On Friday I once again met up with Scrivy and old mate JP as we offered to help out Les and Brett from Wildcrafts run a course for some youngsters in the depths of an Essex wood.
It wasn't too long before the fire was going, the hammocks were rigged (a nice open configuration to take into account the good weather) and we had opened a bottle of beer for a pre-course social.
The next day Les and JP showed the youngsters how to handle and sharpen knives and make some shelters.
It always amazes me the amount of effort and energy it takes to build a natural shelter. This must obviously be taken into account when you're in a survival situation. When all is said and done, there may be alternative ways to build shelters and perhaps a lean-to with fire in an open front may be more cost effective in terms of energy. Personally, I'll stick to a tarp.
Talking of energy, Scrivy kindly made me this brilliant flint axe. What a fantastic job and it will take pride of place in my study. Thanks mate.
The shelter building and fire making soon gave way to water filtering and food prep. Les has certainly got things right in terms of teaching the basic skills in order of priority. The youngsters' rabbit prep was helped a long by the provision of a muntjac cooked "spit-roast" style on our side of the camp and provided the full complement of about 20 people with enough meat to go round with some to spare.
That evening I did a small talk and an exercise on night vision and light discipline in camp. It's amazing how many people insist on wearing the head torch complete with bright white light on their heads instead of around their necks, thereby shining it into peoples' eyes thereby obliterating any night vision they might have had.
I concentrated on using other senses in the woods not only at night but for use during the day as well. Instead of a picture of that, I'll show you a huge Dryad's Saddle fungus JP found and identified. The fungus is edible and the coin is a 2p piece (about 1 inch diameter.)
The next day the group was split into two groups. While Les took one half on a wild plant walk, I ran a man hunt scenario with a bit of tracking involved which seemed to go down well. Despite the dry ground and lack of substantial clues, both teams found the escaped prisoner before the helicopter came to airlift him away. Well, I like to pretend if no-one else does!
All in all it was a great weekend as usual. It was great to see the youngsters enjoying themselves in an open but controlled environment. I think there might have been a couple of adult converts as well.
Thanks for the visit.
Pablo.
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