A bit late posting this one, as I went out Friday (see last post) and Saturday. I wandered back into my usual woods. I’m so delighted to find the ‘secret clearing’. If it doesn’t get flooded in the winter, I can see this being one of my favourite spots. I will be careful not to frequent the spot too often. After a while an area does look ‘lived in’ and I don’t intend that to happen in any of the areas I visit. I couldn’t resist though making it a little more comfortable for future visits.

I dragged a couple of loose stumps over from another area. I think it’s quite important to have somewhere to sit on (even though I use the hammock as a seat) and a good solid stump to do some knife and axe work. A smaller stump would do as a stand for the trangia. I call this basic site furniture. Ideally the stump for the knife and axe work should have a ledge at the rear of the stump to rest the wood you’re working on. If it hasn’t been cut through properly then it will have ‘barber chaired’ which will act as a natural rest.

A bit more foraging and enough wood for a some basic tools was found. A baton is always useful especially if no axe is available. This in turn leads to a couple of pot hangers. I practiced battoning until I had made a notch in the pot hanger in about 45 seconds. Next came a couple of ‘Y’ shaped standards and cross pole for a cooking fire. Finally I made a tripod. This could have a number of uses, but primarily I use it as a rucksack holder (for larger rucksacks that can’t be hung on a branch). Another use is as a tripod stand for cooking where, instead of a cross pole, the pot hanger is put on a long pole and balanced on the tripod. The pole can then be varied in height (by using a cantilever method) to raise and lower the pot hanger, hence putting the billy can closer or further to or from the fire.

I had a bit of wood left over and carefully stashed it away for future use.

Before I left the site, I cached the tools and furniture so as not to make it obvious that anyone had visited the site and also to try to keep the wood dry for my next visit.

On the way back I bumped into this little chap. As you can tell he wasn’t too pleased to see me! For those not sure, it’s a Devils coach horse and isn’t as harmful as it looks. The threatening posture is enough to put anyone off though. According to Irish folklore, it is a symbol of corruption and eats ‘sinners’. The raising of the tail casts a curse. If that’s not enough, if we were lesser animals or birds, we would be on the receiving end of some foul smelling chemicals emitted from anal glands. Nice!