Tuesday 25 April 2006

The idea for this excursion (I’ll not call it an expedition as it’s too short) was a dress rehearsal for a 2-3 day expedition later on. Primarily, I wanted to know how all my kit worked out and secondly, put into practice the few skills I’ve learned so far.

My plan was to walk to an area I already knew, set up camp, make a couple of basic tools, start a fire, eat, (pre prepared stuff) and prepare to sleep, all in a half day. I would take away any lessons and adjust this for the “main event”. You might think “why is he doing this? Why doesn’t he just go and camp out somewhere?” Well, I am quite a meticulous guy and I believe that planning and training for anything is essential. Yes, I could go straight out, but I’ve not done anything like this for a good 20 years (!) I am 48 years old, and I don’t really like to leave anything to chance when playing with sharp things and burning things.

I packed my kit as in my last post, and was quite surprised at how heavy it all was. I posted my concerns on BushcraftUK and got quite overwhelming and diverse replies. Some people said the more knowledge the less kit while others say why not take enough kit to be comfortable. After all, this is Bushcraft not survival. I concluded that 28 pounds in weight wasn’t really that much, especially when water was taken into consideration. I was taking 3.5 ltrs which was 8 pounds of weight. The total weight seemed quite acceptable in the end. I would like to get the weight down and probably wouldn’t take some items if I knew the weather would be OK.

At last I was off. I dumped the van, hoisted my rucksack, and shoulder bag and on went the hat. A sure sign I mean business! I walked about 2 miles along the hedgerow and into the woods. It was a bright day, but there were threatening rain clouds. I was quite pleased with the rucksack and my packing. The weight seemed to be distributed well. A was quite out of breath and quite hot when I eventually reached my pre-determined site. I actually settled on more open area than previously recce’d. I just fancied a better view of the small valley.

I decided to time each part of the project. This might come in handy as a guide in later excursions. I didn’t really want to rush and make mistakes though. Up went the tarp and hammock. 12 minutes (too long and still having trouble with the tarp knots). I just put up the tarp when it started raining. Good! This will really test things out! I then made a couple of simple tools for cooking. A support for the Billy can, and a stake to hold it. Although simple, I was quite pleased with the result. (10 minutes). I then started gathering wood for my proposed fire. I was going to gather enough wood for a cooking fire and not a whole evening worth. There was plenty of fallen branches in the area, so this was not difficult at all. I didn’t have to cut any branches or chop any kindling.

Next, I prepared the fire under the Billy. I wasn’t actually going to cook with the open fire and Billy as I didn’t know whose wood this was. I hadn’t asked permission and in the UK, someone owns the land wherever you are. In this area, the woodland is amongst farmland. The farmers get a bit uptight when you wander around without permission. I probably would have got away with it since I was far off the beaten track and out of public view, but I decided not to. I did, however, decide to start a fire and put it out after I was satisfied that I could keep it going. In fact, I would not start up my Trangia until I had completed this task.

I gathered some silver birch bark (quite abundant in these woods) and used a bit of tinder from my pouch. Out came the firesteel and knife and…what’s happening? I’ve done this before…and still the ****ing thing won’t light. Is it too wet (it had started to rain) or was the tinder too damp or was the birch bark the wrong type? I actually started to panic! I had to light this fire. 12 strikes…15 strikes…20. I sat back. My pulse was racing. What was happening here? I knew this wasn’t a survival situation. I even had matches with me but still I was panicking that I couldn’t light the fire. My rules said “no fire…no food”. I was going to go hungry. But I couldn’t. If this was real, I would have to eat obviously. I calmed myself down. Deep breaths; rearrange the tinder, and try again. Long slow strikes is the key…plenty of sparks along the whole length of the firesteel. 5…10 strikes and…here we go. An immediate flame. I quickly added a small amount of kindling. We were away. I would be able to eat after all.

I let the fire burn for a few minutes savouring the smell of burning. This smell has always been a comfort for me. Now I truly appreciated why this was. Fire is the key to everything. Is this some primordial instinct or am I just being oversensitive in the situation? I had also learned a lesson. If things go wrong, don’t panic. Stop and think it through. I don’t even know why I did panic. I’ve been in pretty severe situations before.

Anyway, out went the fire, on went the Trangia and down went the chilli beans washed down by a cup of tea (all very British) and some nuts and raisons.

