Under a tarp
Saturday morning I decided to spend the night out again under the stars. This is called bivouacking, the meaning of which is to sleep outdoors, in a waterproof bag (bivy) instead of a tent. Doing this gives you the utmost feeling of the outdoors. The wind will occasionally blow across your face and you hear the birds and wildlife first hand instead of through the tent walls.
Anyway, I was dropped off in the usual place with a walk of about 1 mile to my camp spot. Now you may say 1 mile isn’t very far, but carrying 30lbs in weight then climbing several thousand feet in the process of getting to the bivy area takes some doing.
One of the first things I came across was, lots of sorrel plants on the wayside. These whilst good to eat, aren’t much good in this case as it’s a local dog haunt, need I explain more! However a little further I came across Hawthorn berries, which make for good eating and are also good for your heart according to recent medical studies. There were also loads of Blackthorn which you can eat but is very sour. Best used after the first frosts and to make sloe gin. The seeds of both plants should not be eaten due to its cyanide content.
The walk up the hill, is very worthwhile because of the views along the way, but on a cold day, this is when you realise that good clothes are a must. You must take care if you sweat then get cold by the sweat drying on you. In bad situations this can lead to hyperthermia, and at the least a chill. So clothes that wick away the sweat are best and several thinner layers serve the purpose very well.
After stopping along the way to the top, to catch my breath and to cool down, I eventually made it. At this point I took the opportunity to remove my rucksack and to relax for a while. This after all was supposed to be fun, but also keeps me fit (ish).
After being disturbed by a couple of harmless drunk teenagers, I made my way down to my camping area. I like to keep my sleeping areas secret as not everyone has the same values as I and I would hate to get there to find the oak tree burnt with glass and beer bottles smashed all over. Why some people choose to do this to our countryside is beyond belief, ‘RESPECT’ they have non for anything or themselves.
It was nice to get back under my oak tree and one of the first things I had to do was put up the tarp. The weather at this point looked decidedly dodgy, and I couldn’t make out whether it would rain, snow or clear up and go foggy!!
One of the reasons I enjoy camping out, is that you have to take a deep breath and slow down, compose yourself and leave all the pent up feeling of rushing about behind you. You do this because if you don’t, you can make mistakes and so will suffer later on in the night if things aren’t tied down well. So do the job right and make it last the night, or for the duration it has to be there without doing any damage to the surrounding area. Isn’t difficult if you put your mind to it!
Next job on the list is unpacking and sorting things into priority. Now this doesn’t sound to important, but when you are out in the wilderness you have to plan ahead and do as much as you can before darkness sets in. There is nothing worse than trying to sort things out, even with a decent head torch. So Bivy bag, sleep mat and sleeping bag all ready, I then set about getting tea ready. This time I had already pre-decided not to have a fire, a contained fire at least that doesn’t leave a fire scar on the ground and uses less fuel.
I put together the Omnifuel stove I had bought with me. This basically meant screwing the gas bottle onto the stove pipe, and setting the pot on for boiling after lighting it. I arranged my sit mat in the usual place next to the stove and set about making my tea. This, tonight was going to be a dehydrated army 24 hour ration portion of a balti style rice dish, which is really very good and quite edible. I tucked in and enjoyed, only to notice I had the first visitor of the evening, a Red admiral butterfly gracing my presence. This was well worth the visit as in mid October I had thought they would be well and truly gone by now. I then noticed a robin redbreast doing his rounds. Totally astounding, two absolutely beautiful creatures had paid me a visit.
I now felt relaxed and well fed, as I set about drinking my coffee. What would have made the ultimate difference was an open fire, but most places don’t allow fires for obvious reasons, so I sat there and contemplated the World and its many problems. I thought about my oldest brother who I have little to do with due to many problems with his wife. Usually I don’t give it much thought as I knew a long time ago how things would eventually turn out, I wasn’t wrong.
Families, I always think, ‘you can pick your friends but not your family. And if you had the choice would you pick certain members of your family as friends? Not worth dwelling on it too much, but these are the type of thoughts that may come into your head when you are alone, why I think people that set out into the wild like Ed Wardle who set out in Alone in the Wild and started to fail after only two days, due to the fact, how I see it, his unknowing of these inner feelings. Basically there are many people that don’t really know themselves and fall apart at the first sign of being alone when the only place our thoughts can go is inwards. This isn’t a dig at anyone, we are all different and I know the World would be an even lonelier place if we were all the same.
Having finished my tea, I set about on my little project of making a candle holder out of an old bean tin. All you do is cut a hole in the side for the light to spill out from. I made this one with a bramble hanging wire loop, which in the end I didn’t use as there weren’t so many places for me to hand it. Now it was totally dark, apart from my headlamp hung around my neck and the light from the candle. I set my billy can on top of the tin can so that the warmth from the candle would slowly boil some water for me, which it eventualluy did. Just after that though the candle went out due to it not being a particularly good one.
I was now alone in the dark, in a haunted area. I say that not just for dramatic effect but just as it is so. It is used for Witchy goings on and has burial mounds in various places, which in my view adds more to the ambience of the place not to its detriment.
The time was getting on, just before
I awoke for the first time to the sound of rustling around me. I then realised I had left the bag my tea had come in folded inside my makeshift candle holder. Rats, I thought. I don’t want that. So reaching out of my bag I moved the bag to hopefully stop the interest. It didn’t! I assumed it was more like a field mouse, due to the fact that it had squeaked a few times and was too high a pitch to be a rat. I noticed the coolness of the air, and the now clear skies we would have a frost. I wasn’t cold at all, one benefit of choosing the correct materials for the job. I went back to sleep, with the rustling now further away. I next awoke at about
After then tossing and turning until dawn around
Shortly after cleaning my pots out I decided it was time to make a start on my packing. This isn’t something that should be rushed, and there again, I had upturned my bivi bag to allow the underside to dry out a little before packing it away. As I said, plan and think ahead and things will become far easier.
Satisfied I had packed all away I shouldered my pack and set out again back up the hill. This time I would take a stroll through the woods before my pickup some 3 miles away.
As I walked I was already planning my next trip!
No comments:
Post a Comment