Pablo’s Woodlife: Wildlife, Tracking and Bushcraft

After arriving at the yard and being transported by Mark’s ‘Bush-taxi’ I considered the potentially hazardous and undulating final 100 yards into the camp. I needn’t have worried. Adam and Mike had built a bridge over the largest ditch for me to step across complete with handrail. With mates like that you just know that you will be in safe hands for the rest of the weekend. I named the bridge ‘Pablo’s Pass’ as a genuine lump came to my throat.

We settled into a routine of collecting wood and sawing it up ready for the cold, cold night that was expected. We discussed how short the days were and how much work you have to do while there was still some daylight to work by. It certainly helps to have a group of people to share the work.

I had brought both hammock/tarp and tipi; but I wanted to try out the tipi in anger. I was still unsure of sleeping on the ground but I had to give it a go. The others’ had a mixture of bivis with tarps and hammocks with one other tipi dweller. No one had a really uncomfortable sleep, but it was only -4C and warm compared with what the following night would bring.

On Saturday, after a leisurely breakfast, we had a Woodlife Network AGM as all 5 of the management team happened to be there. We then got stuck into some individual tasks. Mike making a buck saw, Sean having a go at bow-drill, George making a northern shelter, Mark helping everyone out, Ben spoon-making and me trying to make an oil lantern (I’ll put up the manufacturing stages later).

Again, we had to prepare copious amounts of wood for the stew and for a long fire for later in the evening.

The stew was a fantastic beef stew and dumplings prepared by Mark and Andy. As the temperature dropped, we discussed different methods of keeping warm. Insulation both in terms of clothing and insulation from the cold ground were the first obvious steps. And of course hot food and a hot drink. Before we turned in we planned to make hot water bottles from our water containers to pre-heat our sleeping bags. Alcohol probably isn’t the best thing to keep warm; nevertheless, a few kuksas full of different substances were passed around.

Every now and again, someone would race up to check the temperature. It was -6C at 8 o’clock and depending on where you were on the slope, it plummeted to -10C  later in the evening.

The morning saw the condensation on the inside of my tipi frozen and a thin layer ice on the outside of it. Despite this I felt no ill affects waking only once during the night. My new Alpkit SkyHigh 800 and thermarest provided all the warmth (I’ll do a full review later) and apart from the condensation problem, I was pleased with the tipi/sleeping bag combination.

Andy and Maverick had Exped SynMat 7s, which are very worthy considerations for ground-dwellers (although a bit pricey.) George comfortably survived his night in his northern shelter. In fact nobody felt any ill affects from the cold weather although on this occasion there was little wind chill to take into consideration.

All in all this was another great weekend with great company and a challenging cold weather scenario. Thanks to everybody there for making it a great first post-injury excursion for me.

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.

What joy! Wonderful! Brilliant! Fantastic! It’s gone! That damn cast… gone forever; hopefully!

Things to do when a cast is removed:

1) Have a good scratch

2) Have a 30 minute shower

3) Compare limbs and wonder where the leg muscles went

4) Go for a walk to see if it hurts

Things not to do when a cast is removed:

1) Scratch too hard

2) Get in the shower before figuring out a way of getting out of it again

3) Worry about how to get the muscles back

4) Walk too far - ‘cos it will inevitably hurt

Unbelievably, no supporting bandages and no physio required. In actual fact, I quite happy to complete the rest of the recovery process myself.

Today part of this recovery process involved a 40 minute walk in my new North Face Cedar Ridge hiking boots; a surprise Christmas gift from Mrs P.  (”You won’t slip down ditches with those on,” said Mrs P on Christmas day. “The man in the shop said so. He also said they are the best ankle supporting boots on the market.”) I also got 2 pairs of Brasher 4000 hiking socks and a set of thermals.

The boots certainly did support the ankle extremely well, although I didn’t try the ditch for obvious reasons. Although walking stiffly and with a bit of a limp I felt little or no discomfort except later at the bottom of the heel. I was also ably assisted by Ashley’s (naturalbushcraft) fantastic gift of a Polecat walking pole kindly donated by him during my darkest hours.

So, I hereby declare I’m fit enough for the first excursion of the year; a 3 day meet this weekend down at Mark’s wood. Temperature is expected to be -2C. A good chance to test out my new Alpkit 800 down bag and those Christmas thermals.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Pablo.

Carrying on from my last post about clothing and winter protection I’ll continue the journey down from the head. The assumption is that I’ll be getting out again before winter disappears.

Hats are no real problem. I bought the splendid possum fur/merino wool hat from Mears last year and it’s absolutely great especially during the evenings around the fire. During the day, I prefer a peaked cap, therefore I’ll use my standard cap or a “Millets special” fleece lined cap with ear covers that I’ve had for a couple of years.

As last year (and the years before that) I’ll continue the tried and tested method of layering. Last year I bought a WoolPower 200grm base-layer and that was a huge success for me. It was generally quite mild last year in the UK but even so, the temperature went down to -4C on one or two occasions while overnighting and I was grateful for the protection this garment gave me. The merino wool is designed to wick away sweat, which it does. The mid-layer is a reasonable quality thin fleece with the standard Swaandri on top of that. My Swaani is an older button up version. I’m tempted by Bison’s Field Shirt which have received great reviews, but unfortunately at £75, I can’t justify the cost when I’ve still got a servicable Swaandri.

