August Bank Holiday

The start of the bank holiday saw me in my studio finishing off the leather sheath for my new leatherman.

I bought the leatherman at the Gathering. There was a certain amount of head scratching as I tried to tried to duplicate the nylon case and its sleeve for the extra bit drivers. I also wanted a space for a small fire steel and some tiny tweezers to extract splinters which I know I will miss from the Swiss Army Knife.

 

After a few weeks I'll do a comparison between the two. The sheath didn't turn out too bad. The stitching still isn't straight yet, but at least it's reasonably strong. The sheath is designed to go horizontally on the belt.

On Sunday I went into Poor Park woods. I saw all the usual suspects including a fox, which I was pleased about. Rob, the ex-gamekeeper, likes to keep the foxes down which I know is necessary, but I like to see a few about. This was a sign that they where still in the neighbourhood.

The harvest has been safely gathered in and the fields are already ploughed in readiness for planting the spring crops.

I saw the fallow herd but only at a distance. They were all together this time and I counted about 15 animals including five or six fawns. I'd only seen two fawns on previous occasions. A Muntjac paid me a visit as I set up the hammock. I could hear him but not see him. I climbed into the hammock a promptly dozed off in the afternoon sun.

Today I mooched about in Park Woods. These are  my small local woods. I've been so busy this year that I've hardly visited this narrow strip of woodland. I seemed to have missed a whole season in these woods and I was amazed that the end of summer, coupled with the recent dry spell had literally vanquished the undergrowth of tall nettles. The secret clearing was almost transparent and I could nearly see through to the south side from the northern edge.

I pinged a few arrows with the Samick bow to keep in practice, but gave up when one rebounded off a long log. I spent a good 20 minutes looking for it and, as usual, realised that you should always look farther than you think to find that missing arrow!

The dried bed of a usually large puddle showed up some good badger tracks.

The blackberries were out and I noticed a few gnawed hazelnuts on the ground.

As I came out of the woods, the heat hit me as I walked towards the car. Autumn might be just around the corner but summer wasn't done yet.

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.

August Bank Holiday

The start of the bank holiday saw me in my studio finishing off the leather sheath for my new leatherman.

I bought the leatherman at the Gathering. There was a certain amount of head scratching as I tried to tried to duplicate the nylon case and its sleeve for the extra bit drivers. I also wanted a space for a small fire steel and some tiny tweezers to extract splinters which I know I will miss from the Swiss Army Knife.

 

After a few weeks I'll do a comparison between the two. The sheath didn't turn out too bad. The stitching still isn't straight yet, but at least it's reasonably strong. The sheath is designed to go horizontally on the belt.

On Sunday I went into Poor Park woods. I saw all the usual suspects including a fox, which I was pleased about. Rob, the ex-gamekeeper, likes to keep the foxes down which I know is necessary, but I like to see a few about. This was a sign that they where still in the neighbourhood.

The harvest has been safely gathered in and the fields are already ploughed in readiness for planting the spring crops.

I saw the fallow herd but only at a distance. They were all together this time and I counted about 15 animals including five or six fawns. I'd only seen two fawns on previous occasions. A Muntjac paid me a visit as I set up the hammock. I could hear him but not see him. I climbed into the hammock a promptly dozed off in the afternoon sun.

Today I mooched about in Park Woods. These are  my small local woods. I've been so busy this year that I've hardly visited this narrow strip of woodland. I seemed to have missed a whole season in these woods and I was amazed that the end of summer, coupled with the recent dry spell had literally vanquished the undergrowth of tall nettles. The secret clearing was almost transparent and I could nearly see through to the south side from the northern edge.

I pinged a few arrows with the Samick bow to keep in practice, but gave up when one rebounded off a long log. I spent a good 20 minutes looking for it and, as usual, realised that you should always look farther than you think to find that missing arrow!

The dried bed of a usually large puddle showed up some good badger tracks.

The blackberries were out and I noticed a few gnawed hazelnuts on the ground.

As I came out of the woods, the heat hit me as I walked towards the car. Autumn might be just around the corner but summer wasn't done yet.

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.

Ground Dwelling at the Gathering

I have to say that I felt a little more comfortable dwelling on the ground during the four days of the Wilderness Gathering. It wasn't perfect and, in my opinion, still not as good as tree-dwelling, but as you can see from the pitch, I didn't really have many other options.

The Exped Synmat helped. I'll do a review of this later, but being thicker than the Thermarest it helped my hips from digging into the ground. Fussy? Yes I am. Uncomfortable hero, I am not. I'll blame it on my age!

What I didn't get on with was the condensation. The TI Goat Vertex tipi is only single skin. Even though I slept with the door zipped open (but not fully held open) the tipi walls were still getting soaked inside. You can see the dark patches in the picture above.

Apparently, the subject of condensation is quite complex and not just a matter of respiratory condensation and lack of ventilation. It depends a lot on environment, dew points, water in the soil, surrounding landscape, wind patterns, time of year, day and night temperatures, height above/below sea level and dew fall. (Thanks Rohan for this info).

Of course more ventilation would have helped as would a second skin. I expect a ground sheet would also have assisted. But I must say, it's not covered me in confidence to get out there and ground-dwell on a regular basis. Not in a single skin tipi anyway.

You have to be careful of the sleeping bag you use as well. I have a synthetic summer bag which can deal with damp, but in the winter, my down bag would probably get drenched (unless the condensation turns to ice like it did in January - pic above)

I must say though when all is said and done, you can't beat a view like this when you wake up in the morning.

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.

Ground Dwelling at the Gathering

I have to say that I felt a little more comfortable dwelling on the ground during the four days of the Wilderness Gathering. It wasn't perfect and, in my opinion, still not as good as tree-dwelling, but as you can see from the pitch, I didn't really have many other options.

