November 2018 Wildcamp: Camping and Catapults.....
Two weeks after my last camp and lucky old me is back out again. This time I’m camping with some friends on the Essex side of the Thames estuary. Our plan was to enjoy a walk along the riverside, checking out some of the military relics along the way and of course enjoy some of the local wildlife.
As is often the case in the run up to a
camping trip I find myself obsessing over weather forecasts. Will it rain, what
are the temperatures going to be like, what about the wind direction? It is
very typical of a Brit to be worrying about the weather! but in this case it’s
important in helping me decide what kit to pack and how to pitch my shelter.
The weather was set to be relatively mild
(for the time of year) albeit with a reasonable south westerly wind making it
feel a bit cooler. The biggest issue though was rain, we were set to get quite
a lot of it from 4pm onwards! With this in mind I opted to take my tent (MSR
Elixir 2), it is probably my heaviest shelter option but I didn’t mind this as
it would offer me a comfortable space in which I can escape the elements.
Our walk in to camp offered us an
interesting perspective across the river to the north Kent marshes. We also
spent a bit of time looking at Coalhouse Fort and the nearby Pillboxes and
Comms Tower. I’m not much of a history buff, but it was fascinating to explore
these buildings and visualise what it would have been like when the threats of
invasion were very real indeed.
Des, being the local lad, had earmarked a
spot for us to pitch up and we arrived in time to have lunch and settle down to
a spot of whittling. Des is a dab hand at making catapults and had kindly
offered to show us how to make them from some Y shaped sticks that we had
brought along for the journey.
The process is relatively simple. All you
need is a knife and a saw. First job was to remove the bark and trim the piece
down to size. I flattened off the back of the forks and carved in a V shaped
notch near the top of the forks which would help secure the bands. Final job
was to sand the forks so that the bands don’t snag on any sharp edges and tie
on the bands themselves (with a little help from Des!).
Et voila! I shall be adding some finishing
touches from the comfort of my shed.
I collected some small pebbles and successfully fired some test shots into the river while doing my best special army soldier impression! Oh and don’t worry, I didn’t take out any passing container ships!! Neither have I any intention of doing any hunting with this, I’m pretty confident that I will miss! But it will be used to strike down upon any empty beer cans with great vengeance and furious anger……!
After our catapult masterclass we went on another bimble to gather some firewood for the evening. This area of the riverside must surely be a mud larkers paradise as the riverbank was awash with old pottery and glassware. The bottles came in all sorts of weird and wonderful sizes, I’d love to learn more about their uses.
Back at camp and it was time to pitch the tent before
darkness descends and the forecast rain arrives. Des had opted to pitch his
tarp in a tipi style configuration while Andy (aka ‘Kent Survival’ on youtube)
had brought his Luxe Hexpeak which looked like a very nice tent indeed (I was
wel-jel!).
This is only the second time that I’ve used my MSR Elixir 2
tent but, so far, I’m really pleased with it. It’s made of really good quality
materials and I like the fact that it can be pitched very quickly (just as well
given it pitches with the inner tent first). It has plenty of room inside to
store kit and sit comfortably without feeling squashed. It also benefits from
two large vestibule areas which can be used for cooking in bad weather and
storing wet gear. My favourite feature has to be the small gear loft, it’s the
perfect place to store the headtorch and create a simple tent light.
My evening meal was a very simple offering of Maggi Fusion
noodles and beef biltong. The biltong is very
tender and flavoursome when it is re-hydrated, I’d recommend it.
After dinner we all rallied to get the fire going with the wood that we had gathered. I was quite impressed that we got it going as the wood was fairly damp. The hemlock was probably our saviour as we were able to gather lots of it and quickly build up some heat. Unfortunately the fire was short lived, we were stood around it enjoying its warmth, chatting and supping on our well-earned beer when the rain arrived!
We made a beeline for our tents and spent the rest of the
night conversing from the relative comfort of our little sanctuary’s. Much of
the conversation was probably not repeatable on my blog, but for the second
successive camp a conversation was struck up about the benefit of carrying a
wee bottle. I’m sorry but I simply can’t bring myself to do it. I of course
needed to answer the call of nature, but it’ll take more than a smattering of
rain to convince me that I need to carry a stinky wee bottle!
As I sat in my tent listening to the rain and enjoying the
warm glow of my candle lantern, I lit up the stove to make a cup of tea to go
with my desert.
The stove and the candle lantern did a great job of warming
up my tent, but it’s important to mention that carbon monoxide poisoning is a
silent killer so you must ensure the tent is well ventilated. I had my door
partially open while the stove was on and there was a gentle breeze blowing
through the vents at each end of the tent.
The rain persisted through most of the night, it woke me
occasionally but I was very warm and comfortable in my little boudoir. The rain
also continued into the morning so I decided to stay in bed while I fired up
the stove for a morning brew and some porridge! My fellow campers had similar
ideas as we each remained in our shelters, slowly packing away our kit.
Thankfully the rain stopped so we took advantage of the opportunity by striking
camp, bagging up our rubbish and making the long walk back to the cars. The
walk back was very wet indeed and I was slipping around like Bambi on ice!
Big thanks go to Des for showing us around his turf and Andy
for his splendid company and gifting me one of his Kent Survival patches.
Oh and I can’t fail to mention Des’ dog Rosie, she loves to pose for a photo…..
Why not Check out Des' Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoB3jr9GKofdizVSAkMymjAAnd of course Andy’s:
Thanks as always for reading, your thoughts and comments are
always appreciated.
Why not subscribe to my blog using the link at the top of
this page so that you can receive e-mail notifications as and when I publish my
next report.
Comments
Post a Comment