New year under canvas.

It’s become something of a tradition to spend new year’s eve in the woods, and this year we were joined by a couple of friends as we waved goodbye to 2018 and welcomed in the new year. The last month seems to have been very wet in the UK, but we were fortunate with the weather over the festive period as it wasn’t too cold and after all the recent rain, fairly dry. A huge plus of all the rain is that the pond is now full again after our very dry summer which had left it looking decidedly low; there’s plenty of sign that the deer are still regular users of the pond and our recent removal of the fallen trees and broken goat willow has really opened up that area nicely.

Around camp, now that the bracken has died back I spotted a potential flat area that might make a good spot for pitching a tent, close to the fire area, level, but separate from the hammock areas and we quickly cleared the area of brambles so that Will and Marcelle could pitch their tent for the night. We’ll keep flattening that off in the future as it makes for a decent level tent spot. With the others in a tent, the rest of us were in hammocks, which always makes for an eventful night as the kids inevitably get out at some point and we’re then up putting them back to bed. No complaints on the cold though, with sleeping bags, under blankets and wool blankets they were nice and snug. Once the hammocks were up and Will and Marcelle collected from the train station I set about chopping wood. We’ve managed to get quite a wood pile together but it’s not processed and so not in great burning condition. I’m going to have to make a special trip down with the chainsaw and process and stack all the wood so we are set for future fires.

Frost River isle royale

I’d brought along the ‘Mears’ axe that I re-handled and I was pleased that the issues with the head coming loose are now behind me and the axe performed well.  Once the fire was lit we were soon warming ourselves with hot drinks and food. This years plans will see me focusing more on adding film content to my channel and so armed with my new Panasonic G7 and Rode mic I set about filming some footage for YouTube. They say ‘never work with children or animals’ and I can see why, let’s just say that not everything went to plan but I’m sure it will all edit together to produce some semblance of a video.

It’s been a while since my last trip to the woods and I had a pile of new kit to test out, the frost river Isle pack I won was tasked with carrying all my kit, the Tatonka 4x3 tarp went overhead, the reflector oven warmed up some food and my Keela ventile smock kept me warm with additional layers. On the making front, my Christmas present of a hybrid crook knife with a flatter curve got tested and Emma was very keen on it so I may be sharing that with her. Clothing wise my Hestra guide gloves and shemagh helped keep the cold at bay when the temperature dropped. We’re still in the darkest part of the year, so the light was gone by about 4pm and we settled into drinking some cider and cooking our food, it’s amazing how without the distractions of electric lights and electronic devices you’re soon heading to bed and we were all tucked up well before midnight. Midnight arrived with a bang, and I was woken from sleep by the sound of thousands of fireworks detonating to ring in the new year.  

Not the most restful sleep but lovely to be outdoors again. Happy New year to you all, lots more to come...