Natural Bushcraft - The True Spirit of Bushcraft

So it's that time of year! Time to enjoy ourselves and embark on what has become a personal, annual Dartmoor Challenge. Last October was our first year, the challenge was set: Camping on Dartmoor for 3 Days with just 10 items, food/drink & clothes were considered free items but everything else including things like your Rucksack, Toilet roll etc. counted as an item! You weren't really allowed to share items so you had to take everything you needed...

Last year I think it was fair to say none of us struggled and we all had a brilliant time, the weather looked atrocious on our journey to Dartmoor but we were blessed with wonderful weather for most of the trip. I remember looking forward to shooting a fair bit of film last time so that I could make a nice video when I got back to share with others, however on the first day of the trip my battery broke and I didn't get to video much!

Luckily Martin had his trusty Flip-cam and I still managed to put together a video when we got back. Once I knew my camera was knackered I decided to compensate by taking lots of photos on with my Canon 450D, I'm glad I did because I took some fabulous shots, some of which I'm really proud of.

If you haven't seen last year's video, here it is:

So, one year on we have decided that the challenge will drop by 2 items each year, so very soon we will be off to Dartmoor for 3 days and only taking 8 items.

We do carry a First Aid Kit & phones but these aren't used to aid our survival, they are there in case of emergencies.

This trip creates a lot of friendly banter weeks in advance, who's packing what, deciding what you need and what you can do without. Finding multiple uses for things and continually swapping items on your list whilst you imagine different combinations of kit.

We use a Google Document which is shared online between the four of us, it allows us all to see each other's kit list and unfortunately it also allows for mischief! For example someone today changed my number one item (Rucksack) to "The finest quality camping chair" and other various items were swapped out for rude items of which I cannot repeat here!

Believe it or not picking just 8 items is a lot trickier than picking 10. I would say 9 or 10 items is actually a sweet spot for living life comfortably in the wilds. Whereas trying to reduce it down to 8 I find myself wishing I could have just one more item.

Last year I didn't take a head-torch, I could have if I wanted (I had enough space on my list) but I thought it would be interesting to try make do without. Whilst I knew a headtorch could be an incredibly handy tool I also thought it'd be nice to try camping on Dartmoor for the first time without a torch and surely it's just a matter of getting your camp fully in order and laid out so that you don't really need light when it's dark right? Well after last year I'd say you could do with a torch, it's do'able without but it's just immensely helpful to have in the evenings.

So here is my kit list so far:

1. Rucksack
2. Tarp (3x3m Tatonka)
3. Hammock (DD Travel 2010)
4. Knife (Fallkniven F1)
5. Lighter
6. Cocoon (SnugPak Cocoon)
7. Toilet Roll
8. Billycan
9. Torch

This morning my younger brother Joe visited nice and early, insisting we go out "camping in the woods!" Unfortunately I had to explain that we had some work to do, but a quick visit would please all. Camping to young Joe (aged 10) doesn't necessarily have to be sleeping out, there's basically three things that Joe is after to call it "camping" that is; visiting the woods to first either setup a Tarp or Hammock, second make a camp-fire and third to have a brew in the woods!

Today we used the Bushcooker to brew-up, this wood gasification stove was kindly given to me by Jakob / JEEP on the forum, so thanks Jakob!

The Bushcooker seems to be a great little stove, very efficient with it's fuel, it's design is clever burning more of the gas released from the wood and consumes all the wood until your just left with a very small amount of ash. When your dealing with dry wood it's almost smoke-less and it's got the plus of the base staying cool so it doesn't scorch the earth. The only downside is perhaps it's pack size and the fact it needs pretty much constant feeding, but other than other than that I like it.

Today we ticked all the boxes and more in just a couple of hours, Joe also tried his hand as spear making and throwing and insisted to me he could kill a pheasant (Carnanton woods is inundated with them), even at his age he understands a good hunting-ethic to kill cleanly and only for the pot, so obviously he never went for the pheasants!

Claire came with us and did a bit of work from her hammock.

We had a spot of lunch in the woods and then left just as the weather was turning miserable.

I would like to tell you about a wonderful website, blog and generous man called Nick Gallop...

Over the Christmas period I was lucky enough to spot an interesting post in Nick's Blog at www.skillsforwildlives.com where as part of Nick's downsizing he was giving away lots of superb outdoorsy/Bushcraft books for free.

A very generous act and a beautiful way of passing on skills & knowledge, I don't doubt that his actions will inspire many over time.

I completely support Nick's mission with his website and highly recommend you check his site out and perhaps subscribe to his email newsletter. This is his mission...

• Bringing you practical bushcraft and wilderness skills
• Giving you self-reliance rather than reliance on more and more fancy kit
• Giving you confidence in the outdoors
• Promoting environmental awareness in the outdoors

Here is one of the books I received from Nick, I will post about the other two later on.

Living Wood

A book about Green woodworking, Chair Bodging, Building Pole-lathes & other woodworking tools.

