Two nights with my Brother camping.
Good day all, I thought I'd do a little write up of the two nights my brother and I spent out last weekend.
As Luke was getting back via train from Uni and wouldn't arrive at camp until 10pm i thought i'd best get there earlier and setup. I'd be trying out two bits of new kit, a new Bahco laplander saw and a DD 3x3 tarp, as well as christening my leather work that i've been putting together for the last few weeks.
After a short walk into the woods i pitched camp, trying to find a flat spot on the sloping hillside. the spot i chose also had plenty of high brush below us on the slope and a couple of big holly bushes above us which help protect us from the prevailing wind. So with no window makers over head i set to work pitching what i believe is called a flying V tarp arrangement. I'd only ever used the stereotypical raised A frame method before, made famous by Mr Mears of course, and i'd never had a problem with that way of doing it. But variety is the spice of life after all, and a wanted a space to stand up under cover as i'd seen we were due quite a lot of rain. Under the tarp i set up my candle lantern, and snugpak stratosphere bevy which i've loved since i bought it. Now, as i mentioned, i was expecting rain and cold last weekend so that dictated what sort of kit i'd brought with me. however we had neither really where we were so i ended up carrying things i could probably done without. The rain we did have though, mostly overnight on friday, did show some faults with the DD tarp. On it's first outing i was impressed with it overall, and glad i bought it, however the taped seams under the ridge line tabs hadn't been applied properly and so leaked.
After i'd set the tarp up, and having brought some water with me, i set about gathering fire wood. I remember when i first started going camping as a teen with friends, we'd always collect a ridiculous pile of fire wood and use about a third of it so now i've learned to collect just enough. Having the Bahco with me really, really helped. Normally i'd be collecting branches i can snap by hand and so leave any logs that were bigger than my wrist, you can imagine the time it took up going far and wide for enough wood. But with the saw i simply found a couple of dead limbs of birch and beech and one oak i saved for cooking, and cut the thicker sections quickly and easily with the saw. Since i'd be mainly using my Hobo stove under my brother arrived i also went to the extra effort of using my knife to split the sections into quarters, well worth it!
About this time it was more or less dark, so i lit the stove using birch bark and firesteel and cooked myself a beef stew i'd made at home to heat up. Chuffing lovely it was too! Then it was a quite and meditative wait until 10pm, which was disturbed only once when to my surprise a shrew was trying to nestle into my gloves i'd set aside. So a broke off a few twigs from my fire wood pile and made him his own little tepee.
I'd left a Rune of choice marked into the sand on the nearest footpath directly above where i'd set up camp, my brother knowing before hand which path i'd be setting up near, simply had to keep an eye out and had no trouble finding me in the pitch dark. Obviously i'd seen him with his head torch long before he'd seen my sheltered camp, so i'd tipped my lit stove out onto a kindling pile i'd made ready for a fire and got that going as he came into camp. I'd planned which trees he'd use to set himself up with, and i'd collected a handful of pine resin on my walk in so with that and some pine knots tossed on the fire we had plenty of light to set Luke's tarp, bivi bag and general camp stuff. And perfectly timed, it was just as he'd finished the stew i'd brought for him that it started raining.
By morning the rain had stopped and we had a pleasant time cooking pancakes with almonds and maple syrup, and then packing up ready to head out.
First on the job list was collecting some water, we used a millbank bag to filter all our water into bottle, and added a sterilising tablet to the one we'd be drinking from as we walked. the other water we boiled before use.
We had a pit stop of route by some large boulders with plenty of some 'caves' as we called them when we were young. the 'cave' painting i made some ten years ago were still there although faded quite a lot. In one of the 'caves' i was too big no to climb into but Luke squeezed in and found a perfect example of what we've always called "glass spiders'. This one have a bum the size of my finger tip, they all seem to have painted bums and look like they're made of glass. hence the name.
Here we also nibbled on the last of the bilberries and after setting off again we found a few hawthorn berries too.
Lunch time we sat under a huge rock we've called "mushroom rock" for as long as i can remember, having a large flat top supported by a smaller set of boulders, so it looks like a toadstool. A few peppers, tomato and half a peppered salami each did us for lunch, along with a cup. Luke's Honey stove working perfectly with fuel blocks (to boil water) and twigs (for cooking the kebabs).
Another mile down the path and then off into the woods we settled on another place to spend the night. We set up in the same way as before, but i raised one side of my tarp to allow a breeze to stop smoke gathering under my tarp (a problem i'd had the previous night).
Saturday night then we feasted on gammon steaks. we split a green stick each down half it's length and used skewers to hold the steaks over the fire, with this we had boiled new potatoes in butter and my own blend of herbs. Beautiful!
In the morning it was oats so simple with the last of the maple syrup and a brew, then the old routine of packing up camp. This spot had a stream a few meters away so water for cleaning up and putting out the fire was easy. The previous morning we'd used the last of the water we'd brought with us to douse the embers before scattering, hence the water collection first thing after we'd set out.
So once again we set out, this time to meet our mum and her dogs for a walk before we got a lift home. I couldn't believe we found frost and frozen puddles that morning considering the mild night we'd had at camp. I guess that shows the benefits of finding a sheltered site.
Anyway, this was our november adventure. I hope you enjoyed reading, feel free to ask any questions.
