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October 2003
First event of the month....Bushcraft weekend, near Cross in Hand, east Sussex. Run by Bison Bushcraft, this weekend aimed to introduce us to skills needed to survive in the wild. I was worried that the group would be macho survivalists, people who trot up the Himalayas at the weekend before settling down to a little relaxing jungle warfare.... In fact about half were men who worked outdoors - a National Trust estate warden and a carpenter for example - and half IT / office based men who were simply interested in learning more about the wilderness living. Yes, men: I was the only girl so no competing with tough horsey types who would sneer at a specs-wearing computer trainer....
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| We're here! Somewhere. Friday evening we settled in and talked about useful tools for bushcraft. Bottom line: buy one of Roger's Bison Bushcraft knives. (Peter naturally had an alternative suggestion - buy one of his!) | Tents are for wimps.... In fact it was fabulous to sleep exposed to the air - no claustrophobia and plenty of oxygen. I had 48 hours' oxygen pure and simple for the first time ever. (Admittedly you need a very good sleeping bag to be able to appreciate this fully.) |
 Here's
some we prepared earlier... all food was provided, including deep-frozen
small game |
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| We made candle-holders to practise three useful cuts into wood, then moved on to prepare a 'totally wild lunch'.... The trout was provided but you had to clean and cook it yourself, on a fire you lit yourself. No matches allowed! |
Next, build your shelter for the second evening.
This is a debris shelter made from wood, leaves etc from the forest floor.
(It's the lump of leaves behind my basher) Ours was disaster - possibly a bit more supervision required as we built it. Got the principle, however. |
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Finish Saturday with a fabulous meal - flightless
partridge* in red wine and juniper sauce. Here's the partridge being
skinned. *names have been changed to protect the overly sensitive. |
On Sunday we learned how to make snares. This worked better for me than my fire-bow but I still need to practise. |
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| It was a gorgeous day, though cold: but under the forest it was perpetual twilight, just the occasional smoke-filled shaft of sunlight. | All in all a fabulous weekend. Absolutely shattered and keen for a real hot bath with water you don't have to boil yourself over the camp fire. I have the worst hat-hair ever as the thinsulate bobble hat did not leave my head all weekend. |
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| Surviving this 48 hours - not bad for someone who has never been camping before. A night or two in the garden does not really count! My plans for a motorhome on retirement are undiminished, but now I know that when the apocalypse comes Peter and I will be among the people with fire, water, shelter and food! | |
This page was last updated on 12-10-2003.
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