I've started reading this book first as I'm sure I will find it inspiring, I'm only a fraction of the way into this book but I'm already whittling more!

Building a pole-lathe is one of those things that is on my "list of things to do one day".. and you never know with the good diagrams and instructions in this book it might just get me making and using one soon.

Cleaving, trimming, sawing, chopping & carving... if your interested in learning more about working wood then this is the book for you.

Remember to checkout www.skillsforwildlives.com

Posted by Ashley Cawley

Day 1

The weather forecast wasn't looking great with thunderstorms waking us up in Cornwall at 7am, the first day (Sat 23rd Oct) was looking to be a mixed bag on the Moors with rain, sleet, wind & sun.

We arrived at The Warren House Inn on Dartmoor with wind and sleet beating down on the road, the Inn was a welcome sight with its chimney smoking. We grabbed a quick pint & lunch and sat beside the Inn's famous fire (which has been burning since 1845) and then discussed our route and looked at potential places to stay.

Before we set off we weighed our packs:

• Martins - 15KG (Including 3L of water, food)
• Ashley's - 16.5KG (Including camera gear, 1L water, food & communal bannock-mix)
• Scott's - 21KG (Including food & water)
• Matt's - 11KG (with around 2-3KG on his belt: Axe, 1L water, cup, spoon, brew-kit)

We set off walking uphill behind the pub with the wind/rain blowing in our face. We spent the day walking (about 6km) stopping for the occasional brew. The weather slowly improved as we explored Fernworthy Reservoir and it's forest, we spotted a glimpse of deer. Scott & Matt were lucky enough to see a big stag with large set of antlers, later that day Scott also startled a Wild-Boar which changed our usual camp expression of "Yo Bear!" to "Yo Boar!"

Unfortunately on the first day my video camera battery failed; It wasn't a matter of it's charge but instead properly broken! So sadly I couldn't shoot much video at all, I tried to compensate by taking lots of photos though.

The first night went well and even though our environment was very damp we all managed to have a reasonable night sleep and no one seemed to be struggling as a result of lack of kit. There was no frost overnight, so it wasn't too cold.

Day 2

In the morning we walked across the Northen edge of Fernworthy Forest, down the valley toward the river and beyond to Teignhead Farm ruins.

The weather seemed much improved with sun all day yet the moor was still very wet underfoot.

When we reached the ruins we stopped for a brew & lunch, we sat amongst some beautifully old Beech & Pine trees, bathed in sun.

Martin was using his MSR pocket rocket to cook on and Matt was using his Bushbuddy wood gasification stove.

We looked at the map and decided on a new route to take so that we could look for new potential camping spots.

We ended up returning to a trusty camp-spot that we have used in the past.

As for sleep-systems: I was using a Tarp, Hammock & cocoon, whilst Scott was using Tarp, Hammock, Sleeping-bag & roll-mat for insulation.

Martin was using his new 'Terra Nova Laser', 2-man tent and Matt was using a 3-man 'Golite Shangri-La 3'.

Day 3

Was a frosty start, with temperatures lower than the previous two days, there was ice on our Tarps and frost over the ferns & grass, this made for a few nice photos.

I will leave you to enjoy the photos of our trip, they tell the story of our trip better than I can put into words. Click here for the full gallery: http://picasaweb.google.com/NaturalBushcraft/Dartmoor3Day10ItemsTripOct2010#

Posted by Ashley Cawley

For four of us this weekend just couldn't come fast enough!.. Eager to finish work and pack our bags for a 3 day trip to Dartmoor, camping with just 10 items. This challenge will be between four friends: Myself, Scott, Matt & Martin and it has already produced much banter.

The rules are: Everything is an item; even your rucksack or toilet roll counts as an item. The only things that are free are food/drink & clothes.

The challenge will mean slightly different things to us each I think. For example Martin & Matt are using it as an oppertunity to try and go a lot lighter, buying in some new ultra-light backpacking gear. Where'as I will be sticking with my tried & tested gear but will need to improvise certain things like cutlery, lighting, insulation etc.

So what 10 items would you take for 3 days on Dartmoor? Here is my current list:

1. Rucksack (45L)
2. Fallkniven F1
3. Firesteel
4. Billycan
5. Cup
6. Tarp
7. Hammock
8. Cocoon
9. Toilet Roll
10. [1 More to choose!] What would you add? Leave a comment below.
    

Between us we will take 1 set of communal items, that we don't actually intend to use but are there in case of emergency. These including a First Aid Kit & a Mobile Phone. Two of us will also be taking video-cameras to try and document the trip, these will in no way be used to aid our survival or stay so therefore won't be classed as an item. Providing it's not raining all the time we will hopefully produce a nice little video like we have done in the past.

Hopefully the weather is dry and I will try and take plenty of photos & videos. I'll report back in 3-4 days!

So what would you take? - Add your comment below...