Erro
Not all that is Gold does not Glisten
Good day all, I thought I'd do a little write up of the two nights my brother and I spent out last weekend.
As Luke was getting back via train from Uni and wouldn't arrive at camp until 10pm i thought i'd best get there earlier and setup. I'd be trying out two bits of new kit, a new Bahco laplander saw and a DD 3x3 tarp, as well as christening my leather work that i've been putting together for the last few weeks.
After a short walk into the woods i pitched camp, trying to find a flat spot on the sloping hillside. the spot i chose also had plenty of high brush below us on the slope and a couple of big holly bushes above us which help protect us from the prevailing wind. So with no window makers over head i set to work pitching what i believe is called a flying V tarp arrangement. I'd only ever used the stereotypical raised A frame method before, made famous by Mr Mears of course, and i'd never had a problem with that way of doing it. But variety is the spice of life after all, and a wanted a space to stand up under cover as i'd seen we were due quite a lot of rain. Under the tarp i set up my candle lantern, and snugpak stratosphere bevy which i've loved since i bought it. Now, as i mentioned, i was expecting rain and cold last weekend so that dictated what sort of kit i'd brought with me. however we had neither really where we were so i ended up carrying things i could probably done without. The rain we did have though, mostly overnight on friday, did show some faults with the DD tarp. On it's first outing i was impressed with it overall, and glad i bought it, however the taped seams under the ridge line tabs hadn't been applied properly and so leaked.
After i'd set the tarp up, and having brought some water with me, i set about gathering fire wood. I remember when i first started going camping as a teen with friends, we'd always collect a ridiculous pile of fire wood and use about a third of it so now i've learned to collect just enough. Having the Bahco with me really, really helped. Normally i'd be collecting branches i can snap by hand and so leave any logs that were bigger than my wrist, you can imagine the time it took up going far and wide for enough wood. But with the saw i simply found a couple of dead limbs of birch and beech and one oak i saved for cooking, and cut the thicker sections quickly and easily with the saw. Since i'd be mainly using my Hobo stove under my brother arrived i also went to the extra effort of using my knife to split the sections into quarters, well worth it!
About this time it was more or less dark, so i lit the stove using birch bark and firesteel and cooked myself a beef stew i'd made at home to heat up. Chuffing lovely it was too! Then it was a quite and meditative wait until 10pm, which was disturbed only once when to my surprise a shrew was trying to nestle into my gloves i'd set aside. So a broke off a few twigs from my fire wood pile and made him his own little tepee.
I'd left a Rune of choice marked into the sand on the nearest footpath directly above where i'd set up camp, my brother knowing before hand which path i'd be setting up near, simply had to keep an eye out and had no trouble finding me in the pitch dark. Obviously i'd seen him with his head torch long before he'd seen my sheltered camp, so i'd tipped my lit stove out onto a kindling pile i'd made ready for a fire and got that going as he came into camp. I'd planned which trees he'd use to set himself up with, and i'd collected a handful of pine resin on my walk in so with that and some pine knots tossed on the fire we had plenty of light to set Luke's tarp, bivi bag and general camp stuff. And perfectly timed, it was just as he'd finished the stew i'd brought for him that it started raining.
By morning the rain had stopped and we had a pleasant time cooking pancakes with almonds and maple syrup, and then packing up ready to head out.
First on the job list was collecting some water, we used a millbank bag to filter all our water into bottle, and added a sterilising tablet to the one we'd be drinking from as we walked. the other water we boiled before use.
We had a pit stop of route by some large boulders with plenty of some 'caves' as we called them when we were young. the 'cave' painting i made some ten years ago were still there although faded quite a lot. In one of the 'caves' i was too big no to climb into but Luke squeezed in and found a perfect example of what we've always called "glass spiders'. This one have a bum the size of my finger tip, they all seem to have painted bums and look like they're made of glass. hence the name.
Here we also nibbled on the last of the bilberries and after setting off again we found a few hawthorn berries too.
Lunch time we sat under a huge rock we've called "mushroom rock" for as long as i can remember, having a large flat top supported by a smaller set of boulders, so it looks like a toadstool. A few peppers, tomato and half a peppered salami each did us for lunch, along with a cup. Luke's Honey stove working perfectly with fuel blocks (to boil water) and twigs (for cooking the kebabs).
Another mile down the path and then off into the woods we settled on another place to spend the night. We set up in the same way as before, but i raised one side of my tarp to allow a breeze to stop smoke gathering under my tarp (a problem i'd had the previous night).
Saturday night then we feasted on gammon steaks. we split a green stick each down half it's length and used skewers to hold the steaks over the fire, with this we had boiled new potatoes in butter and my own blend of herbs. Beautiful!
In the morning it was oats so simple with the last of the maple syrup and a brew, then the old routine of packing up camp. This spot had a stream a few meters away so water for cleaning up and putting out the fire was easy. The previous morning we'd used the last of the water we'd brought with us to douse the embers before scattering, hence the water collection first thing after we'd set out.
So once again we set out, this time to meet our mum and her dogs for a walk before we got a lift home. I couldn't believe we found frost and frozen puddles that morning considering the mild night we'd had at camp. I guess that shows the benefits of finding a sheltered site.
Anyway, this was our november adventure. I hope you enjoyed reading, feel free to ask any questions.
Erro
Not all that is Gold does not Glisten
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