Woodlife

Following the previous entry I’ll continue to describe the Busmoot in Merthyr Mawr.

0730 – Up, washed and dressed. Slightly overcast to start with, but there’s a promise of sunny intervals as the sun streams through the tree canopy on occasions. I’m not using the washing facilities on site apart from a shower tonight. The collapsible bowl is put to good use. Breakfast on porridge and a cereal bar. Many have fires going. I wander across to a neighbour who describes his Kelly kettle. Looks good bit of kit, but a bit fiddly.

1000 – Muster at the covered lecture area where Tony describes the main events. Flint knapping, bow making, tracking, leather work, the list goes on and on. I quickly realise that if I am to get everything in, I can’t spend all day on one subject. I’ll have to restrict my attendance to the shorter workshops and unfortunately forgoe the longer, practical “making something” elements. I elect to do the tracking, shelter building and hand drill workshops today. Before we start, an instructor gives everyone a 10 minute talk on knife safety. Great idea.

1045 – We start the tracking workshop. Rod is standing in for Rhoda from Shadowhawk as she can’t make it. He sends us into the wood for 20 minutes to sit quietly and see and hear what comes back when the wildlife gets used to us. Unfortunately, a lady has brought a couple of kids and they quickly become bored and start running about. I get the picture though. When we return, Rod explains about the tracking stick and a few anecdotes about his tracking experiences. I like the tracking stick and agree that it “can’t lie” when you arc the stick to find a missing print. He explains the use of mirrors and green light. I can understand Rod’s description of the more spiritual aspects of tracking. I have done tracking in the past and you really have to understand the subject of the track: what they do, where they would go and what would they avoid. It’s very similar to finding a missing person or child. You almost have to construct a psychological profile. We wander into the woods to find tracks and signs. Unfortunately the paths are well used by the site users and the soil is very sandy. We explore a kill site and the usual squirrel and rabbit feeding signs.

I certainly picked up a couple of tips and this has spurred me on to looking much deeper into the subject when I return. Thanks Rod.

1200 – Quick lunch of a cuppa soup, apple and banana. I’m using my Swedish Army trangia all the time. It’s quicker than building a fire as I need to cram in as many demos in as possible. I also want to see how long a litre of Meths lasts.

1300 – We start a shelter building workshop with Andy from Dryad bushcraft. It’s going to be an ‘A’ frame type shelter and not the semi-permanent shelter Mors built yesterday. In fact a Y-shaped log and longish pole starts off the process. Smaller branches provide the rest of the super-structure and the weather proofing is provided by us collecting and using the abundant Himalayan balsam. The end result is a very pleasant pink and purple looking shelter. This is all standard stuff, but it was good to get involved in the process. It starts to rain. What I did learn in both shelter demos was the need for the bed area to be as high as possible off the ground. In Mors’ shelter, this was a raised platform. In the Y-shelter, this was ample soft cushioning from available material.

1500 – I start a new spoon during a quick rest between workshops.

1600 – Hand drill workshop with Rich. He explains and describes the technique needed. Spit on hand (essential), 8lbs downward pressure, 4 passes per second. Wait til smoking. Cut notch, maintain smoke again then go for the coal. About half of us get smoke and half again turn the coal into fire. I get the smallest of wisps before my soft hands succumb to the drill. I’m so determined to succeed that my hand becomes raw. I decide that if I continue, it might jeapordise other workshops if not the moot by my hand possibly becoming infected. It’s raining hard now and the tinder is becoming damp. I fail along with some others, but Rich kindly says he’ll be back on Monday for those who want anther shot.

1845 – Dinner of pasta and Wayfarer beef stroganoff. This MRE is good if a bit bland but pepper makes it tastier. Raining very hard now and the site is strangely quiet. I wander to the main parachute covered area, but there’s no-one there. Even Mors has succumbed to the rain and gone to ground it seems. I carry on with my spoon. The tarp is holding up to the rain so far and everything appears dry. As darkness falls, I climb wearily into my sleeping bag. The rain is constant but surprisingly soothing. I start to fall asleep…

0230 – What the ****!! I can’t believe it’s a car alarm. Of course I can believe it. Instead of just turning it off, the owner tries to find out why it went off. This results in another 15 minutes of ear screeching sound. I take the opportunity to check on the kit. All is still dry. The tree canopy is taking a lot of the downpour. Eventually, I drift off again to the background of the continuing rain.

More next time…