Barney's Bimbles and Adventures

“So, err Daz, where did you put the tent poles?...” Hmm, sounds ominous! I’ll come back to that question in a moment. A camping trip that has been in the diary for a little while now has been a night out with a group of lads, most of whom I’ve been good friends with since nursery school. We’ve grown up playing football together, raced our matchbox cars around race tracks that we made from clothes pegs, we’ve drawn blood after many a tumultuous race on our skateboards down the alleys. We even built a memorable ‘camp’ up the woods out of sticks and discarded junk which we called ‘smelly camp’ because we once found a dog poo outside the entrance. Alas, that was all a long time ago. I could also regale a tale or two of the more colourful teenage years in which we discovered girls and alcohol but they’re probably not appropriate for this blog! Nowadays the lads enjoy far more sensible pursuits such as football, DIY, football, spending inordinate sums of money on craft beer and foo...

Hand’s up…who likes fish and chips? Yep me too! Recently I wondered if I could take one of the nation’s favourite takeaways and cook it over a camp fire. I also wondered if I could make it a little healthier but without losing that great taste. So here’s what I did: Ingredients: 1 x Potato  1 x fillet of fish (I used smoked haddock) A spoonful of butter or cooking oil A pinch of salt and pepper for seasoning Optional extra’s: A tin of mushy peas A dollop of tartare sauce Before cooking get your fire established and leave it to burn down to a reasonable bed of coals. Sometimes I like to keep the fire going and then drag some of the coals out to one side for cooking so that I can replenish the coals when the heat dies down. Alternatively you can just as easily cook this meal on a camping stove, I imagine it will work really well on a trangia as the heat is not quite as focussed or intense as a gas stove and can also be dampened down. ...

So I haven’t posted so much about my wild camping recently as I’ve been a little conscious that most of my blog posts are about my camping trips into the woods. I’ve therefore tried to mix things up a bit by writing more specifically about some of the things that I’ve been doing while out on my camping trips such as the kuksa and the cookery. However, I have still been getting out on a camp at least once a month and for my last trip I decided to make a video. This was a lovely Spring overnighter, the bluebells were in bloom, the birds were singing and the sun was shining. It was an inspiring time to be outdoors and I tried to capture some of that essence in this video. My ability to edit the video leaves little to be desired, but take a look and let me know what you think. Normal service will resume very soon though, more camping trips are on the horizon and as always I’m keen to learn more, practice new skills and experience the change of the seasons and share this wi...

Have you ever wondered how easy it is to carve your own Kuksa? I certainly have and recently decided to give it a go. On this blog post, I’ll talk through the process that I followed, identify some of the challenges and share any lessons that I learnt along the way. Let me first of all start by offering a disclaimer; I am by no means an expert in this field, indeed it is the first time that I’ve carved a kuksa! I’m writing this post very much from the laymans perspective with the hope that you might learn from my mistakes! What is a kuksa? Popular among bushcraft and outdoor enthusiasts, the kuksa is a traditional style of drinking cup originating from the Sami people of northern Scandinavia. Usually carved from wood, but modern variants have been produced from plastic or wood/plastic composites.   Sourcing   the wood: The process of creating my kuksa started several months ago in the summer of 2018. My wife and I were out walking the dog when we discovered...

Sometimes when you're outdoors and it's blowing a gale, you can begin to feel as though the wind is taking your breath away. That’s kind of how I felt as I walked along the north Kent Marshes with 50mph winds blowing into my face. I was hunched over cowering from the wind while desperately trying my best to look as though I was an intrepid adventurer laughing in the face of adversity! The harsh reality was that, in between the odd nervous fart! I was seriously thinking of throwing in the towel on this camp. I wondered why on earth I felt motivated to come camping down on the marshes in this foul weather! I have good friends who have the good sense to follow far more sensible pursuits such as football or going to the pub. I kept telling myself that this would feel like a mini adventure, and besides..... I'm not a huge football fan and not exactly the most sociable person you'll ever meet! Alas, I would much rather spend my hard earned money on fancy camping gear s...