On Friday afternoon I (Rach) got a call about a spare place
on bushcraft and survival training course over the weekend, did I want to go? .....
Heck, Yes!
We started Saturday morning with an introduction to fire
lighting with a flint and steel strikers. Lighting a piece of cotton wool with
flint and steel = quite easy. Lighting silver birch bark was quite a bit more
difficult.
We then had a competition in pairs to build a fire big
enough to burn through the string. Jack (my partner) and I were in joint second place.
After learning how to gut a fish, we cooked them with veggies
over our campfire for lunch- super tasty!
Midway through the afternoon Ray Mears wandered though our camp. Yes, the Ray Mears. How cool is that! Unfortunately I was too star struck to grab my camera. Overnight I bivied in the forest, while others opted for hammocks or tentage (patchwork pillow v2.0 is already being put to good use).
Sunday was spent doing more tasty camp cooking and learning
knife skills, there is nothing like deepfried banana fritters for breakfast. I had a fab weekend, thanks to Sunny and Ed from Ember Survival for putting on an excellent weekend for us! Further photos can be found on the Ember Survival facebook page
Totally prepared for nature (maybe)