Woodlife At The Gathering

Woodlife (or at least the Network part of Woodlife) has been offered a pitch at the Wilderness Gathering courtesy of Roger Harrington of Bison Bushcraft.

The Wilderness Gathering has now become the premier annual festival of Bushcraft, survival and primitive skills.

"The aim of "The Gathering" is still as it was back in 2003. That is, to bring together all those interested in the Bushcraft and Wilderness skills and related interests to enjoy a weekend of knowledge sharing in a relaxed and family-friendly atmosphere." Have a look at the video on the WG site.

So, what will we be doing? Since Woodlife isn't a trading company we won't be selling anything. What we will be doing is showing people the Network and we will be networking ourselves, trying to gain a sponsor or two for our up and coming network running costs. We will soon have to purchase an extra 10 Gb of storage which will cost us approximately $120 for 12 months. As I said in the last post, we will be exchanging a Woodlife key ring or two for a small donation.

We will also be selling tickets for the Baking competition on behalf of Roger and the charity Survival International. Pay your pound and you get some flour. It's then up to you to forage for the other ingredients (I believe the Bison themselves at the farm are out of bounds!)

Since there are quite a few links for you to follow in this post, I'll leave you to have a look.

If you fancy a great weekend, with the added incentive of buying me a beer, why don't you come along? You certainly won't be disappointed. All being well, (and there's a mobile network connection) I should be able to update you on what's going on. So, keep an eye on the mini-blog on the left.

See you next week.

Pablo.

Woodlife At The Gathering

Woodlife (or at least the Network part of Woodlife) has been offered a pitch at the Wilderness Gathering courtesy of Roger Harrington of Bison Bushcraft.

The Wilderness Gathering has now become the premier annual festival of Bushcraft, survival and primitive skills.

"The aim of "The Gathering" is still as it was back in 2003. That is, to bring together all those interested in the Bushcraft and Wilderness skills and related interests to enjoy a weekend of knowledge sharing in a relaxed and family-friendly atmosphere." Have a look at the video on the WG site.

So, what will we be doing? Since Woodlife isn't a trading company we won't be selling anything. What we will be doing is showing people the Network and we will be networking ourselves, trying to gain a sponsor or two for our up and coming network running costs. We will soon have to purchase an extra 10 Gb of storage which will cost us approximately $120 for 12 months. As I said in the last post, we will be exchanging a Woodlife key ring or two for a small donation.

We will also be selling tickets for the Baking competition on behalf of Roger and the charity Survival International. Pay your pound and you get some flour. It's then up to you to forage for the other ingredients (I believe the Bison themselves at the farm are out of bounds!)

Since there are quite a few links for you to follow in this post, I'll leave you to have a look.

If you fancy a great weekend, with the added incentive of buying me a beer, why don't you come along? You certainly won't be disappointed. All being well, (and there's a mobile network connection) I should be able to update you on what's going on. So, keep an eye on the mini-blog on the left.

See you next week.

Pablo.

Quiet Weekend

I've got a few busy weekends coming up so this was quite a quiet one for me.

On Saturday, I embossed and made up 110 Woodlife keyfobs to take to the Wilderness Gathering. I've managed to get a stand at the Gathering and I'll be showing folks the Woodlife Network and trying to get some donations to buy some much needed storage space. The Network is getting more and more popular by the month.

Mrs P and I tried out the gazebo I'll also be taking. That was another £29-99 but hopefully all this outlay will be worth it. I pulled short of getting a pvc Woodlife banner made up. It was just too expensive. Maybe next year.

The idea is to get people to sign up in exchange for a small donation. They will also get a key fob. I'll also be taking a few bits and pieces to show people what other people on the Network can do like Chris Grant of the Woodlife Whetstone. If there's anyone who can re-profile a knife, it's Chris. But that's for another time.

I managed a couple of hours in Broaks wood. It was a hot, fine day but there were too many people about. I watched the dragonflies at the pond and spotted this exuvia on a water mint plant. All this reminded me to get cracking with the video.

I managed to do a trailer this afternoon.

Quiet Weekend

I've got a few busy weekends coming up so this was quite a quiet one for me.

On Saturday, I embossed and made up 110 Woodlife keyfobs to take to the Wilderness Gathering. I've managed to get a stand at the Gathering and I'll be showing folks the Woodlife Network and trying to get some donations to buy some much needed storage space. The Network is getting more and more popular by the month.

Mrs P and I tried out the gazebo I'll also be taking. That was another £29-99 but hopefully all this outlay will be worth it. I pulled short of getting a pvc Woodlife banner made up. It was just too expensive. Maybe next year.

The idea is to get people to sign up in exchange for a small donation. They will also get a key fob. I'll also be taking a few bits and pieces to show people what other people on the Network can do like Chris Grant of the Woodlife Whetstone. If there's anyone who can re-profile a knife, it's Chris. But that's for another time.

I managed a couple of hours in Broaks wood. It was a hot, fine day but there were too many people about. I watched the dragonflies at the pond and spotted this exuvia on a water mint plant. All this reminded me to get cracking with the video.

