in the woods and have both come home muddy and relaxed.
Headed out to one of my regular haunts with Finn. We found a spot of beech, sycamore and birch in amongst the tall pines.
First job: get the tarp up. The trusty old British Army poncho is up in no time. It always has two clips with paracord attached ready to go. Then there’s not much that can’t be done with bungees, I find. A hastily sharpened branch tensioned with two bungees became the fourth corner of my home for the day.
The breeze wasn’t bad at all, so no need for anything further. Shelter sorted.
Next up was fire. Fire hot. Ugg. Cleared a spot in amongst the leaf litter - this bit seems to have been an old forestry track and there’s a layer of stones a few inches down. Finn helped clear a spot for his fire too. Good lad.
I tried a new method of starting fires. I can recommend it:
1. Gather a handful of pine mulch and mud, about 50/50 proportions. Scrunch it up into a little nest.
2. Find a fairly round small stone, or a decent sized pebble. It is important that this is smooth.
3. Hold the mud and mulch nest in your left hand making sure to keep the pebble on top
4. With your right hand, remove your butane lighter from your pocket and light the birch bark you prepared earlier
5. Look at your left hand and go “why the **** am I holding a ball of mud with a rock on it?”. Discard it.
6. Add sticks to the burning birch bark
Bushbox XL Titanium again today. I am not sure if I bent part of it slightly or it warped in the heat, but it was slightly trickier to set up today - the base kept kinda folding out. I will keep an eye on this, as had no such issue with the steel one. Loads of deadwood about the place and was able to get branches caught in trees or stood up handily against things. Birch bark to get it going and voila!
I find in the wet it’s helpful to stack some thicker sticks around the bushbox to dry them out, and it works a treat.
Fire sorted. Next step, of course, is to brew up. I have a roll top Brown’s Bushcraft waxed canvas bag for my brew kit and I absolutely love it.
I have found a slight flaw with the newer British Army rations though. Don’t get me wrong, the fact you get a tea bag and not those godawful sachets of powdered tea like you used to, is great. But this was almost the world’s most disappointing cup of tea.
I mean really. Did they have to make the wet wipes and the tea bag look so similar? Anyway, spotted it just in time and went back rummaging for a teabag.
All in the world is better when you are in the dry, rain all around you, and you have a hot brew in your hand.
I needed to process a little bit more wood to keep the bushbox going. I have to say, I am so impressed with the saws that Victorinox put on their knives. It’s really quite aggressive and cuts through thumb-thick sticks in no time.
Also needed to add a little bit of oxygen to get the flames going again. For that I have my trusty pocket bellows. Preventer of wet knees, saviour of lower backs.
Anyway, it wasn’t an eventful day but sitting in the woods with a fire and enjoying a nice cup of tea is one of my favourite ways to spend a Sunday. Finn and I did wander around for a while looking for animal sign and fungi - quite a lot of deer sign about and absolutely loads of squirrel sign unfortunately, as it’s all greys around here. Only fungus we found was hoof fungus on some fallen birch, but not much else.
Hoping to get an overnight camp in these woods some time soon, ideally on a nice cold night. Got a new sleeping bag to put through its paces so a nice subzero night would be ideal.
Anyway, we tore the shelter down, slushed up all the ashes with water and made good the spot we’d been kindly allowed by Mother Nature to use today.
The only sign I left was where I’d been sat on a mossy old stump.
As they say; take nothing but photos, leave nothing but a*se prints.
Finn and I spent about 4 hours in the woods and have both come home muddy and relaxed.
