December 2017 Wildcamp: Going Solo

A cold chill blows through the wild woodland as I wander along the trails. Blimey, this rucksack feels heavy!

Aside from the obvious visual clues, that’s when you really know that the seasons have changed. The thin clothes and lightweight sleeping bag gets swapped out for the heavy and warming kit. My big, cumbersome, but oh so cozy sleeping bag greedily takes up most of the space in my rucksack and a hip flask containing a warming tipple is slipped into the side pocket. Alas, I walk into camp re-assured in the knowledge that I’m ready and equipped to deal with whatever Mother Nature has to throw at me.  Bring it on!

There are many reasons to dislike camping at this time of year; it’s cold, damp and the days are short. But, it’s these testing times that often bring out the best in our great country. A peace descends on the bare woodland, interrupted only by the sporadic chirping of a Blackbird or Robin and the calls of the majestic Buzzard as it swoops high up in the sky. If you come into the woodland with the right equipment and mind-set, there’s no reason why you can’t remain comfortable, marvel in all that nature has to offer and escape that internet enabled pressure cooker that seems to dominate every facet of our lives.

This time, I was heading into the woods on my lonesome for a solo adventure. I’m not so sure that I’d like to do this all the time but, every now and then, I think it’s nice to have a bit of solitude. It gives you a moment to relax and collect your thoughts. It also offers an opportunity to test bushcraft skills as the onus was very much on me to organise my camp, gather and prep the wood and light the fire. 

Having arrived at my usual ‘base’ camp, I dumped the rucksack and took a breather before setting up my tarp and hammock. I was looking forward to a good night’s sleep in the great outdoors and my hammock never fails to deliver. Wrapped around the hammock is my under-blanket, this insulates me from the cold air that blows beneath the hammock and has kept me warm through some very cold winter camps.  

Once camp was set-up, I fancied a cup of tea and wasted no time in gathering and prepping the fire wood. I don’t usually feel the need to have an open fire when solo camping, but temperatures were set to drop close to freezing and the warmth and glow of the fire would be very welcome indeed. As always, I like to use natural materials to get the fire going. On this occasion, I carefully split some of the fire wood down to kindling sized pieces (pencil and thumb thick) and gathered a bundle of finer pine and birch twigs. I then scraped some shavings from a piece of birch bark and used my ferro rod to ignite them. It didn’t take too long to establish the fire, set-up my pot hanging system and get a brew on.

With my main jobs done, I didn’t have too much to worry about. I tidied away my kit, gathered and processed some more fire wood to see me through to bedtime and then I distributed some bird feeders around camp. If there’s one thing which truly motivates me to get out camping, it’s the wildlife. Nothing soothes the soul more than listening to the birds go about their business as you relax in camp. Having established a small ‘base’ camp within the woodland (that my friends and I are permitted to use), I wanted to do my best to ensure that the local wildlife were not scared off by our presence. I’m no expert, but I think the feeders will help them through the winter and I’ll do my best to keep them topped up. Hopefully I’ll get some nice photos of the birdlife on future camps. 

Darkness descends quite early at this time of year. Come four o’clock the sun had set and woods were very dark indeed. With barely a breath of wind, a silence resonates through the woods, it was interrupted only by the occasional call from a pair of tawny owls. The male can be heard making it’s ‘Twi’ call and shortly after the female responds with a ‘Hoo’. I wonder what they’re saying to each other? I can only imagine it’s something to do with food like “ eh up, is dinner ready yet”……..”no, do it yourself you lazy so and so, I’m watching Strictly…..”

I cooked up one of my favourite camping meals for tea – Chicken fajitas. I washed that down with a nice bottle of beer and stoked up the fire while I kicked back and listened to the owls for the rest of the evening. I retired to the boudoir and my dangle-sack fairly early so that I could wrap myself up in my warm three season sleeping bag and enjoy a good night’s sleep. As always, I got in the hammock, wriggled about to find the sweet spot. Just as soon as I got nice and comfortable, I was overcome with the urge to go for another wee, Doh! I repeated the process, cinched up the sleeping bag around my face and snored myself into a sleepy stupor.

I awoke a few hours later to the sound of rain pitter-pattering on the tarp. Seldom is there a more soothing sound, especially when you’re ensconced within your shelter and happy in the knowledge that you’re protected, it didn’t take long to drift back off to sleep. Apart from that short interlude, I had an amazing nights sleep. I woke up to a chilly morning and chilled out in my hammock while I fought off the urge to get out from my warm sleeping bag and go for a wee!

Alas as soon as I up and out of the hammock, the stove was lit up for a brew and I slowly began to strike camp. And that was that for another camp, as always I packed up my rubbish and cleared away the fire scar.  This wasn’t the most exciting camp to write about but sometimes it’s nice to just kick back and relax.

I’m squeezing two camps in this month as I wasn’t able to get out in November. I’ll endeavour to post another blog after Christmas.

Thanks as always for reading and feel free to check out my video below and also let me know what you think.