Last Thursday evening I met up with a chap from BB called Paul for a walk on the National Trust's Ashridge Estate. Paul contacted me several weeks back since he too lives in Hemel Hempstead, and it seems that unlike the extremities of Wales, bushcrafting knife nuts are fairly rare here.
The weather forecast for last night made it sound like we would be dodging torrential downpours all evening but it turned out to be a lovely evening with clear skies and a cool and gentle breeze blowing. It was particularly pleasant since the weather had convinced all the normal folks to stay in; the football could have helped too
We were walking in an area of forest that I hadn't bothered with before, but Paul clearly goes there a lot. I say clearly because other than knowing where he was going some of the fallen trees showed the obvious signs of bushcraft spoon harvesting and Gransfors testing!!
I had hoped to have a go at making fire with the bow drill but we sort of got side tracked. My pack contained a mixed selection of stuff, bug dope, rain gear, water, cord, friction fire kit, tinder, mini-axe, saw and a knife. Paul had a much more impressive load and I wish that I had had my camera with me to record it! In his game bag he was packing a folding bowsaw, a Rosseli axe, a mini GB, a Falkniven A1, an Allan Wood Bushcraft knife, a Wolverine, a Rosseli puuko, plus two more puuko whose make I can't recall!! Paul is a knife nut first and a bushcrafter second, so it is somewhat more forgivable.
We spent a while testing some of his collection and discussing pros and cons of the different designs, then carried on with our wander.
I wanted to have a go at making withies since Paul hadn't tried making them before and I can certainly do with a bit of practice, so we set off for a place that Paul said had hazel growing. It was pretty late by this time, probably about 9:00pm and it was getting dark under the trees as we plunged into the edge of the woods. The ground sloped fairly steeply through the wood to an uncut pasture below. The area just had the sort of feel that you associate with places that badgers build setts so I started chatting about my recent attempts to see badgers at a sett on the far side of the estate.
Paul told me that he had never seen a live badger, which surprised me given the time he has spent outdoors. Admittedly I haven't seen all that many badgers myself, fewer than ten spread over the last decade.
I was in the midst of telling Paul about a nature reserve in Somerset where a viewing area has been built to let people watch a sett of, what are now very unconcerned, badgers, when something caught my eye 20 yards off the trail....I couldn't believe it, but there was a bloomin badger scuffling about as if we didn't exist!!! :shock: It really could not have cared less!
Despite our far from quiet approach, and the noise of my collecting tinder when it temporarily disappeared behind a log, the badger stayed in view for about 10 minutes before trundling off.
Talk about freakish coincidences! I am almost sorry; I am sure that Paul
would have enjoyed his first badger more if there had been more suspense involved! I am sure that it would have been a much more satisfying experience if we had had to sit numbing our bums for a couple of hours first!
The rest of the walk was pretty uneventful. We never did find the hazel and
it was gone 10:00 before we got back to the car.
All in all we had a great time. I have been going for walks alone for so long that it is a real novelty to have company :-D
The weather forecast for last night made it sound like we would be dodging torrential downpours all evening but it turned out to be a lovely evening with clear skies and a cool and gentle breeze blowing. It was particularly pleasant since the weather had convinced all the normal folks to stay in; the football could have helped too
We were walking in an area of forest that I hadn't bothered with before, but Paul clearly goes there a lot. I say clearly because other than knowing where he was going some of the fallen trees showed the obvious signs of bushcraft spoon harvesting and Gransfors testing!!
I had hoped to have a go at making fire with the bow drill but we sort of got side tracked. My pack contained a mixed selection of stuff, bug dope, rain gear, water, cord, friction fire kit, tinder, mini-axe, saw and a knife. Paul had a much more impressive load and I wish that I had had my camera with me to record it! In his game bag he was packing a folding bowsaw, a Rosseli axe, a mini GB, a Falkniven A1, an Allan Wood Bushcraft knife, a Wolverine, a Rosseli puuko, plus two more puuko whose make I can't recall!! Paul is a knife nut first and a bushcrafter second, so it is somewhat more forgivable.
We spent a while testing some of his collection and discussing pros and cons of the different designs, then carried on with our wander.
I wanted to have a go at making withies since Paul hadn't tried making them before and I can certainly do with a bit of practice, so we set off for a place that Paul said had hazel growing. It was pretty late by this time, probably about 9:00pm and it was getting dark under the trees as we plunged into the edge of the woods. The ground sloped fairly steeply through the wood to an uncut pasture below. The area just had the sort of feel that you associate with places that badgers build setts so I started chatting about my recent attempts to see badgers at a sett on the far side of the estate.
Paul told me that he had never seen a live badger, which surprised me given the time he has spent outdoors. Admittedly I haven't seen all that many badgers myself, fewer than ten spread over the last decade.
I was in the midst of telling Paul about a nature reserve in Somerset where a viewing area has been built to let people watch a sett of, what are now very unconcerned, badgers, when something caught my eye 20 yards off the trail....I couldn't believe it, but there was a bloomin badger scuffling about as if we didn't exist!!! :shock: It really could not have cared less!
Despite our far from quiet approach, and the noise of my collecting tinder when it temporarily disappeared behind a log, the badger stayed in view for about 10 minutes before trundling off.
Talk about freakish coincidences! I am almost sorry; I am sure that Paul
would have enjoyed his first badger more if there had been more suspense involved! I am sure that it would have been a much more satisfying experience if we had had to sit numbing our bums for a couple of hours first!
The rest of the walk was pretty uneventful. We never did find the hazel and
it was gone 10:00 before we got back to the car.
All in all we had a great time. I have been going for walks alone for so long that it is a real novelty to have company :-D
I beleive that the reason that I haven't seen more badgers is that I haven't really tried to see them. I am usually stomping homeward when they might start to come out. I am sure that Adi can show you some if you bend his ear enough 
My mum was with me for the second badger I saw, we were stood out well after dark with a large torch and were alerted to a badger's arrival by the sound of it scratching its itchy nether regions! :shock: :roll: :rolmao:
