...And Then It Rained.

I made a bit of a boo boo today. I completely misread the weather.

I spent all of yesterday indoors, nursing a cold. As the electric was off for heavy duty maintenance (the joys of rural living) I settled down with a good book. Needless to say, by today I was itching to get out of the house. The charts said that the worst of the rain would pass by early morning, so at 11 o'clock I set out into Outfield woods.

As soon as I got inside the woods, the downpour started. And it didn't stop for 4 hours! I had brought the minimum of kit (food, flask and knife) and thankfully I had man's best friend with me - I don't mean a dog either. I mean a poncho!

Many people say that the poncho is versatile because you can make it into a shelter. This may be true, but believe me, when you're caught in a downpour like I was today, you haven't got time to mess about stringing it up between some trees (even if you had some cordage) you use it for what it was designed for! Stick it over your head, pull up the hood, cover your kit and wait.... and wait.

I even managed to have my lunch under the poncho; munching on a banana, apple, cheese and cereal bar. Luckily I had a flask of tea so I didn't need to boil up water. Despite the fact there was nothing to see except rain, I was enjoying myself listening to the the never ending thump thump of it on the material.

When at last the rain subsided, I debated whether to make a run for it. There was no movement in the wood and it wasn't really worth staying. I was cold and the woods were damp. Aha! A perfect chance to practice fire lighting!

As I said, I had minimal kit with me. I had some tinder in my possible pouch but I also remembered I had some fat wood (maya stick) in my rucksack. Every one of my ruckies has a stick of this in the lid pocket. I decided that I'd have a go lighting a fire using this and a firesteel only.

I scratched off some extra fine shavings with the back of my new Snody Activator neck knife (the serrated thumb grip on the back of the knife was ideal for this - I'll show you the knife mid week.) I also shaved off some shavings and split the wood in two. All the wood I collected was sodden, but I split some larger sections in half to expose the drier parts. I should really have made a few feather sticks, but I was too eager to get warm.

After spending a while getting the angle of the knife to spark against the new firesteel I was soon producing some spectacular sparks, but it still took a while before one fell just right on a shaving. Soon a moderate fire was on the go.

As I supped the remains of my tea, I thought how quickly a fire restored moral, gave someone warmth and took the dampness away. With a little more thought in collecting and preparing the wood and I could have stayed out for a few more hours quite comfortably despite the rain.

As it was, I let the fire dwindle to nothing, cleared it away and wandered out of the wood. On the way out I noticed what I think are variations on parasols mushrooms Macrolepiota rhacodes bohemica (please check yourself as I'm not an expert.) I'm sure they weren't there 6 hours ago when I walked in! That's what downpours do I suppose.

Until next time,

Pablo.