I managed to do a trailer this afternoon.

Pablo's Great Adventure!

87 days to go. The countdown has started. In fact it started 3 days ago when I parted with 20% deposit for the expedition.

I'm going to Namibia. It will be the trip of a lifetime. I am going to track animals on foot, visit a local tribe learning some of their skills and going with them them on a "bushwalk" for a few days. I will also be visiting a second game conservancy to get a closer look at some other wildlife.

I'm slightly excited as you can imagine. Since I was a kid, I've always wanted to go to Africa to see the wildlife. In the last few years, I've been nervous about going because of the tourist Safari stigma. I think that now I've found the ideal expedition where bushcraft meets tracking in an African environment. What more could I ask for?

I was going to go last year but the expedition (with another provider) was cancelled. I thus still have the money (just) but it must be spent this year before Mrs P gets her paws on it!! (To be fair I've said she can have a new pair of shoes and some more hair products).

I'm going with a highly respected international tracker and once in Africa, guides and local expert trackers will be there to provide tuition.

Every now and again, I will update you on what preparations I'm making and how these preparations are going, what kit I'll be taking and why and other general information and research information I come across.

Join me on Pablo's Great Adventure!

Pablo's Great Adventure!

87 days to go. The countdown has started. In fact it started 3 days ago when I parted with 20% deposit for the expedition.

I'm going to Namibia. It will be the trip of a lifetime. I am going to track animals on foot, visit a local tribe learning some of their skills and going with them them on a "bushwalk" for a few days. I will also be visiting a second game conservancy to get a closer look at some other wildlife.

I'm slightly excited as you can imagine. Since I was a kid, I've always wanted to go to Africa to see the wildlife. In the last few years, I've been nervous about going because of the tourist Safari stigma. I think that now I've found the ideal expedition where bushcraft meets tracking in an African environment. What more could I ask for?

I was going to go last year but the expedition (with another provider) was cancelled. I thus still have the money (just) but it must be spent this year before Mrs P gets her paws on it!! (To be fair I've said she can have a new pair of shoes and some more hair products).

I'm going with a highly respected international tracker and once in Africa, guides and local expert trackers will be there to provide tuition.

Every now and again, I will update you on what preparations I'm making and how these preparations are going, what kit I'll be taking and why and other general information and research information I come across.

Join me on Pablo's Great Adventure!

24 hours in Poor Park Woods

I was speaking to someone the other month and we were talking about solo trips. To my surprise he, and many others so it seems, had never done solo trips.

I like meets, but I also love getting out on my own. You can do what you want and chill out. It is a little strange at first, but if, like me, you don't mind your own company, you quickly get used to the solitude. This weekend, after a postponement from last weekend, I was out in Poor Park Woods.

I took my light weight 55 litre pack and, for a change, packed my ground-dwelling Snugpack Stratosphere hooped bivi, 3 litres of water, pre-prepared stew and some bacon and eggs for Sunday morning.

The weather was perfect at 21C. I wandered around the woods all day without a schedule, examining tracks and other sign and explored some areas of the woods I'd not been in before.

At about 5pm I lit a fire and warmed up a stew.

At 8pm I was in position at the north edge of the woods to see if any badgers would emerge out of a sett entrance I had identified. I didn't hold up any hopes. Suddenly, there was a commotion to my right and 2 large fallow does came into view. The lead doe saw me and veered off over the badger sett. The following doe came to a stop right in front of me no more than a few yards away. She didn't seem to realise I was there but soon ran off and followed the first doe. Two yearlings and a young buck followed close behind. I managed to get a picture of a couple of rumps.

I soon realised the reason for this commotion. Two dogs off their leads were chasing the deer through the woods. Amazingly, only one dog spotted me. The other went wandering past.

The next incident was much more serene. I decided to sit by the side of a well used path leading into the woods from a field. I wasn't there long before I saw a Muntjac buck in velvet come and pay me a visit. He was literally only 6 or 7 yards away and I managed to film the whole approach. Have a look at the footage below and see how he uses his nose to try and ID me. He also stamps his feet to try to get me to move and to warn others. I'm pretty sure he didn't quite know what I was even at the end. He certainly didn't look as though he was threatened.

I returned to the camp, lit up the fire again and took in the darkening woods before turning in.

I woke a few times during the night, but I wasn't aware of any nocturnal visitors. During breakfast, I heard the barking of a fallow doe (much deeper and not so shrill as a muntjac) but couldn't locate her. There was no sign of any early morning visitors by looking at the "morning papers" for tracks or spoor either.

After packing up I had a look at the sett entrance. The stick that I'd gently placed over the hole was still in place, which tended to suggest the sett was not occupied.

Exactly 24 hours after entering the woods, I walked out. It was a peaceful, reflective time with a couple of close encounters. I was really pleased with these encounters because it was obvious that I hadn't been easily identified as a human. I put this down mainly to the fact that the fire had de-scented me. But even so, I'm getting ever closer to the wildlife.

Here's the footage of the muntjac buck.