After spending last weekend in the Welsh Marches, riding on steam trains and doing a recce in the Forest of Dean, I was home to spend the time of Samhain in a Sussex wood.
5 days rations..not shown is the essentials of the brew kit and 5 of those instant packet breakfast oat/cereals which I had to collect on the way to the wood. Only 4 main meals, but the last day for me is always " eat what's left day"...That way I never return with uneaten supplies and because I know the next day I'll be back on proper grub..
Not too heavy, there's everything I need and it's only just under an hour walk from where I leave my transport
Nature has laid her seasonal carpet again..
There's still a lot of leaves on the trees, and except for the last day when it rained, generally it was 'T' shirt weather for 90% of the time I was in the wood..
From my Northern boundry I have a view of the English countryside in all it's beauty. In the last photo, if you look closely you'll see two Fallow Deer helping themselves to the cows grazing pasture..
First job..a trip to my well and get the filtered water supply rigged up..
This is home, I'm not a hammock fan..unless it's a jungly environment..
Day three and still amazingly warm. The mist closed in and the wood became a silent magic place. Occasionally just the distant sound of an aeroplane far away. At night the continual sound of leaf fall sounded like rain on the tent fabric.
But the Samhain fire burned bright late into the night.
Some sights in the wood...
Drying Silver Birch bark for my tinder haul..
And cooking..?? Lamb casserole...I think..
Squirrels getting fat on the Sweet Chesnuts..
Smoke in the wood..
And a Queen of the woods, one of the beautiful Beeches which grace the wood.
I say Holmes, Saxonaxe was here I swear it..Look
Where? He seems to have left no trace Dr Watson...