Thank you Al & Joel...

[lannyman8]

i was very lucky to be taken out for a paddle today by Al & Joel, had an awesome day, so, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

started by sorting the cars out for when we finished, put the boats in the water and we where away, had some nice gentle pabbling for an hour or 2, changed through a lock or 2 aswell..

we stopped for lunch around 12:30 on some hard standing at the side of a wear, i got my brew on while i mixed some bannock for the bread griddle. Al used my linx meths stove to do a brew, Joel did the clever thing and brought a flask....

Al has said about the bow drill and he was keen to try it out again. I started on the set from the wood that i grabed from the car park (white willow). I showed Al how i do my kit from scratch, just because i know my way works (for me)...

I did the burning in and then cut the notch, i showed Al the way i make a coal, a 2 stage method of filling the notch with dust, and then the heat stage, the fast and furious bit...

used some birch bark and bracken to blow the coal into a flame.

then Al had a go and got it first time, WELL DONE DUDE.....

thanks again to Al and Joel for a great day out...

chris.

 

[joely]

Great day out! Great company and a really nice place to paddle! Glad that the weather didn't spoil it and excellent work with the bow drill to both of you, hard work in such wet conditions! You know your good when you can find suitable materials on the side of a river on a day like today and still get a huge ember like you guys did!
Big thanks to Al for organising this, definitely have to do it again!
Glad you could make it to Chris, good to see ya and catch up, maybe try an over-nighter next time eh?
Thanks again fella's,
Joel

 

[lannyman8]

http://s594.photobucket.com/albums/tt23/acgirling/Woodcraft/Ripon_canal-Ure/

a few pics at above link from Al, as i totaly forgot to take any at all....DOH!!!!!!!

defo Joel, i have a local ish spot i have been meaning to try for some time. (shhhhh, its black op's though)...

 

[al21]

Really good to catch up with both of you again! Thanks for coming and making it such a good day especially as the weather was pretty awful at times. When we left you with the kit Chris as we headed off to shuttle the cars I thought we'd be returning to a drowned rat. I've not seen rain like that for a while, proper sea with slits in. You've some good kit though as you looked dry enough on our return.

Thanks a million for showing me your technique for the bow drill. I now have my fire by friction mojo back. Oh yeah! I was successful the two times I tried it while we've been camping. Much eye rolling from the missis, but plenty of 'that's awesome', from my boys. Charlie was keen to try, but it was beyond him yet. We tried together, but it was never going to work with two pairs of hands involved in the process.

We'll definitely get out together again soonish. I'll see what I can piece together, but for now I've a house full of the families camping and canoeing kit to clean, sort and pack away. Talk about back to earth.

Good one!

Al

 

[Retired Member southey]

Looks a brilliant trip guys, cheers for letting us look too!