Woodlife

We arrived at the moot just after lunch and set up. Paul (my colleague) set up opposite me and we decided to put the fire between us. It wasn’t long before the tarps and hammocks were up (Paul’s first experience in a hammock) and some furniture was cut in the way of a rucksack tri-pods and hangers for the Trangia billy’s.

After a couple of visitors to our area, I was soon exploring other people’s areas and introducing myself. I came across Jason who was experimenting with a bow drill. He explained his theory that a stone (in this case flint) used as a block as opposed to wood would cause less friction, therefore less energy would be needed to drill. To prove his point, he flashed up an ember in 30 seconds. Keen to have ago, I tried to saw away, sending the drill pinging about the woodland. Spotting that I’d never done this before, Jason kindly took me through the technique of holding the block arm tight to my leg, pushing down on the drill so that it was exactly 90 degrees to the hearth and concentrating on a smooth bowing action.

Once I’d got the technique, I managed to produce smoke. A little more effort and…there it was! An ember! I stared in amazement. Jason found some tinder augmented with a piece of Cramp-ball fungus and I placed the ember into its nest. After a few breaths, fire erupted from the tinder. My first fire by friction! I was elated and I’d only been at the moot a couple of hours! Even though I didn’t have the camera with me, I imagined myself on the front page of a Bushcraft magazine in that epitome of the Bushcrafter pose; holding the tinder bundle at a slightly upward angle and blowing on it just as the flame catches. Jason kindly gave me the piece of flint I’d been using and a spare hearth and I was off to make my own bow and drill set.

The next day, the normal 10 o’clock meeting saw people volunteering for a series of workshops. There was just so much on offer and you have to be selective in what you choose. I decided to go on the woodland walk with the Swyn the local Forester. We whizzed through identifying the local trees and I was initially a little perplexed with the complicities of woodland management. By the end of the walk 2 ½ hours later, I was actually saying to myself, “Oh, I get it. This is what you’re trying to do and that’s why you’re doing it”. I also learnt the devastating effect of the Grey squirrel. I spent a relaxing afternoon carving, chopping firewood, and generally mooching about and chopping more firewood. This was getting hard work. I’d left the SKB bow with the person doing the archery. The archery was very popular with the kids and I drifted away leaving them to it. I didn’t feel confident or skilled enough to help out.

The muntjac hangi in the evening was devoured before I could get a sniff. Probably serves me right for not helping to dig the pit. This disappointment evaporated as I listened to a fascinating talk on the Kalahari and Borneo Bushmen with Stuart showing us the Bushmen’s traditional tools and hunting gear. I’ll include a few pictures in another post about this.

On Sunday the heavens opened and the rain came down… and didn’t stop. Wayland gave us a traditional Viking story, which clearly angered the Gods as the weather simply got worse with the wind increasing from a north easterly direction. Stuart again stepped to the fore and talked about jungle kit and clothing. We picked up quite a few tips on kit not just for jungle locations, but also for temperate climates (or should I say ‘polar’ in respect of the weather presenting itself to us at that moment).

I finished the afternoon with a one-to-one tutorial with Bob and learnt about nettle cordage. Again, this was something I’ve wanted to do for a while. At first I was dubious about stripping off the leaves fearing the dreaded sting but I have to say that even after an hour, I didn’t feel a thing. (Must be doing something right or was it a case of ‘No sense, No feeling?) I came away with a decent sized piece of cordage. Next time I’ll talk about the talks. Pablo.