Woodlife

The last week was cold with a capital ‘C’. One day we had hailstones and another we woke up to snow on the ground. Not bad for the first week of spring but not entirely unusual in the UK. The seas around our coasts have been cooling down all winter and are now at their coldest. Strong blasts of wind from the Arctic have little chance to warm up before it arrives. Today actually saw a slightly warmer day making a couple of hours in the woods quite pleasurable. The second flowering plant I’ve seen this spring (primrose being the first) is the Cuckoo flower (or Ladies smock).

I set up the new hammock today having taken delivery of some tape. The hammock is a BCUK group buy hammock organised by Magikelly. It’s different from the DD in many ways; size being one. This hammock is massive! First impressions are favourable, although the tape isn’t as easy to tie to the trees as they are quite slippery. The small O rings I bought with the tape were also unsuitable and quickly bent out of shape, so I replaced them with karabiners.

During the week I also took delivery of a new pair of boots. I have to mention the supplier because I was so impressed with the friendly service and lightening fast (next day) delivery. Check out John Muirden and Unbeaten Tracks.

I wanted to replace my 15 year old Brasher Hillmasters. I decided on a light trail boot with a soft sole (for tracking), not too technical and all leather. The chosen boots were a pair of Rogue Rangers. Again, first impressions are that these boots will definitely fit the bill. I’ll let you know how I get on with them and the first posts regarding the boots will be how I intend to break them in.

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.