Weekend in Wales - practising Bushcraft

[Lithril]

Well I've got to thank Stuart, Ed and Dean for this weekend had a fantastic time and learnt loads - this was my first time practising bushcraft!

Weekend started off with a slightly glitch, I parked up and waited for about 45 minutes for Stuart to turn up (he lived 5 mins away) but turns out he was parked about 100 yards up the road waiting for me ops:

My first surprise was the amount of kit that the other 3 bought.... or lack of it my bag was probably about the same weight as the the others put together.... not a mistake I'll be making again in a hurry.

We arrived at the location, found a site and set up camp, 3 hammocks... and my Blue tent... not exactly DPM but it did for the weekend. After seeing how easy the hammocks went up thats deifnately going to be my next purchase/diy project.

So the shelters were put up, a space for a fire was cleared and fire wood was gathered. Stuart and Ed went to set some traps while Dean and I gathered more wood, set up a stand for the billys and got the fire started. First nights meal consisted of Biltong wihich I bought, Jews Ear which was growing in abundance and some beech leaves - which taste amazingly like apple peelings!! Stuart picked up some of the bark which we had been playing around with and showed Dean and Me how to make cordage... now that can get entirely too addictive once you've started!!

Following day woke up and checked the snares - 1 Rabbit, now who says you can't catch anything with only 6 snares in place. After the rabbit was hocked and hung and after a quick (albeit slightly burnt) bannock breakfast we set off foraging. With very little effort we turned up: Field Mushrooms, Jack of the Hedge (Hedge Garlic), Asparagus, Beech Leaves and Mint. We met up with some interesting locals and then headed back to camp where Ed and Stuart showed us how to set snares. The fruits of our foraging was added with the rabbit and turned into stew with some dumplings made from bannock mix, now this was better than I usually eat when home - how often do you have rabbit and asparagus??? That evening I made my first spoon and more cordage.

Well last morning we checked the snares, one of mine had missed a rabbit (fur still attached) but the snare had been set slightly too low so the rabbit had ran over the top.

Camp was cleared and the area covered back up with foliage, all wood was dispersed it looked like the campsite that never was.

Again thanks to Stuart, Ed and Dean for this weekend I now know the basics of Cordage Making, Making/Setting Snares, Rabbit Dispatch, Game Preparation and some Plants to Forage, also had plenty of practice at using my knife properly/safetly, and also did some work with the axe - that Gransfors Mini is truly amazine!!! Looking forward to doing this again and also seeing some of the pictures that Stuart took over the weeknd.

[Ed]

It was good to have you down. Its good to put names to faces ;-) I realy enjoyed the weekend, especialy meeting the locals who live and work on the estate, a very nice and friendly bunch of people.
Don't worry about your amount of kit.... that will come with time. You'll soon work out what you never use and get rid of it. Dean and I carry 33l day sacks but niether of us think we could get down to 20l like stuart.
A great time was had by all, I think we all learn't something from it.

Oh.... and it may have been lithril first time bushcrafing, but he was the one that found the lime bark to make the cordage ;-)

Great weekend
:-)
Ed

[Stuart]

its was great to have you with us lithril

here is a picture of that dinner - jack by the hedge, rabbit, field mushrooms, beech leaves, asparagus and the jews ear fungi is just out of the shot



this is us collecting water, thats me on the far left then lithril and dean on the right



this is a rare photo of Ed



this is me preping bark for cordage



this is rabbit and Asparagus stew with dumplings mmmmmmm (you can just see the rolled bark for the cordage in the upper left hand corner

[Adi007]

So ... kit list time ... what did you take with you guys? :-D
Stuart ... to get everything into such a small pack, did you take a sleeping bag?

[Stuart]

a took a down jacket (which i wear when i sleep) and a blizzard bag which I get into up to my waist

its the first time i have done it this way but i found that it took up the same amount of space as my normal sleeping bag does (10lt) and was not as warm (i was hoping it would take up less space)

so the answer would be yes my 20lt usually includes my down (-13) sleeping bag

[Adi007]

so the answer would be yes my 20lt usually includes my down (-13) sleeping bag

That's travelling light!

[Tony]

He just talks to himself, keeps the immediate environment quite warm!

[Lithril]

Yeah I must admit that my 80L rucksack was a little excessive as half of what was in there wasn't used, although the MSR cookset seemed to be used more than Billies that the other guys bought Trying to walk up sand dunes with the 80L Sack filled was.... interesting :shock:

Really couldn't believe how easy it was to forage for food whilst out, even without the rabbit (which was skinny) there was plenty out there, will be looking in the local woods now.

Stuart also found a love for the woodpeckers while we were there :-D

[Jamie]

did he talk to the woodpeckers as well lith?

[Stuart]

I thought they were great untill one decided to use the tree my hammock was tied to as a pecking post at 5:00 in the morning :-x

[Wayne]

Looks like a cool weekend.

I can't wait till the dartmoor meet :-D

[Andy B]

Thoses pictures are brilliant, must be great to go out with knowledgeable guys and learn stuff, you lucky guy.

[Lithril]

Thoses pictures are brilliant, must be great to go out with knowledgeable guys and learn stuff, you lucky guy.

Yeah it was brilliant, I keep finding myself sitting at work looking out of the window at the trees and wondering if I can sneak off for another couple of days. Can't wait to go again.

[Andy B]

I'm off for two weeks for revision now so I might have to go and get back to nature meself. Got a mate who is interested but knows nothing (not you geoff) and he wanted to go and learn some stuff with me. I allways think its easier to learn if there are two as between you things can be eventually worked out.

I'm thinking just two days and a night in a local forest, can't wait.

[C_Claycomb]

Glad that you had a good time. I am full of envy :-D

Hey Stuart....I see you got someone to carry your camera for you!!!

AND you have small pictures :-D ...cool

[Kath]

Looks like a great time! Well done, guys! :-D

[eraaij]

Good story, thanks for sharing.

-Emile

[Adi007]

this is rabbit and Asparagus stew with dumplings mmmmmmm (you can just see the rolled bark for the cordage in the upper left hand corner

What's the story behind the dumplings? How were they made?

[bushwacker bob]

looks like a great weekend, exellent report and photos 8-)

[Ed]

What's the story behind the dumplings? How were they made?

That would be me. In my rations I always carry milk powder, flour, suet, sugar, salt, pepper, baking powder, a few herbs and seasoning all packed into my 1l billy can. I use it to make all sorts of things..... The rabbit was a bit on the thin side so I thought dumplings would go down a treat.... which they did.

The recipe was the one from the website I think....
10 spoons of flour
8 spoons of suet
1 level spoon of baking powder
a pinch of salt.

Add a little water and make into a dough. Roll into little balls and add to your stew..... easy ;-)

:-)
Ed