Trip Report reluctant to leave..

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saxonaxe

Nomad
Sep 29, 2018
481
1,131
79
SW Wales
Just back from 3 nights in the wood. I was tempted to stay another night, but I have a re-union to attend on Saturday morning and know that if I turned up smelling of wood smoke like Davy Crockett the abuse would have been unending...:biggrin: :biggrin:

Photos from an earlier thread. 3 days rations and my 1970's Royal Marines Arctic issue Bergan. I've always liked the exterior frame and because of restricted tent space the Bergan would stay outside all night. Obviously I use a liner, well a heavy weight builder's rubble sack really, but this is one of the few truly waterproof Bergans I've ever owned.



Home for the stay. It's stretching things a bit to call it a tent, more a sleeping pod or gloryfied Bivvy really, but it's sold as a 'One man Tent' by the much maligned Mil-Tec. I've had it some time and used it in the summer on motor bike trips. It's certainly waterproof, it's been tested, last August...:biggrin: but like many small tents it suffers from condensation when the temperature drops as it did on the last 3 nights. It's more suited to the occasional over night than a longer stay.
I took a tarp in case I needed a dry admin area but the weather was truly Spring like during the day, so I didn't bother rigging the tarp.


After recent heavy rain the old well was full. One wall has collapsed over the decades and the well overflows which is convenient really as the surface is naturally cleared of leaf debris by the flow.

First job set up the water filter system.



Priorities..:D Get a brew on with fresh filtered water in the old kettle I patched up with Metal Weld. It's aluminium as are the mess tins I've been using for 60 odd years so obviously I'm as mad as a box of Frogs...:confused:


The stream runs freely after the heavy rain, all the fallen leaves and debris from recent gales has washed away. There is a Farm that borders the stream further up the valley, so I tend to use the old well which is further away, although properly filtered and boiled I think the stream would be safe enough.


In the night I hear the Deer cross the stream just a few metres from my camp and make their way up the stream bank into the trees, leaving their tracks clear to see in the mornings.



The wood was full of Bird song and the signs of Spring are everywhere. In few weeks the woodland floor will be a coloured carpet of Blue Bells.

And the Hazel Catkins glow gold when the sun catches them.


After cold nights (but warm in my winter bag) it's nice to see the sun light slowly creep through the wood.

Yet another brew and smoke in the wood as I wait for the sun to flood the wood with warm light.


And another day begins...




:thumbsup:
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
I need some of that. January was 6 months long up here. February is going the same.

Question: When all the trees eventually leaf out, do you get a "closed canopy" of shade
or still patchy sunlight?

Spring has sprung,
Fall has fell.
Winter is still here
and it's colder than Hello, how are you?
 

saxonaxe

Nomad
Sep 29, 2018
481
1,131
79
SW Wales
" Question: When all the trees eventually leaf out, do you get a "closed canopy" of shade
or still patchy sunlight? "

Patchy sunlight almost everywhere, Robson. A few photographs from last Summer, from practically the same position in the wood where I camped just the other day.





 

saxonaxe

Nomad
Sep 29, 2018
481
1,131
79
SW Wales
Love your backpack. What vintage?

I think they were first issued in the very late 1960's Janne, inside the lid is a 1968 date stamp, but I think that refers to a Batch or contract perhaps. I got mine in 1973...:wideyed: 4 years short of half a Century ago!!.:biggrin:
 

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
2,293
Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
Quality. By I bought in -79, but the Coleman frame I fitted it with got busted by an ignorant aircraft loader last year, so unusable at the moment...

Those okd backpacks are so much better in all ways than the modern stuff...
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
The canopy. Thanks. You can actually see where you are going with an open understory!
I could use some outdoor green about now. Hard to pack up and leave that place.

From the edges of the logging roads, our conifer forest understory might be 3m deep and visibility 5m, if that.
But it opens up a lot once you get under the closed canopy. Sunlight is rare. Gloomy unless the trees are 50m tall.
Then the lower branches are self pruned and the whole place doesn't seem to be so claustrophobic.
 

Nice65

Brilliant!
Apr 16, 2009
6,438
2,859
W.Sussex
What a lovely spot for a few nights, that spring really makes it. I’m only a bit west of you, woodland like that is in me. What are your trees there? Firstly I thought it looked like old Hazel, then some stems looked Hornbeam, and then some Chestnut. Chestnut would explain the lack of undergrowth, not much copes with its high Tannin content. Whatever, I felt all calm and comfortable just looking, nice post :)
 
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saxonaxe

Nomad
Sep 29, 2018
481
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SW Wales
You're spot on Nice65, :biggrin:
Predominantly Hornbeam overall, with scattered Ash, Chestnut and Hazel and some beautiful old Beeches.


As with many woodlands in the Ashdown Forest and High Weald area, this wood was once coppiced and used extensively for charcoal production to feed the furnaces of the old Sussex Iron Masters.
As you know, Hornbeam burns slowly with a fierce heat much favoured for the smelting processes.

The legacy as far as I'm concerned is a real benefit for me. The ancient Well was dug by the early Charcoal Makers and the Hornbeams grow in fantastic shapes now they are no longer Coppiced. The wood was last worked commercially in the early 1950's and that was only for domestic use Charcoal.

Hornbeam no longer coppiced for Charcoal. Now the trunks grow randomly squeezed together. On a windy night they rub together making squeaks and wails like an Orchestra tuning up before a concert.



Sounds that are guaranteed to make those not at ease at night in a dark wood, very unhappy...:laugh:
 

Tengu

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
12,780
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Wiltshire
I was wondering why there was a well in the woods....

I suppose the area is all over charcoal burnining platforms? (Hard to see without LIDAR)
 

saxonaxe

Nomad
Sep 29, 2018
481
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SW Wales
Yes Tengu, this particular part of Sussex as far back as Elizabethan times was a major producer of charcoal for the Iron Foundries of the Sussex Weald. Guns of Sussex iron were aboard ships that fought the Spanish Armada. Place names reflect the history. Furnace Green, Hammer Pond Lane, a village named Black Boys in reference to the residents involved in making charcoal. There are many such names locally.
The foundries used huge amounts of local charcoal and many of the woodlands show the lingering signs of the Coppicing that ensured a regular supply of suitable trees.
This poor old Hornbeam has finally collapsed in different directions.


The well holds clear cool water even in the hottest weather. My stainless 'Dipper' is about 3 inches below the surface here.


In Summer the Well is difficult to see and It was only after I looked closely some years ago that I realised it was a man made well, as it's lined with courses of local Sandstone. Simple local research revealed that the wood had been a busy Coppicing and Charcoal location.
 
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Tengu

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
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Its a grand thing to find. Is there any others?

You see wells marked on OS maps often but most are covered over.
 

saxonaxe

Nomad
Sep 29, 2018
481
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SW Wales
Its a grand thing to find. Is there any others?

It's the only Well in this wood, I'm sure. I have found other traces of the people who once worked the wood in much later years, possibly late 1940's to early 50's when work ceased.Things like old Lemonade bottles with screw in stoppers instead of lift off caps, and even Shippam's Fish Paste old style ribbed glass jars. Probably lunch time sandwiches for a woodsman...:biggrin:

I do know that the Well is not shown on any Ordnance Survey map, probably a self build job by some long forgotten Charcoal Burners.
 
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SCOMAN

Life Member
Dec 31, 2005
2,583
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Perthshire
Fantastic post. I've found an old man made well near my usual spot in the woods. It seems full of leaves, debris and who knows what so I've never taken water from it. It was dug out for the old homestead nearby I may do some further investigation.
 

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