The next task was to try out the sleeping arrangements. This was the bit I was looking forward to! Off went the boots, out came the sleeping bag and then came the problems. I hadn’t tried this out at home and I couldn’t believe how difficult it was trying to get in a sleeping bag which itself is in a hammock. It was like trying to handle a slippery eel! I laughed so much that I was exhausted by the time I had figured out the best way to do this. In the end it was a case of get in the sleeping bag (half way at least) and then “fall” (gently) into the hammock, sorting out the top part of the bag after I got in. At last a bit of rest. I looked out over the top of the sleeping bag, only to see that my feet were getting wet. The tarp was the wrong way round! The short side was along the line of the hammock. I would have to sort that out at home. It had just stopped raining so this was not an issue. I laid back and listened to the woods. The whole thing had taken about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Not bad, despite the little “fire” set back.

My last task was to make another spoon. I had eaten my beans with a spoon I’d made on a previous excursion. I’m not very good at selecting wood and this selection was no exception. I spent 20 minutes carving away. I’d made a nice bowl, when the handle snapped off. It was useable, but it wasn’t a proper spoon. I didn’t even bother to take it with me.

I struck camp, tidied the site, loaded my gear and set off home. On the way I heard the year’s first cuckoo call. I also spotted some Lady’s Smock on the way home along the dried up river bank. Ironically, another name for this delicate pink flower is Cuckoo plant or Cuckoo flower. Researching this later, I found that the young leaves are good in salads tasting like cress. This has given me an idea for a future project. I might try foraging for food soon.

As I walked to the van, I thought about the spoon. No, I couldn’t give up that easily. 30 minutes later, I’d made another spoon. This one was looking good, and I decided to take it with me. I could have easily used it in the field, but I wanted to finish it off properly and sand it down.

My hike to the van seemed long but at least it was mostly down hill. I arrived home exhausted. I’d crammed a day or two’s work into 4 hours and achieved my aim of testing out all my kit.

Lessons learned: Check the tarp and cordage; practice the tarp knots. Don’t panic if things don’t go quite right.

What went well: Carried enough water, good spoon (in the end) and other self-made utensils, new sleeping bag seemed fine, packing and carrying okay.

I started out by going into the woods to test out my new Trangia and practice some skills. I set up both the Swedish Army (SA) Trangia and the Trangia 27. They both performed well, but I couldn’t help thinking that despite the 27′s refined looks, the SA Trangia was still my favourite. I had bought additional accessories with the 27 like the small 0.6 litre kettle (which is great) a non-stick pan and hard plastic “multi disk”. This made the weight as heavy as the SA Trangia. I decided that I would use the 27 for longer expeditions or when I wanted to do fancy cooking (as opposed to beans and sausages from a tin!) I would use the SA Trangia for smaller or “Bushcraft” excursions. Now have I got room for that kettle?!

I was just finishing off a brew when my wife called to say she would be going to her friends. This meant she would be staying over as a trip to the friend usually involved a bottle of wine. Okay, this was it then. No excuses. I had enough food, water, two cooksets (!) sleeping bag and hammock. It was time to stay out in the woods. What follows is a short account in log form taken from my hard copy journal.

3pm – This is it then. Let’s get organised. Gathered firewood. Decided to start fire later and at least boil water as opposed to cooking by Trangia. Gathered various sizes from kindling to larger wood. Should have enough tinder from birch bark gathered earlier.

4.15pm – Made a quick spoon and billy rests. I’m finding that I’m using the folding saw more than any other tool now. I also carry the crook knife in my shoulder bag as a matter of course. Much easier to fashion a spoon. After this, I had a rest and listened to the sounds of the wood. Mostly *** crows!

This was followed by a walk to take pictures of woodland and field flowers. Ragged Robin; Greater Stitchwort; Birds-foot Trefoil; Common Vetch. Saw Scorpionfly, Cardinal beetle and orange-tip butterfly.

8pm – Having trouble with the fire. Managed to light tinder and kindling, but wood too damp. Should’ve cut though outer layer to get to dry insides. Constantly blowing to maintain flame. Failure. Gave up with fire. Time to light Trangia. Tinned Baked beans with sausages, soup and 2 x apples. Comfortable and feeling good despite fire failure.

