Now I'm starting to get excited!

[MartiniDave]

Hi All,

Can hardly contain myself now, it's been a long, long wait but this Sunday I head off to do my Fundamental Bushcraft with Woodlore! Yippee!

Only question is really will I manage without my BCUK fixes for a week?

Take care all and I'll see you here when I get back.

Dave :-D

[jamesdevine]

Good Luck Dave and enjoy yourself.

It will be quiter around here without you but I am sure you'll make for that on your return.

With a full report on how you got on.

Again enjoy.

James

[Buckshot]

Diito on that.

I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself and learn loads

I'm only a little jealous :twisted:

Enjoy

Cheers

Mark

[Kath]

Have a great time, Dave! :-D

Come back and tell all! :wink:

[Adi007]

Have a great time Dave!!!!

[C_Claycomb]

Don't worry, you won't miss your BCUK fix! You won't have time!!! :lol:

Hope you enjoy yourself! I am really looking forward to hearing how your course compared to the one I took in September.

All the best

[MartiniDave]

Thanks everyone!

I guess I'll have to make lots of notes and report back. I'm off to pack shortly.

Dave :-D :-D

[Tony]

Mate, you will love it. Make the most of it and get your friction firelighting down pat as soon as possible and practice it all week. If you do as much as you can squeeze in to your days you will not be rushing too much in the last days to get stuff done.

Enjoy, it's going to be great.

[jamesdevine]

How did you get on Dave?

James

[MartiniDave]

Firstly, sorry for the delay in posting this, but what with the site being down, work pressures and an extra weeks hols to thank the family, its taken until now to let you guys and gals know how it went.

Where do I start?

We had a truly fantastic group of people, both teaching staff and students, on this course. A rich mix of ages, backgrounds and experiences, including fellow forumite "Nomad".

The format of the course followed Chris Claycomb's review, covering really the contents of "Bushcraft".

Was it worth it? You bet! I came away with a great sense of achievment along with a strange contented/confident feeling that I was now better able to deal with the world at large. Oh - and a nice certificate proclaiming my pass of the final exam.(And a rather nice carved spoon for my wife)

As a footnote, I took way too much gear, especially extra clothing. My Rogue trousers lasted all week, but did need 2 soakings in Oxy & 4 full wash cycles to approach clean! (Thanks to Elaine, my long suffering wife)

A big thankyou must go out to the staff at Woodlore and my fellow students for making it such a memorable week.

A final warning - Woodlore do turn up with a selection of stuff for sale at the end of the week, so make sure you credit limit is good. I just HAD to have a GB Wildlife Hatchet and a Swanni Ranger shirt. So many toys!

If any of you are thinking of doing a similar course go for it, you'll not regret it.

Dave

P.S. - I can't seem to stop carving things now!

[Womble]

I got caught out with that Landy full of gear as well, which is how I ended up with a watersac, a folding saw, a Frost mora knife...

...and a hole in my credit card!

[steve a]

Me too !!, Hootchi, axe, MSR water carrier, new billy.
Glad you enjoyed the course, it must be something about this Bushcraft thingy because on the course I attended( June 03)we also had a great group of people.As for the Woodlore staff, did you have that nutter Juha and Lawrence with his crap jokes.I'm doing the Journeyman in Sept/oct this year which is not too far away, can't wait.

[MartiniDave]

Steve,

Yep, We had Juha and Lawrence with his joke(s).
The 2 night "expedition" exercise was brilliant, did you get to sleep in the really terrific bluebell woods?

Dave

[steve a]

We slept in a Chestnut wood, plenty of Bluebells but they were just going over, so we missed the full splender but still a delightful place. June 03 was so hot that hardly anyone slept in thier shelters on the second night as they were just too hot.
I think the site used was fantastic and I shall be planning a camp their for the scouts I help out with.
I'm also booked on the campcraft course for April 05 that Juha is running so it will be good to meet up with him again. ray is leading the Journeyman course I'm on, so that will be something else to look forward to.
Like you I pay double for these courses, once for me and once in compensation to swmbo and kids, but when they go off on Sking holidays what do I get ?...... time in the woods and take aways!!.

[MartiniDave]

Steve,

I'm very tempted by the camp craft course as well. I'm really taken by the making stuff side of all this! :-D (edited to add -) I've started teaching my 12 yr old step son to make nettle cordage, and he's desperate to carve a spoon of his own. Oh, and he wants a GB SFA all of his own too :shock:

Dave

[Womble]

"I think the site used was fantastic and I shall be planning a camp their for the scouts I help out with."

I've been thinking similar thoughts for next year - if it's still a scout site next year, that is. I was there I think a couple of weeks before you, the tracking course finished the Saturday before the Late May Bank Holiday 2003. Although I'd never been there before, I swear I'd seen that caving complex before... in a dream of all places!

[steve a]

Dave,
my 12 year old boy is much the same, he likes to watch me strip nettles bare handed and then make his own cordage, not quite even along the length but he's getting there. On summer camp he will be doing his Knife and axe, if he passes he's promised himself I will get/give/buy him his own axe, he's already pinched my freebie frost from woodlore so I suppose he will get his way.
This weekend we are off to Tolmers, a local scout campsite with 34 of the troop, I'm doing firelighting, shelters and plant identification, the plant identification will be basic as I have much to learn on this subject.
Looking forward to using the hammock now we have a bit of warmer weather.
cheers

[MartiniDave]

Steve,

That's excellent.

Sadly I lose my lad every second weekend and he comes back from his fathers contaminated with all manner of B.S., but he's starting to ask what I'll be doing before he goes off, if he likes the sound of my option he tells his dad to come back the next day! Must be hard for the lad.
I suppose I must be grateful that he watches my Ray Mears' Extreme Survival dvd's over and over rather than some of the rubbish he could chose instead!

Dave

[steve a]

Womble,
we are fully planned for this year with summercamp at Buddens in Dorset and the seniors who organise their own camp off to Chalfont Heights and Gilwell for winter camp, so the earlyist would for us would be spring 2005.
If it's still an option I will look to persuade our leader to book next year,(I'm only a parent helper) so can't promise but will threaten to withdraw all help until he agrees.

[Fallow Way]

Hi all,

First post since BCUK has been back up, surpirsed myself how much I missed it :-)

I agree with everything Dave says, wonderful course, wonderful poeple (after you forgive the one guy who snored - and I mean snored - Dave navigated his way at night a few hundred yards by this guy lol)

It was very interesting for me as I had spent the previous two weeks with Juha also on other courses (Birck Bark and Campcraft) so by that time we were quite buddy :-)

All of the woodlore staff were wonderful. Juha, Lawerence were the instructors, which goes without saying they were as good as ever (and the jokes were as bad as ever). Dave and Stani (Beavus and Butthead) were as knowledable and funney as always. We were also in the very capable hands of two new assistants, Mike (a guy i was paddle-buddy with on the Ardeche trip a couple of years ago) and another who`s name has just escaped me. I`ll kick myself when I remember her name :-) Both really pleasant and helpful.

I learn an awful awful lot on this course. I was quite surpirsed with the pass mark that i received as I thought I only performed average.

I recommend this to everyone :-)

[MartiniDave]

Nomad,

The name your looking for is Dr Jane. The lengths she went to to aboid wading in the mud to get cattail roots will stay engraved on my memory for ever!

Your not kidding about the snoring either, but I was grateful that it helped me find my way! LOL

Dave

[Fallow Way]

Jane that was it, cant belive i forgot becuase i know her from elsewhere.

Might be gaining access to 400 acres of forest in south wales soon :-)