"to adventure"
We moved to Cheshire in the North West of England three years ago and have spent time exploring the surroundings.
Nearby is a gem of a park – Marbury Country Park. It has a range of different habitats and amenities to explore and use – our dog Sorcha just loves to roam in there.
The park is run by The Friends of Anderton and Marbury and home to the beautiful Marbury Lady Sculpture.
Join Sorcha and myself as we explore the park.
Currently, I am in the hammock in the garden – it struck me while here my blogging has gone out the window these last few years – I suppose that I should not feel surprised at that as I am no professional writer and am easily distracted.
Bushcrafting has been always ticking along for me however these last few years I have been distracted with the world of Canoeing once again.
Have a lot to catch up on here with Bushcraft but here is my latest little piece of Bushcraft experimenting – using a Thrawhook to make rope.
So hopefully I will figure out how to finally make Heather rope. This was used extensively for centuries all over Scotland and seems to be quite a lost art.
Looking back at last years pictures I was struck by the number of events I had attended or places I visisted that had an element of rememberance. Even though these events and places can be tinged with sadness there is always that element of happiness when you are either with, or remembering old friends.
The pictures above are from;
To finish here is a short video from last years Airborne Soldier unveiling ceremony in Aldershot.
Cheers, George
It has been a year and a half since the 2017 Chosin Cup. Since then I have been wanting to finish this blog post however I just could not get the video for it together – thankfully I have now finished the video – it was a bit of ‘Writers Block’ for videos you could say 🙂 , the video is at the bottom of the post.
We had teams from all over London (including one from the South of England). After a hectic weekend of tests they were faced with the Endurance race.
They needed all the warm up they could get as it was just mud, mud and more mud.
In between the piles of mud there were plenty of ropes to haul themselves along – some made it all the way but some did not…..
There were plenty of obstacles to throw themselves over, under or through.
Finally though it was the finish line and the finish of the Chosin Cup.
Here is my ‘Writers Block’ video 🙂
Cheers
George
Sorting some Adventure Training kit in my garden this afternoon I heard a buzzing sound to my side. Looking down I spotted this little scene being played out.
All I had to film this was my Samsung 7 Edge phone. I was not disappointed with the results though.
I was enthralled at how quickly the fly was wrapped up and happy to see the amount of detail my phone camera picked up.
Cheers
George
The flaming lollipop
This week I am camping on the beautiful South Wales Coast at Merthyr Mawr. It is Bushmoot time again and I thought I would try a quick post using just my phone.
We have been mostly setting up the Bushmoot for the main event starting this weekend.
I did though pop around today to see a couple of the early starter courses Fraser from Coastal Survival was running a course and was when I was passing, teaching his students the art of getting a small fire going on a windswept beach. He got the fire lit using the tiniest piece of firelighter and soon had his cup of water boiling away.
The tiny piece of lit firelighter was inserted into the small tinder pile using a stick – kinds like a flaming lollipop 🙂
Cheers
George
Family camps tend to be busy affairs for me – setting up the tipi, sorting the fire etc, etc.
Not for this weekend last April- my wife Alison booked a Pod at the Durdle Door Holiday Park for us all. It was a weekend of exploring, swimming and eating – without touching a tent 🙂
The Pods were tall enough to stand in, had two single beds, one double, plenty of storage and electricity. We even had space to put up some hammocks (not an April shower in sight) and treated Finlay and Catherine for lunch at ‘Finley’s‘ cafe in Lulworth Cove.
So after a quick emptying of the car into the Pod it was off around Scratchy Bottom (I love that name) to get the views from Swyre Head down onto Durdle Door. Along the way the Hawthorn trees were all bent into that classic ‘South Westerly’ pose.
Just to the East of Swyre Head is a crevice with a rope down it. This is an escape route off the beach if you get caught out by the tide. We though decided to take it down to the beach so we could approach Durdle Door from a less busy route.
We spent a little while relaxing by Durdle Door before deciding to pop over the rocks to Man O’ War Cove.
We told the kids to just paddle as it was evening time but before long they were both saturated and having a ball. For myself I was up and around the cliffs trying to get a good shot of the Cove and some of the local plants.
Saturday
Next morning it was time to head back down to the beach at Durdle Door. It is a pretty steep decent to the beach and Flip Flops are definitely not recommended for the descent.
We were lucky to arrive at a time as a couple were paddling in and around Durdle Door – kinda lent well to photography. The kids though were soon back in the water in their wetsuits having a splash about – not many folk ventured into the chilly April waters so I was quite proud to see them having a go.