9.30pm – Preparing for dark and badger watch. Re-tied hammock; laid out foam mat with sleeping bag on top. Covered with excess from hammock in case of rain when away. Tidied site and memorised position of everything. Tied two small bungees to trees. Collapsible bowl and ration bag hooked to one and utility bag on the other. Tested Tikka XP light with red filter. Swapped bush-hat for fleece hat and stuffed bivvi bag into shoulder bag ready for a long wait on damp grass. Started the 10 min walk to badger sett.

11.30pm – Heard the badgers about 6 feet to my left. Very dark and can’t see them at all. The bank has overgrown so much since last visit. Wind getting up and going in the wrong direction. Using red light to scan the area now and again. Still no sign. Time to go. Easy first part of the walk as it’s a track. No need for red light. Actually going into the wood is quite difficult. Very damp and slippery. Down a slight hill and…Straight on my a***e. No harm done. No injuries. Despite the red light, I missed my site by about 10 yards, but quickly realise I’ve gone wrong. Contemplated white light, but no need. Red light reflected off the Trangia kit.

1215 am – After a cup of tea, clambered into the sleeping bag (not so slippery with the foam mat on the hammock). Zip is rubbish or is it because it’s new? Damp socks off and laying next to trouser legs, fleece as a pillow. 10 minutes of wonderful peace and stillness and then…

3.15 am – Woke up cold. Can’t be less then 12 degrees C. Sleeping bag said comfortable to -10 degrees. What a joke! It was a cheapy however. Not really too uncomfortable though. Dozing off again, then it starts. Barking deer. 20 minutes later it stops. So much for a peaceful night! Eerie false dawn. What a fantastic place.

5 am – Woke up again. Cold. Wind seems to have got up. Quite comfortable in the hammock though.

7.30 am – The sun is up, but outside of the wood. Wide awake now and wanting to do the normal things one does first thing in the morning. Time to get up. There’s a chill in the air, so on goes the fleece and neck scarf. This is what sleeping in the wood is all about. A wonderful picture of green with the sun coming through the trees; the smell of fresh vegetation and a deep sense of peace.

With the morning ablutions over, I wash using the collapsible bowl. What a great purchase this was. No need to shave – in built face warmer! Breakfast is a banana and fresh milk saved from yesterday. 2 x cups of coffee. How’s the water situation? 1 litre left for the rest of the day out of a total of 3 1/2.

After breakfast, I went through the woods again, to do some more tracking. I tidied the site, packed up and made my way to the van. I gratefully dumped the pack and climbed in the van exactly 24 hours after I originally left it.

I felt as though I had achieved something significant. Of course I’d slept out before, but always under canvass (ie tent). This is probably why I didn’t even want the tarp up. It was a great feeling being part of the wood. I still think that I can cut down on some kit, and I was really disappointed about the fire, but that will be something for another time. Nothing will detract from the feeling of being a first time true “tree dweller”. As I looked over to the passenger side, I noticed that my wife had driven out and left me a blanket on the seat! You can’t beat that sort of support!

Sunday 4th June 2006

Off to Lowt’s woods today with a very warm sun on my back. At last the weather has broken and there is clear sky with a mid morning temperature of 22 degrees. I travelled light today with just a day sack containing packed lunch, water and hammock. My ever present shoulder “possibles” bag contained the normal tools of saw, crook knife and Frost’s clipper, as well as the inevitable camera and binoculars. When I’m in more public woods, I tend to keep my knife in my rucksack or at least well hidden. People tend to view knives very suspiciously. At the moment there is a UK knife amnesty where people can hand in knives without the fear of prosecution. After this, the police will clamp down on anyone carrying a knife in a public place.

It’s a shame that the UK has got to this state of affairs, however there is too much violence everywhere (not just in the cities) where a knife has been used as a weapon. One can argue that anything can be used as a weapon, but there does seem to be a growing knife “culture”. I won’t argue with the law, but I will strongly defend my legal defence of “reasonable excuse” to carry my knife when using it for bushcraft. I won’t tempt fate by overtly wearing it on a belt or in a neck sheath when I’m more likely to bump into other members of the public.

