Barney's Bimbles and Adventures

It typically begins about two or three weeks prior to my camping trip. I dwell on what I want to take camping, what to eat, what shelter option, what’s the weather forecast, do I have enough room for a couple of beers! I scribble down a kit list (I like lists) and before I know it the time has come and I need to get the backpack loaded up and ready to go. Sad though it sounds, that’s one of the weird things I like about wild camping, I’ll probably have packed and re-packed the rucksack several times before I head out. Cometh the hour, cometh the stupid bloke with a fully laden backpack…..and there I am at 6am on Saturday morning walking up into my local woodland, my first camp of 2017. It was the first time that I’ve needed a torch to walk in to the campsite. What a pleasure it was though, there’s a certain eeriness to a woodland at night, the Owls were still hooting, Foxes making their strange shrieking noises and, even though I know the woods like the back of my hand, darkness made ...

My wife and I aren't ones to let a bit of cold wintery weather stop us from getting out and today was no different. Temperatures teetered just above freezing, fair to say that we were well and truly layered up with clothing and I had a rucksack full of flasks of soup and hot water. The plan for today was to get out to a local park and also a nature reserve. My wife Sarah was armed with her camera and me with my binoculars, hopefully we'll be able to see some wildlife! First place to visit was Halls Place in Bexley, Kent. Pretty much on the outskirts of London, this park is a small haven for wildlife enthusiasts. You can usually see the elusive Kingfisher here throughout the year. I say usually, sadly it wasn't the case today! But, there was lots of Blue tits, Great tits, Coal tits, Dunnocks, Blackbird, Moor hens and Robins to see from the bird hide. We then ventured out on a walk around the park and spotted a kestrel perched in a tree. Being a relatively busy ...

A few camping buddies and I managed to get out for two nights of camping during that strange lull of festivities between Christmas and new year. We were camped in a woodland in Essex and we chose a time when winter was starting to set-in as temperatures on both nights dropped below freezing. Sounds stupid, but I get a sadistic pleasure from camping out at this time of year. It’s always a good test of your camp-craft and you almost feel like you’re getting one over mother nature if you’re able to enjoy a warm and comfortable camping trip. ‘We do not go to the green woods and crystal waters to rough it, we go to smooth it. We get it rough enough at home, in towns and cities’ Woodcraft and Camping, 1884 by George Washington Sears (aka ‘NESSMUK’) On this occasion, I was fortunate to be camped on a site where the car could be parked nearby. This of course means that I could bring a few luxuries such as my dutch oven, a comfy chair and my enormous British Army issue arctic sleepin...