The top layer will either be my SASS smock or my old, battered, trusted and favourite wax jacket. I bet I know what I’ll revert to as the winter progresses!

I have a pair of Peter Storm Long Johns (WoolPower also do nice leggings) and didn’t even put these on last year, so I’ll stick with these just in case the temperature drops significantly and put some thicker surplus trousers over the top. But here’s another solution for base-layer leg-wear. Ladies tights. Ask any self respecting infantryman and he will (in private) tell you that he has worn ladies tights or at least packed them in his bag at some stage during winter exercises.

During track and field training (many moons ago) us sprinters used these garments to great effect when training during the winter months to protect the delicate fast-twitch muscle fibres. So, come on guys; don’t be shy…I won’t tell if you won’t! Just say, “They’re for the wife” in the lingerie shop and ignore the all-knowing look from the shop assistant; or alternatively, raid the washing machine and blame it on the “sock-eating monster!” Stay away from fish-nets for obvious reasons. By the way, ladies tights make an excellent water filter and you can extend the life of premacs by quite a few uses.

Gloves are particularly important to me as I suffer from cold extremities. I picked up two pairs of Thinsulate fingerless gloves last year for £5-00 at the local market and I have seen them on Ebay for not much more. They are great for providing warmth but tend to fray quickly if you’re working with wood. They are also a bit slippery if using tools. In this case I revert to some leather gloves that live in my shoulder bag or tool pouch. These tend to be cold though and distinctly non-waterproof.

My new balaclava will do well for neck coverage, although on milder days I’ll stick to the ever-present buff. The shemagh will come out of the bag if the wind gets up or I need to wrap up well. Heat loss from the neck is only second to that of the head and I make sure this heat loss is kept to a minimum.

Two pairs of socks (thin under pair and outer wool) will finish off the clothes side. Wool socks are a must and as taught by the one and only Mors Kochanski, you can have 3 pairs of thick wool socks on at -30C in deep snow and no boots and you’d still be OK.

Pablo.

If, like me, you’re going to spend another winter tree-dwelling I might have a couple of solutions to that four letter word that might otherwise spoil a great time in the woods… c-o-l-d!

I made a bit of a boo boo today. I completely misread the weather.

I spent all of yesterday indoors, nursing a cold. As the electric was off for heavy duty maintenance (the joys of rural living) I settled down with a good book. Needless to say, by today I was itching to get out of the house. The charts said that the worst of the rain would pass by early morning, so at 11 o’clock I set out into Outfield woods.

As soon as I got inside the woods, the downpour started. And it didn’t stop for 4 hours! I had brought the minimum of kit (food, flask and knife) and thankfully I had man’s best friend with me - I don’t mean a dog either. I mean a poncho!

Many people say that the poncho is versatile because you can make it into a shelter. This may be true, but believe me, when you’re caught in a downpour like I was today, you haven’t got time to mess about stringing it up between some trees (even if you had some cordage) you use it for what it was designed for! Stick it over your head, pull up the hood, cover your kit and wait…. and wait.

I even managed to have my lunch under the poncho; munching on a banana, apple, cheese and cereal bar. Luckily I had a flask of tea so I didn’t need to boil up water. Despite the fact there was nothing to see except rain, I was enjoying myself listening to the the never ending thump thump of it on the material.

When at last the rain subsided, I debated whether to make a run for it. There was no movement in the wood and it wasn’t really worth staying. I was cold and the woods were damp. Aha! A perfect chance to practice fire lighting!

As I said, I had minimal kit with me. I had some tinder in my possible pouch but I also remembered I had some fat wood (maya stick) in my rucksack. Every one of my ruckies has a stick of this in the lid pocket. I decided that I’d have a go lighting a fire using this and a firesteel only.

I scratched off some extra fine shavings with the back of my new Snody Activator neck knife (the serrated thumb grip on the back of the knife was ideal for this - I’ll show you the knife mid week.) I also shaved off some shavings and split the wood in two. All the wood I collected was sodden, but I split some larger sections in half to expose the drier parts. I should really have made a few feather sticks, but I was too eager to get warm.

After spending a while getting the angle of the knife to spark against the new firesteel I was soon producing some spectacular sparks, but it still took a while before one fell just right on a shaving. Soon a moderate fire was on the go.

As I supped the remains of my tea, I thought how quickly a fire restored moral, gave someone warmth and took the dampness away. With a little more thought in collecting and preparing the wood and I could have stayed out for a few more hours quite comfortably despite the rain.

As it was, I let the fire dwindle to nothing, cleared it away and wandered out of the wood. On the way out I noticed what I think are variations on parasols mushrooms Macrolepiota rhacodes bohemica (please check yourself as I’m not an expert.) I’m sure they weren’t there 6 hours ago when I walked in! That’s what downpours do I suppose.

Until next time,

Pablo.