Lowt’s wood is more used (but not extensively) by the public than my normal bushcraft haunts. The recent rain had caused the stream to fill and I couldn’t resist trying some of the cool clear water. I chose a spot where the shingle had filtered out any mud. I examined the water and it was clear. I certainly would have risked drinking it in an emergency situation, and I would have certainly used it for a brew. On this occasion, a sip was good enough.

I reached my planned spot which was where only recently there was a carpet of bluebells. The glade now provided an ideal spot for a bit of bushcraft. The sun was streaming through the trees, but filtering enough out to make the spot cool. I slung the hammock and considered the knots I was using. Last week on my 24 hour excursion, I tried out a new knot. I was very skeptical when someone suggested tying a normal bow (like the one you tie your shoelaces with). I had attempted to learn a few new knots, but I do find learning them quite difficult. have previously just relied on Risk’s improved hammock knot. Today again, I tried out the simple bow. I took the two pieces of tape from the end of the hammock and “hugged” the tree passing the tapes around the tree and bringing it to the front. The trick is to tie the bow under the tape.

Again, it seemed to work with not an inch slippage despite a relatively smooth tree. I am convinced. Nice and simple. The tarp is another matter, and I’ll explain that another day.

The rest of my time in “bluebell glade” was spent fashioning another small spoon. I becoming a bit of a spoon freak. This one is much smaller and more of a scoop. I’ll post a picture when it’s finished. I saw little in the way of wildlife on this trip. Maybe it was just too hot. There was an abundance of Red Campion about. Coming out of the woods, I took stock of a typical view of the East Anglian English countryside.

I’ve not long got back from the Bushmoot. I’m extremely tired from the 5 days where there were early mornings and days filled with workshops, demos and lectures. My mind is spinning with information. But what an experience! It was extremely well run and organised thanks to the guys at BCUK. Top instructors and everyone willing to share information and knowledge on an informal basis.

Over the next few entries, I will try to describe what happened on a daily basis. Meanwhile. I’ll leave you with a picture with Mors Kochanski and me. Notice my grip on his shoulder which prevents him getting away before I’ve asked him everything I want to know! 3 hours later I let him go!!

In the meantime, I’m off to clean kit, get a shower and a good nights sleep (in that order). Until next time.

I’ve been meaning to check out some new local woods for a while now, but only got the opportunity when some neighbours mentioned that they knew the landowner. They would ask them on my behalf if I could use the woods.

The woods are surrounded by fields, but it doesn’t take long to walk along the edges and access the wood. The first thing I noticed was the similarity to my normal woods. No woodland management, a whole load of fallen branches, and little undergrowth because of the dense tree canopy. There is some evidence of coppicing, but only on the outsides of the wood.

Having a quick look around, I noticed plenty of deer tracks (probably Roe deer) and fox. I also discovered that someone had built a watch ladder. I guessed that no-one had used it for a good 5 years judging by the growth around it and the general state of the structure. The rope had decayed, so I quickly set to work making it safe by renewing the rope. It wasn’t long before I was sitting at the top with a great view of what appeared to be a crossing of 4 animal trails. Someone knew their stuff when they built this.

I had lunch near the edge of the wood. It was a fine day, and I made use of a couple of fallen trees as rests. I tried out how the tarp would fit around the area and slung my hammock. Looking around, I thought this might be an ideal area to construct a semi permanent shelter. A good winter project. This was an exciting prospect. New woods, plenty of fallen wood and trees, and plenty of wildlife to track.

As my attention turned to lunch, I wandered what everyone else has in their ration bag. I take the same sort of stuff every trip (not very adventurous). I always have enough for 24 hours which includes, a tin of beans, a tin of fish, tea and sugar, packet soup, condiments (salt, pepper) packet porridge, cereal bar, nuts and raisins, home made jerky, hygiene wipes and a spoon. I normally take a piece of fruit with me as well. Sometimes I add fresh meat and vegetables, but then I would take the civilian trangia to actually cook on (as opposed to just heating up the food).

For these day trips, I would probably get away with a packed lunch and a thermo flask of tea, as I’m out for only 6-8 hours, but I actually like using the trangia (or where possible an open fire – even better).

I finished the trip with what has now become standard procedure on my small excursions. I fell asleep. I woke up to see a grey squirrel sniffing amongst my belongings. It was so close I could touch it. Out of the many definitions of bushcraft, one has to be being close to nature. Well, you can’t get any closer than this. Ok, so it’s only a squirrel, but I actual felt that I was part of the wildlife in the wood, not just a visitor. Maybe this was a sign that I was welcome here.

