September 2017: A Sedentary Woodland Wildcamp!

October 03, 2017

After last month’s epic yomp across the North Downs, I vowed that my next camp would be a nice and relaxing hammock camp. Well, I was true to my word and packed my rucksack with all the essentials for a comfortable night in the woods, namely: Beer, Sausages and Chocolate! Who needs a Lofty Wiseman survival tin or Dave Canterbury’s 5c’s of survival when you have those three crucial ingredients!!

It was also a timely opportunity to enjoy the seasonal transition from Summer into Autumn. Pretty much every ‘outdoorsy’ person I know loves Autumn, it’s very easy to see why. Even at this early time of the season you can see the diverse Autumnal colours begin to emerge throughout the woodland. Those pesky mosquitos have started to disappear, there’s a slight chill in the air and my favourite jumpers have started to re-appear from the depths of my wardrobe. There’s no doubting that it is a great time to enjoy the outdoors.

I headed up to my usual camping spot in my local woods, looking forward to a bit of ‘hang-time’ in my hammock and some downtime.

I had very little planned for this trip, but one thing I did want to do was go on a bit of a bimble to explore the area for alternative camping spots. Despite having permission to camp in this woodland, I believe that it’s important to have a selection of camping spots so that you can move around and not leave any lasting impact on the local habitat. The current campsite has an abundance of dead wood and has subsequently benefitted from a few temporary installations such as a bench, raised bed and fire reflector. But, it’s important to note that the materials can easily be returned to nature to ensure that my camp mates and I leave no trace.

While out on a bimble, we stumbled upon a humungous old Ash tree which must have fallen fairly recently. What a discovery it was. Like two excited kids, my camp mate and I couldn’t help but climb up onto the trunk and explore! The tree was so vast that it had also wiped out a few other sycamores and pine trees on its way down. The thing that excited me the most though was the opportunity to grab some small pieces of green Ash to use for a few whittling projects (more on that in another blog!).

It’s always good to venture off the beaten track and make discoveries like that. People often think they know their local woodland, but seldom do folk really head off from the main paths. When you do, you’re often rewarded with surprises like that and it completely changes your outlook. Happily, we also found some other potential camp spots that were safely tucked away from the paths, hopefully they will feature in some future blog posts!

Back at camp, it was time for a brew. I rigged up a neat little pot hanger so that my billy can could hang over the fire. It’s considerably easier to just plonk the billy can straight into the fire, but sometimes it’s nice to practice new techniques, hone those camp craft skills and make the most of the materials that nature has to offer.

That was pretty much as busy as things got for me on this camp. As the day drew to a close, I spent the evening chowing down on some sausages that I’d cooked on a stick over the hot coals and supping on a couple of nice ales that I’d brought along. My camp mates and I spent the rest of the evening chatting around the fire, mostly comparing notes on the latest must have bits of camping kit (sad but true)!!

I enjoyed a glorious night in my hammock, it rarely fails to rock me off to a deep and comfortable sleep. The overnight temperatures were still in the low teens so I was plenty warm enough in my one season sleeping bag, although I suspect it’ll be the last time I use it for a while! I reluctantly climbed out from my hammock to drink in some of the views out on the nearby fields while the sun began to rise over the valley.

So that’s another wildcamp completed, I packed up all my gear, cleared up the rubbish, extinguished the fire and left no trace. I headed home feeling rested, stinking of smoke! and very pleased that I’m still on track to achieve my aim of camping out at least once a month for the year.

Thanks as always for reading. Please also feel free to check out my short video of the trip, let me know what you think. I’ve yet to conjure up the courage to talk to the camera as I always think that I sound like an idiot!