The Exped Synmat helped. I'll do a review of this later, but being thicker than the Thermarest it helped my hips from digging into the ground. Fussy? Yes I am. Uncomfortable hero, I am not. I'll blame it on my age!

What I didn't get on with was the condensation. The TI Goat Vertex tipi is only single skin. Even though I slept with the door zipped open (but not fully held open) the tipi walls were still getting soaked inside. You can see the dark patches in the picture above.

Apparently, the subject of condensation is quite complex and not just a matter of respiratory condensation and lack of ventilation. It depends a lot on environment, dew points, water in the soil, surrounding landscape, wind patterns, time of year, day and night temperatures, height above/below sea level and dew fall. (Thanks Rohan for this info).

Of course more ventilation would have helped as would a second skin. I expect a ground sheet would also have assisted. But I must say, it's not covered me in confidence to get out there and ground-dwell on a regular basis. Not in a single skin tipi anyway.

You have to be careful of the sleeping bag you use as well. I have a synthetic summer bag which can deal with damp, but in the winter, my down bag would probably get drenched (unless the condensation turns to ice like it did in January - pic above)

I must say though when all is said and done, you can't beat a view like this when you wake up in the morning.

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.

Gathering 2

Members of the public queue for Woodlife keyrings

I got home from the Gathering yesterday extremely tired but elated. The Gathering was a great success on many levels, not only for the Woodlife Network, but also on a personal basis. It was a great laugh to boot.

The 3pm Wooldife group photo. Ray and Bear sent their apologies.

It's a shame not everyone made the photograph, but there's always next year!

It's impossible to thank everyone in person who visited the stand and introduced themselves or who made nice comments either about this site, the Network or the videos on YouTube.

Brochures and keyrings - Note the bargain price.

Your comments really mean a lot to me as did your kind donations towards the cost of more storage space for the Network next year.

Two more TV stars beg for Woodlife membership

It was also great to see old friends. It's only at these events do you renew old acquaintances and of course get introduced through them to other people. This is true networking and follows the spirit of the Wilderness Gathering.

Maverick has a well earned rest after 12 hours signing autographs.

Thanks to Sean, who helped out on Saturday, but a special thanks to Maverick47 who helped me at the stand over the four days and also to George who spent some time helping out as well. George - you're on the staff list next year!

Crowds gather to witness Roger signing up for Woodlife membership...

Actually he was judging the extreme baking competition that we ran from our stand.

There were marks for presentation, method of cooking and of course, taste. Everyone who entered won a prize. We raised £50-00 for Survival International Charity.

There's were just too many things that went on to tell you about individual events, so I'll have to introduce them in context over a period of time.

Finally, a special thanks to Roger Harrington from Bison Bushcraft, who gave me the opportunity to have a stand at the Gathering.

There may well be many things happening in the future and if only half the plans come to any kind of fruition, this site will be very busy for many moons to come.

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.

Gathering 2

Members of the public queue for Woodlife keyrings

I got home from the Gathering yesterday extremely tired but elated. The Gathering was a great success on many levels, not only for the Woodlife Network, but also on a personal basis. It was a great laugh to boot.

The 3pm Wooldife group photo. Ray and Bear sent their apologies.

It's a shame not everyone made the photograph, but there's always next year!

It's impossible to thank everyone in person who visited the stand and introduced themselves or who made nice comments either about this site, the Network or the videos on YouTube.

Brochures and keyrings - Note the bargain price.

Your comments really mean a lot to me as did your kind donations towards the cost of more storage space for the Network next year.

Two more TV stars beg for Woodlife membership

It was also great to see old friends. It's only at these events do you renew old acquaintances and of course get introduced through them to other people. This is true networking and follows the spirit of the Wilderness Gathering.

Maverick has a well earned rest after 12 hours signing autographs.

Thanks to Sean, who helped out on Saturday, but a special thanks to Maverick47 who helped me at the stand over the four days and also to George who spent some time helping out as well. George - you're on the staff list next year!

Crowds gather to witness Roger signing up for Woodlife membership...

Actually he was judging the extreme baking competition that we ran from our stand.

There were marks for presentation, method of cooking and of course, taste. Everyone who entered won a prize. We raised £50-00 for Survival International Charity.

There's were just too many things that went on to tell you about individual events, so I'll have to introduce them in context over a period of time.

Finally, a special thanks to Roger Harrington from Bison Bushcraft, who gave me the opportunity to have a stand at the Gathering.

There may well be many things happening in the future and if only half the plans come to any kind of fruition, this site will be very busy for many moons to come.

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.

Back from the Gathering

I got home from the Gathering yesterday extremely tired but elated. The Gathering was a great success on many levels, not only for the Woodlife Network, but also on a personal basis. It was a great laugh to boot.

It's a shame not everyone made the photograph, but there's always next year!

It's impossible to thank everyone in person who visited the stand and introduced themselves or who made nice comments either about this site, the Network or the videos on YouTube.

Your comments really mean a lot to me as did your kind donations towards the cost of more storage space for the Network next year.

It was also great to see old friends. It's only at these events do you renew old acquaintances and of course get introduced through them to other people. This is true networking and follows the spirit of the Wilderness Gathering.

Thanks to Sean, who helped out on Saturday, but a special thanks to Maverick47 who helped me at the stand over the four days and also to George who spent some time helping out as well. George - you're on the staff list next year!

There's were just too many things that went on to tell you about individual events, so I'll have to introduce them in context over a period of time.

Finally, a special thanks to Roger Harrington from Bison Bushcraft, who gave me the opportunity to have a stand at the Gathering which opened up a whole new world of opportunities.

There may possibly be many things happening in the future and if only half the plans come to any kind of fruition, this site will be very busy for many posts to come.

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.