Even though I’m envious of the vast wild expanses of North America and Canada – both places I’d love to visit for bushcrafting purposes – I can’t help thinking that for diversity in a woodland, you can’t beat an English wood, especially our ancient woodland. They might be small, but there is an intimacy that you can’t resist. I’ve been frequenting my particular wood now for 9 months and have nearly come full circle in its life cycle.

Although I’ve not seen anything spectacular in the way of wildlife, I’ve become more aware of the inhabitants and I’m beginning to know where to find them, what they will be doing and how to watch them. The woods themselves never cease to amaze me. Two months ago, I couldn’t see any tracks because of the high undergrowth. Now, the woods are again giving up secrets that I didn’t know existed, even for a tiny wood.

It was one of these secrets I stumbled on today. I wandered deep into the wood where I don’t normally go. I was in search of some cramp ball fungus that grows abundantly in the area. I suddenly came across a small clearing on the north side. How I’d not seen it before was a mystery even though I don’t frequent the area that often. Unlike the rest of the wood, it was quite grassy and being in the north edge, it was quite open to the sky. It was an ideal spot for a bushcraft site. I set to work immediately, seeing if the hammock would fit between the trees and foraging for wood. I’m not sure what the drainage would be like when it really rains hard as the north side does tend to get quite waterlogged, but for now, it makes a fine site.

After a quick lunch, I turned my attention to the kit I’d brought on this excursion. I’m getting a bit paranoid of late, not so much about what I take, but what I take it in. I have to have my usual bushcraft tools i.e. knife, folding saw, string, tinder, binoculars, sandpaper, neck scarf, gloves, heat gel, 1/2 litre of water, camera and my mobile phone. These would go in a shoulder bag which is normally my Raider bag. It’s a great little bag as it has back straps as well as a shoulder strap, but I can’t really get any more kit in it. If I take a trangia, tarp and hammock, I have to resort to a day bag rucksack.

Today I took my all the contents of the Raider bag and what I consider my day kit (trangia, tarp, hammock ration bag) in my 15-20 litre rucksack and was pleased with the result. It was much more comfortable to wear. I even managed to hang my axe on the side. I think from now on I’ll save the Raider bag for very short excursions. As I said in a previous post, the day bag has the additional advantage of ‘piggy backing’ on my main rucksack with a slight modification.

I finished off the day visiting my old friends the red dragonflies. They were still there, and still making last ditch attempts to oviposit in any greenery they can find. I’m amazed that at the end of the first week in October, they’re still about. It is very mild still although the evenings are getting colder. Time to think of a few winter projects. I think I’ve got a couple in mind. More about that later.

Took a day off today. The weather was so good. It was too good to miss a day out in the woods. Friday 13th? Pah! No worries. I prefer going to Broaks Wood during the week as there are fewer people and dog walkers. I don’t mind dog walkers, in fact when my black Labrador, Ben, was alive, we used to go there often. But dogs do disturb the wildlife. These thoughts came apparent as I had a break in the small valley.

After about 10 minutes sitting in the sun, I spotted a mutjac deer about 20 yards a way. I scrambled for the camera but hit the wrong settings. A wasted opportunity but at least I was able to see it wander off casually down the valley and up the other side of the hill. A couple of seconds later, I heard barking, which I assume was the deer I’d seen.

I’d always wondered why the wood was called Broaks Wood (Brock is an old English names for Badger, but it might not be this) I had never previously seen any signs of Badgers in the woods. This changed as I climbed to the highest point of the wood. I spotted a track mark pointing to a dip in the wood. After guessing where the owner would go, I came across a huge sett with a number of entrances, scratching posts and latrines. It must have been extremely old judging by the scratch marks that had healed in the wood.

I continued up to the highest point of the wood and had lunch. I had dispensed with the trangia today and had just brought sandwiches. I knew I was going to do a bit of walking and wanted to travel light. In fact I only had my sit mat with me. The axe was swapped out for the walking stick, the trangia for ham and cheese sarnies. The view from the top of the wood was wonderful. Looking east, it appeared the epitome of the English countryside with undulating hills, farmland and wood.

