AllOutDoors includes Bushcraft and Wild Camping with some hiking, tree climbing, exploring, kayaking, green woodworking etc etc .. mainly getting away from a misguided society
Having missed excellent Autumn days where we have the sunny skies and all the great Autumn colours, I told the family we needed to head out and Surrey was the destination! 1: not having been there yet for leisure and 2: For the Green Laning! Wolvens Lane being my main interest point but I soon found out there are a few good lanes to try out as well! …
This bog-hole was of particular … Fun! Even to the most moderate of Green Laners out there … but of course there is the surface off to the left of the frame which is the alternative route.
Here’s a few photo’s of a recent walk / explore I went on, I visited two seperate woodlands that morning. I was told by a colleague at work to expect a very bad weekend in terms of the weather … as usual I completely ignored the warning and got my pack together (Bushcraft knife, Folding Laplander Saw, some small jiffy bags and my backpack with a flask of hot coffee!) I was out of the door at 6am on the Sunday morning heading off to woodland #1 where I spent a good part of 2 hours or so checking the usual spots …
Above: A nice greeting just minutes into the first wood
Below: And then once of the main trails – this on a fallen Silver Birch
This is hands down the best Defender I have ever seen, thats for certain! Check out Andrews break down and comparison between this Defender and a Land Cruiser – which one does he prefer …
On a recent family trip up to Cumbria UK (Lake District) I made 100% Sure that we would include a Green Laning adventure to get the Grand Vitara’s shoes (Tyres) a bit scruffy and perhaps get a few cherries on the new Bash Plate! Mainly to get some good views and a better feeling for the G.Vitara’s Off Roading Abilities …
As Green Laning is under threat due to misunderstandings of general users who aren’t fully aware what a Byway or BOAT (Byway Open To ALL Trafic) is or means, there is contsant calls for 4×4 cars to be banned from using the tracks / lanes (in some cases the Motorbikers too are under threat from being banned). I will hereby exclude the name of this Byway, so as to ensure that other potential users will spend the time and effort in finding BOATS for themselves and hopefully learning the requirements of the car/s, drivers etc to be able to properly use them.
At Both Ends We Have Signs Warning ”Not Suitable For Motor Vehicles” and with good reason too! My non lifted GV had a good few scrapes underneath – now imagine a normal caror a low SUV without off road tyres!
Within a few minutes we came across a farmer, this time not a very pleasant bloke – I waved and smiled but just got a begrudging look back and as we drove through he yelled ”Are you here to drive off road?” …. Maybe he has come across immature users before but that’s no reason to paint everyone with the same brush! We disappeared over a bit of a hill and started enjoying the drive to which the pine plantations started falling behind and opening up to Fells and open land with Sheep grazing in groups.
The GV Handled this Green Lane very well – despite at least 5 or so times when proper line choice was needed to ensure all rocks were cleared from scraping the diffs etc. Note the new Roof Rack with the Ultra Budget Recovery Boards which cost me £0.00 !
A nice slow drive, with perhaps some stopping to take photos or video of the scenery will make this trip a good 30 or so minutes long!
In parts it became quite misty / foggy as we ascended higher up the fells, this only added to the mystery ad enjoyment of driving a green lane in a national park such as the Lakes.
Snorkel View: Coming alongside this stone wall, I just had to get a flick of it with the woodland on the left and the fell opposite
The next time we are about in Cumbria, I will definitely have had added more modifications to the GV making it more capable to be able to handle some of the more difficult lanes – thereby I would be able to plot a route of perhaps 50-100 miles and include as many of the lanes within the journey. The main issue with the GV at the moment is Ground Clearance, the Springs (Coils) and Shocks are still factory stock – despite the Insa Turbo 4×4 tyres giving and additional 2″ (5cm) height to the car, another 2″ from a taller Lift Kit will help loads!
The Clouds Decending on the fell (and us)!
Green Laning allows you to go where other cars can’t reach, although we share the lanes with walkers, hikers, horses, bikers and cyclists (plus the antis) we all share the same goal, GETTING AWAY FROM IT ALL! So you can slow down to any pace you like and take it all in…
The Boys enjoyed opening and closing the gates so much it almost became a fight! Although this time the bigger one was just helping as the gate was a little rusty and they couldn’t open it at first.
