blankets

[Woods Wanderer]

hi i vaigly remember a book i read (tales of old poachers or somthing like that)were it said the old highland poachers used to all lye in a line with there blankets round them and the last man would stuff the space between them and there blanket with heather then go and ly down and stuff his own with heather,so if you have a blanket just put it on the ground and put loads of insulating material on it then ly down grab the side and roll so you end up all wraped up in blanket and leaves or somthing,or another trick i remember was to sew two blankets together leavin a gap just like a duvet so it can be stuffed with leaves to keep you warm that can be done with old clothing as well just make sure to sew it back up with the insulation like cattail fluff. one tip about blankets is get one with a really tight weave mine cost me 15pounda square meter from a reenactment mans supplyer and make sure its twice the length of your body cos (i shown purple heath this) you can fold it in half length ways so it about the width of your body and twice your length (when folded)then you fold it across its width so its the same size as your body then lift the top flap up and climb in like a sleeping bag but with one open side (face the open side so you can tuck it in without a cold back) when you sleep like this there will be tree layers of blanket below you and one layer on top and its suprisingly warm just take a very thick woolen jumper as night wear if its too cold.if you dont have a jumper with you be inventive try folding the blanket as before then pileing on plenty of insulation like a debris shelter then climb in or do what the highlanders did(sounds itchy though and id rather the outside layer of leaves got wet than my blanket) but they new what they were doing and in the highlands the insulation would blow away if it was on the outside if it was windy i suppose you could put some small sticks on the leaves like a debris shelter though.ill stop rambling now and just post this post

 

[laurens ch]

I have piled leaves on top of my sleeping bag while it was in its debris shelter it was a cold january night even snowed a little yet i was still warm.Don't know if i would of been warm if i hadn't done this.

 

[Woods Wanderer]

ahh the feeling you get when you realise its going to be COLD

 

[jerv]

I used to sleep in the mountains just using a blanket you need to sleep close to the fire though and be prepared to be cold this insulation idea is a good one. i'm always worried about ticks though! . highlanders sleeping in their plaids has been mentioned on this site before thing is with highlanders, they were harder than hell!
there is a story about some highlanders in a cave one snowy night on their way to do in their enemies. The chief's son (who had been educated abroad) made a pillow out of snow. This was watched in dimayed silence by the warriors one of whom said later "now we despair of victory as our leader has become so effeminate he cannot sleep without a pillow".