On the way back via a different route I discovered a Hornets nest. Not so much discovered as someone had put up a sign, warning of the impending ‘danger’. I spent a while filming the nest actually getting quite close. They appeared not to be too bothered by my presence. I did start to worry as suddenly quite a few came out from the nest at once. I think if you panic in these situations, it just makes things worse and even insects smell your fear, so I got up slowly and walked away.

My last encounter was with fallow deer on top of a hill. Again, I only just managed to catch the deer on film before they ran over the top of the hill. They must have seen me approaching as at that time I wasn’t walking particularly quietly. Most of the trip I had been. I have learned a technique of walking in the woods so as not to spook wildlife. You basically walk toe to heel instead of t’other way round, keeping the feet pointing forward and s l o w l y does it. I also roll my feet out to in. This is quite hard work and can’t be done for long periods, especially if you’re not wearing the right footwear. I tried to follow the deer but they had a greater head start. There were so many tracks in the mud, I didn’t know which ones to follow.

I finished the trip at one of the small ponds, where I spotted a few more dragonfly. You all must be getting fed up with these dragonfly pictures, but I do find them fascinating. Actually, I made an identification error with the previously shown ‘red-dragonflies’. They were in fact Common Darters (but still red in colour). The variation of the Common Darter colour is this brown colour and probably means it’s a female.

Okay. Now here’s something I want to try out. By pressing the wrong button on my camera, I activated video mode which I very rarely use in the woods. I got home and mucked about a bit (a lot actually) and came up with a video of the excursion. I know my technique needs a bit of work and the image isn’t as clear as I thought it would be, but see what you think. It’s about 3 1/2 minutes long and there’s no audio. I might do something on a more bushcraft type subject at a later date.

A great day for a bit of bushcraft. The temperature was down to about 4 degrees C. A bit of frost but the sun was warming the woods nicely. I didn’t really have a project today. I just went out to enjoy the woods.

On the spur of the moment, I decided to build a fire to cook lunch. I always keep a bit of tinder in my shoulder bag and of course the firesteel is ever present. I made a couple of feather sticks (not very goods ones it has to be said) and chopped some kindling. The sparks came off the firesteel and it wasn’t too long before the silver birch bark slivers and dried grass caught. I prefer to start off a fire by the ‘fire bed’ method of layering the kindling parallel to the ground as opposed to the pyramid affair. I also make a small hollow in the ground underneath the fire for extra circulation. I must admit that fire building is not one of my best points, but I seem to be improving and getting quicker at starting a fire.

It was a good ‘lazy-mans’ lunch of beans, sausages, mushrooms and whatever-that-is-at-the- bottom. All from a tin. It did of course taste better being cooked on a open fire. The whole was washed down by a mug of tea. Even though I use my trusted crusader mug, I do like to actually drink out of my wooden kuska cup that is normally found hanging from my belt when not in use.

After lunch, I tried to work out how to put the Karrimor side pouches onto the yoke. The pouches were sold with the Sabre pack, but it came without the yoke. I ordered a yoke last week for £11-50 and I was keen to see whether the conversion of the side pouches into a day sack would work. The yoke actually looked like a spider because it has that many straps, but I finally worked out how to fix it to the pouches (or was it the other way round?) Once I got the hang of it, it only took 5 minutes from taking it off the main pack to making it into a day sack. Wearing it is quite comfortable but there isn’t any padding on the straps. Of course the two pouches total 30 litres so there’s stacks of space for day kit. I’m not sure if I prefer this over a standard day sack. I’ll have to put it through its paces at a later date.

I hadn’t realised that it was so late. I had let the fire go out and it was getting quite cold again. The sun was going down quickly. I would have loved to restart the fire again and stay out even later, but I hadn’t brought a sleep system with me. With the remnants of a cold still lingering, I also didn’t want to tempt fate.

In the last 2 weeks we’ve experienced torrential rain, hot sun, and a cold frost. I’ve been out in it all and I’ve enjoyed every minute. Perhaps I’m not as much as a fine weather bushcrafter as I first thought.

