survival course in cornwall

[mikesknives]

I don't post much here as I tend to have more to say on BB but I thought this would be the place to tell all about this trip I'm going on. Although trip is probably not the right word (all will become clear).

So I was driving back from work the other day and spotted a sign at the top of our village "Footsteps of Discovery" it says "survival matters" underneath. Now this got me curious, sounds like somethings going on. So I start putting my tracking slkills to the test and drive down the road looking for more signs not 1/2 a mile away I find another sign "Footsteps of Discovery" turn left, I'm soon in the middle of some woods about a mile from home and I've stumbled upon a survival course in full flow.

A guy called Chris came over and introduced himself as an instuctor and proceded to show me round a great base camp and then as he was going to check on his students invited me to see thier shelters etc. So I stayed around for 1/2 an hour chatting over one of the best cups of tea i've had for along time and found out what it was all about.

Chris and Spanner run a survival school in Cornwall and have been using the woods by my village for about 4 years and I'd never noticed a thing, it was only because someone was late to the course that the signs had been left out and I'd seen them.

So my "trip" about 1 mile to the local woodland is going to be a weekend family survival course with my son who's 6. It's a full weekender and I'm really looking forward to it. Although it's a survival course it's still full of the basic elements of bushcraft, shelter building, fire lighting and trapping etc. so after years of arm chair bushcrafting and waiting for my son to get old enough to camp we're going on a course.

It's on the weekend of the 27th October (when my wifes away at a wedding although she could have come too as it's a family thing) so I'll be reporting back with all the details and some pics of what we got up to.

Should be fun!!!

 

[dwardo]

That sounds great well found ! lol

 

[WiND]

Whats BB?

How much does the survival course cost?

 

[leon-1]

Whats BB?

BB is the abbreviation for British Blades, which is almost like our sister forum, anything you ever want to know about edged tools can be sought over there and you'll get a good, well informed answer.

Mike, have a good time on the course

 

[mikesknives]

So we got back from the weekend safe and sound and heres a report of what went on. My son and I arrived early on the Saturday morning, we weren’t free on the Friday evening so missed the first little bit of the course which I think was mainly introductions, some tea and a little night navigation.

So on Saturday we made it just in time for breakfast. A nice bit of bacon and some egg on a roll cooked over an open fire in the camp kitchen.

The other great thing was the kettle was on pretty much all the time so a hot drink was always available.

First lesson of the day was fire lighting methods. We were issued with an army machete and a basic knife although I did bring some of my own cutting tools as well ( more of those later) we went through a few basic techniques all very hands on with every group trying the equipment. There was fire by friction, fire from flint and steel, fire from chemicall reaction (great to watch) and fire from batteries and wire wool definitely a good trick to know!

Making fire sticks

Getting it going!!

So then with our basic knowledge we went into the wood to find something to burn and start our own little fire.

Back to the kitchen for a cup of hot soup and some bread and then it was down to classroom 2 for shelter building and campcraft which lead us up to about 2 oclock when we again had to head out into the wood to find a suitable spot to pitch up for the night and start to build our home. Theres no getting away from it building shelters is hard work but by about 5 oclock we had some thing that looked like a shelter with a fire and a reflector.

As I moved our sleeping kit in it started to rain and knowing the forecast was very poor I decided discretion was the better part of valour and headed back to the tents provided because Finlays only six and a little asmatic so it was the sensible option. I did stay in the shelter for a while though to see how it worked, very leaky!!! and I’d built the fire a little close but I suppose it would have been better than nothing at all.

It was a good choice to come in though as it rainred hard all night. One other group came in about 2 o'clock but the other group made it through the night with the aid of a good large fire and a nice sheltered spot. They still got a bit wet but the heat from the fire got them through, so the lessons learnt earlier proved invaluable!

Day 2

After another bacon sausage and egg fryup it was down to learning some trapping techniques and then on to some more projects.
First was to make a camp implement.

Then a trap release.

And the finally boil an egg in an orange.

Then the last lesson of the day was makeshift daytime navigation, some good byes and then home for a hot bath and sort out the dirty kit!!

A few pics of the other groups shelters.

Everyone together.

So to sum up Footstepsofdiscovery put on a great course (and great value) both my son and I had a great time in the woods putting into practice things I’d read about many times but never got round to trying. Although this is a survival course and not a bushcraft course I'd have to say that the fundamentals are the same and as a starter course it would be ideal, your not going to learn how to carve a spoon but it'll make an unexpected night outside a whole lot easier.

There’s no doubting the pedigree of the course tutors Spanner and Chris. Chris is a current instructor at the St Mawgan RAF survival school and Spanner has spent 34 years in the forces some of it as a survival instructor and from what I can gather from camp chit-chat spent time working with David Attenborough trapping exotic species for TV and also a lot of work with children and young people on various other projects.

Lastly for those people who like to know about these things here’s the low down on the cutting implements we used.

These are what were provided.

Perfectly adequate and I was surprised at what an effective tool the army issue machete actually is!!

Some extra kit of my own.

I took an old Swedish axe (not sure of the make) and a hand made knife by Martyn Cole (Cornwall) which I am actually in the first stages of applying a forced patina to if your wondering why it looks so rough.

The axe was definitely worth taking and helped enormously in the shelter building and the knife by Martyn performed beautifully the extremely sharp flat grind sailed through all the tasks I had to do with ease and I can heartily recommend it.

Cheers

Mike

 

[Ahjno]

Nice one mate! :You_Rock_

How does the egg and orange trick work? Never seen that before ..

 

[mikesknives]

you just cut the top of the orange scoop out and eat the inside crack an egg in the skin balance the top back on and cook in the embers for five or so minutes. Tastes lovely and citrussy.

Glad you like the report it was a great course,well run, well looked after and excellent value for money as well

 

[leon-1]

Good to hear you had a good time