Woodlife

I’m not long back from the BCUK Xmas Moot. And what a great couple of days it was. The moot (an old English word for meeting) was in well managed woodlands which turned out to be Swynn’s (the main organiser) local wood where he actively help manage the land. Consequently, the woods contain a large variety of trees and plant life. Our space was a small wooded area at the back of a farm, latching on to about 300 acres of the said woodland.

After a quick recce, I decided to pitch the tent as opposed to rigging tarp and hammock, although most people had hammocks and tarps up. It wasn’t long before introductions were made and the ‘inspections’ of other people’s areas took place. My Vaude Ferret tent actually attracted quite a bit of interest. I was interested to compare the different tarps and hammocks. Most had the MagiKelly’s BCUK group buy hammock from bali with under blanket or a Hennesey. Those who had stayed the night before had differing views about how warm the under blankets were from ‘toasty’ to ‘b***dy freezing!’ I was impressed by the 3m x 3m tatonka tarp. That’s definitely one for my upgrade list.

The communal fire was soon underway. My colleague, Paul and I decided to take a wander through the woods. The weather was absolutely great with a temperature of 5 degrees C and clear, clear skies. Although I couldn’t identify most of the trees, I certainly appreciated the wood’s diversity. We were delighted to spot a Red Kite gliding at low level over the local village green, but apart from that, we only saw the odd squirrel and the noisy Jay.

After a bit of lunch, we watched a demonstration of pheasant skinning (the proper way to do it) which subsequently went into the pot for the evening’s stew. Rich was doing his usual rolling tutorial on fire by friction. How that guy can get a coal in this weather in such a short time continues to amaze me. Rich demonstrated other friction methods including flint and steel and bow drill. George (THE font of all knowledge) showed us atalatal skills and how to make them. I don’t think that I’ll be entering this if it became an olympic sport, but it certainly whet my appetite to make one myself and learn to throw it properly.

Around about 4 o’clock, the sun went in and the temperature plummeted. The pheasant soup warmed the belly and the mulled wine (and mulled cider and home made mead!) warmed the soul. I spent the evening hopping from the communal fire to the barn where, apart from the bushcraft tales and talk, there was a suitcase full of sharp, shiny things for us all to get our hands on. I at last handled a Stuart Marsh knife, finding it quite heavy. I was impressed by the Brusletto Norron and the Kellam Wolverine. Perhaps the larger 4mm knives are too thick and heavy for for me. I also tried out a Granfors mini hatchet. Now that is nice little tool, allegedly made by the Granfors smithies in their  lunch break.

The owner of the suitcase had a Bark River PSK around his neck, saying that it was his ‘knife of the moment’. I didn’t need to question him anymore about how it performed when this was his EDC out of a suitcase of upwards of 50 very expensive and varied knives.

The mulled everything soon got the better of me and I retired to the Vaude. I woke up 3 times with the cold, even though I had a Thermarest, sleeping bag and fleece liner. I came to the conclusion that my ‘cigarrette-paper-thickness-£30′ sleeping bag was to blame. Another upgrade to add to the list! I finally went into a deep sleep and dreamt of Kellams and Bruslettos on my belt and a mini hatchet in my back pocket.

Next day of the moot soon.