I had a terrible week last week. Work was too busy and family issues interfered with bushcraft arrangements. I had too many drinks on my birthday and took two days to recover! Luckily all was sorted out by the end of the week but at the expense of me forgetting to put in my field shoot registration. To top it all, the weekend brought very high winds and torrential rain. Even so, I had to escape to the woods and find a bit of solace, nearly drowning in the process. It was actually a kind of cleansing process. Through a break in the rain, I managed to fire off a couple of arrows at a makeshift target to make up for not going to the shoot. I gradually relaxed and started to enjoy life again.

My original plan was to try out a number of options for winter sleeping arrangements. The best bit of news to balance out a miserable week was BCUK’s announcement of a Christmas Bushmoot, and I wanted to try out a newly purchased fleece sleeping bag liner. I also wanted decide what method I would use for sleeping out at the two day event. It would either be tarp and hammock, bivviing or taking the tent. I was actually surprised how many people took tents at the August meet, so this wouldn’t be out of place. I want to try out the tent in winter in any case, so this is a viable option. My preferred option is tarp and hammock, but it’s not the best wet or cold weather solution. I’ll think I’ll take all the kit with me (the tent will be the only extra item really) and decide when I get to the site.

The worst part about sleeping in a hammock is getting into your sleeping bag (or at least trying to get in your sleeping bag). Not an easy manoeuvre in summer, but when there’s an additional fleece liner and possibly a bivvi bag to climb into as well, the exercise is three times as difficult. Hence the intention of trying to work this out today. I normally climb into the sleeping bag and pull it up around me while standing up with my back to the hammock, then gently falling back into the hammock. Much wriggling ensues thereafter, trying to get everything comfortable.

I really didn’t have the inclination to get everything wet and muddy for the sake of practicing this today, so I just plodded around the woods. I came back soaked to the skin with nothing really accomplished.

“I managed to shoot a mammoth though,” I said to my wife, thinking about the only accurate shot on my makeshift, dead wood target. She put a huge roast dinner on the table and said, “Yep, and I just cooked it.” You can’t beat moments like that.

The weekend’s weather was variable. This is standard UK phraseology for one day warm sunny and dry and the next day howling winds, cold and damp! And so it was this weekend. Saturday was warm and dry enough to for me to carry out a full load-out in preparation for next weeks Christmas bushmoot.

Although only overnight, I want to take all the sleeping options as I don’t know the area too well. Also I’m not sure about the weather, which will probably be…variable. I’ll write up a full kit list mid-week.

I started off by trying to get in and out of my new fleece liner, whilst getting in and out of my sleeping bag, while trying to get in and out of the bivvi bag and then trying to get in and out of the hammock(!) As previously reported, no easy task. It was so much easier in summer when there was only the sleeping bag. This is really putting me off even contemplating the hammock. Another option is to buy another sleeping bag, but I really can’t justify £90 for a Nanok bag that I’ve got my eye on just before Christmas. Looks like I’ll just have to struggle if I decide to go for the hammock option.

I also wanted to ensure I could remember the tarp knots. I tend to use an Evenk overhand knot for one end and a slippery knot for the other end of the tarp. It works quite well and I’m able to keep the ridge-line pretty taught.

The last thing to do on Saturday was to try out my new UCO candle lantern. I like this bit of kit and I originally bought it for my tent option. Being enclosed and thus protected from the wind, I thought it would also be alright for the tarp as long as the chain is long enough not to burn it. The result was that the tarp didn’t even get hot. I’m not keen on white light at night except in an emergency, but I think this little lantern makes a nice addition to a camp. It packs down small, very light, very safe and cosy. In a tent I can imagine the heat is just enough to ward off condensation. The candles are reported to last 9 hours, but I’ll let you know on that. I’ll do a full review later.

Sunday’s outing was very different. Overnight there was a storm and very high winds. I ventured out in the afternoon with my bow when the wind had abated a little. I noticed quite a bit of debris and some fallen branches and it got me thinking about the only reason I wouldn’t go into the woods. In woodland, especially unmanaged woodland, there is a real risk of injury by falling branches and even falling trees caused by high winds. It’s easy to think that it wouldn’t happen to you, but the felled tree in the photo is not too far from one of my regular tarp sites.

As the afternoon progressed and my shooting got worse, the wind started to increase in ferocity again. Taking my own advice, I withdrew gracefully from what I considered were dangerous woods. I reflected that this is probably the only occasion when I didn’t feel 100% comfortable in the woods.