Then it was back over to Man O’War Cove for a family dip – boy that water was cold.
We ventured East a bit more digging ourselves into the beach and finding bits of driftwood that looked quite artistic.
Along the way I put this short video together.
Before venturing into Lulworth Cove we stopped off at Stair Hole. This mini cove is a delight to photograph with its caves, blow hole and folded limestone strata.
After a spot of lunch we spent some time at Lulworth Cove. If you have never been here before I do advise a trip as it is quite beautiful (even on a busy day).
At the end of the day we walked up onto Hambury Tout hill. There is a large Bronze Age Barrow on its summit that still stands proud. We hung around for long enough to catch a quite lovely sunset to end the day.
Sunday
After a quick pack up (love this Glamping business) we headed west for an hour to Chesil Beach. Here we met up with some friends of mine.
Firstly we met my friend Fraser from Coastal Survival as he was running a course on the beach. We left him be teaching and went off for a paddle and also met up with an old friend of mine – Dougie Gray (from my days in 15 Para) and his lovely wife Carol. It was great to catch up with Dougie and see all the pictures he had brought along from all these years ago .
While we were on the beach we decided to start a couple of Beach Henge’s. This was something we came across on Chesil beach a number of years ago and decided it was time to build our own.
They take ages to complete as you need to scour for the right stones but well worth the effort for the cracking pictures in the end
After saying goodbye to Dougie, Carol and Fraser we headed East to see our friends Brian and Jane in Southampton. As a treat for us their daughter Annabelle had made the most wonderful cake and scones for us to enjoy
Thank you Annabelle for putting the icing on the cake of what was a wonderful weekend.
Cheers
George
This year has once again proved to be a busy one for me on the Adventure Training front, however it has probably not been as busy as it has been for some of our ‘soon to be Basic Expedition Leaders‘ (BEL) in the Sea Cadet Corps.
This weekend my friend Perry Symes and I ran the penultimate weekend in this years BEL course. The BEL award is a nationally recognised qualification designed to give adult instructors a good grounding in becoming Adventure Leaders.
Next month they all go for assessment so this weekend was all about catching up on their paperwork and really testing their navigational and group leadership skills.
Joining us on the weekend were Sarah, Lee, Charlie Chris and James. Everyone had to lead specific legs of the route we chose for them and manage the group as we went along.
There were lots of challenges set for them in terms of giving short lessons on different subjects and making sure they could navigate to a high standard (as well as teach navigation to others).
It was great to get out at this time of year and see all the autumnal colours really starting to show through. We studied hard over the weekend however we did have fun along the way.
Over the weekend we stayed at the Sunbury and Walton Sea Cadet unit TS Black Swan on the banks of the river Thames. I must say thank you very much to all the staff who welcomed us, fed us and looked after us so well. I for one got to kip on my friend Paul’s canal boat (Thames Boat Training) that was moored up next to the unit – so cheers Paul :-). This enabled Perry and myself to fully focus on preparing the guys for their two day assessment next month.
Cheers
George
Last August I was at the Wilderness Gathering here in UK with my friends from Coastal Survival. Just across from us was my friend Jason Sears demonstrating the use of a bowdrill to visitors.
Jason is passionate about fire lighting and passing this skill onto others. I decided to sit back and watch his progress. I cannot remember the combination of wood types he was using but he did spend a minute gently warming everything up with some slow rotations of the spindle.
Once he felt everything was a dry as he could get it where the spindle meets the hearth board he really powered up to produce a hot ember. The day had been really wet so all this preparation was essential – all the while he was talking to the visitors explaining what he was doing.
To help himself along in getting his flame Jason had a piece of Cramp Ball fungus (Daldinia concentrica) on hand. He gently laid the piece of Cramp Ball beside the glowing ember to get it alight. This is a handy trick to remember in damp conditions as the ember created from the bowdrill can easily die out if you are not careful.
After a few seconds and a few puffs of breath the Cramp Ball was well alight then………………………
He added to some straw and huffed and puffed for a bit 🙂
Jason’s straw was also a bit damp so he spent a few moments just drying out the area around the cramp ball by gently blowing into it. It is at this stage that many embers disintegrate if you are not careful or they simply die out as they are too small to overcome the damp material.
After a minute the centre of the straw was well dried out and smouldering nicely. Normally, I notice a sudden increase in smoke at this stage and the colour changes slightly telling me I am about to get a flame………………………
Which he did – one impromptu looking candle in fact.
It is always a pleasure to watch Jason at the Wilderness Gathering teaching visitors fire lighting, so if you are thinking of coming along next year check him out.
Cheers
George