I managed the lane in 2WD the whole time only needing to engage the 4WD when decending as I wanted a bit of help from the low range to ease off on brake usage. The GV has a very different clutch-feel to my weekly company car and so takes some getting used to, this trip was a definite help and so was the travel to and from Cumbria. We had Amber Warning weather which included heavy winds, this gave me good handling practice and feel for the car when on the drive back to London.
Crossing the river, we may have crossed one or two more but this one stood out for me!
All in all we had a great time! We experienced another much more challening lane a few days later, this one I will name because you definitely cannot use it or even attempt it without a truly capable car unless you are careless and willing to break down on the track, to which, you would begrudgingly have to call a 4×4 recovery service to get you out! We hit up Grizedale on the final day – this track included myself having to track build a bit to ensure the GV didn’t get damage and also so we don’t scrape and damage the steps / rocks etc. Grizedale was great, an awesome Green Lane but unfortunately we only have a few photos and a little video of the event on our phones as our main camera had already sucked dry all of the batteries ..
Ending the session with some well deserved Nosh! We went to a local italian restaurant and ordered two Pizzas for everyone.
Due to the ”bad weather” and the trip going on a little bit longer than anticipated, we went into the local town to grab some take away Pizza which was such a welcome after such a cool experience!
Watch how the Engine Guard / Bash Plate was installed onto the GV:
The below video ranks perhaps 2nd or 3rd on my top list of some really awesome 4wd Action with the Suzuki Grand Vitara, in this case we have 4 cars which are accompanied by one Jeep Cherokee and a Suzuki Jimny.
Starting off with bog crossings between farmers fields, the tour quickly ends up through woodlands, into some misty mountains then next thing you know … SNOW!
We have some pretty Gnarly hill climbing action starting at the 19:00min mark firstly with the Jeep followed by a 3door Grand Vitara and so on …
Usually I don’t like long drive videos that don’t have the fancy editing and voice overs etc, but in this case, the 28+ minutes were really action packed and fun to watch in full!
Hi all, This is just a very quick update on what’s been going on and also time for me to throw down my excuses as to why the online presense has been low …
Great Bushcraft Candle Lantern with Hultafors Bruks Trekker Axe (Bushcraft Day Camp, Breakfast and Spoon Carving) Circa October 2018
So, Despite the Covid … thing, we have been super busy at work despite uncertainty in my line of work, but the Main factor for being away on youtube is a huge operating error with the ”good computer” this is the one I use for video editing and video / image storing etc. at the moment it is just inoperable so until it’s sorted there will probably be no videos online or if any, they will be short.
The 4×4 … As you know (if following the channel and previous posts on the blog) I am busy modifying a Suzuki Grand Vitara 4WD as an Overlanding 4×4 – this is taking up some of my time too mainly due to researching etc.
The Car hasn’t been on any trips yet other than the few days after purchase but I will most definitely be sure to video the first off roading or family trip for uploading and sharing with you all!
The Youtube Channel … Things took off very nicely maybe about a month or so after initiating the 250 subscriber give away (at time of writing, I am at 1,200+ Subcribers) – although the views and subscribers didn’t come around from the give away but mainly because of this one very lucky video upload (I took my Canvas French Army 2 man tent out for a first try during the week, for some reason it became very popular and at the time of writing it is somewhere above the 130,000 view mark). As for the give away, only one winner actually followed the channel and claimed their prize ( Druthian Outdoors ) who was the first place winner and shall be recieving his package shortly.
I will try make the effort to contact the other two winners, but this is testament to the fact that subscriber pushes (the give away ones) only gain you one time subscribers and not actual followers who are interested in your content!
My Original Bushcraft Knife – the Mora ”clipper” Heavy Duty Companion MG –Still taken out on some trips to this day
Losing Followers … Sadly the channel lost a hand full of subscribers, these would have been the ”bell notification” types – so real followers, this was in reponse to uploading a short video of myself doing an Engine Guard Installation on my 4×4.
I am truly sad to see these people go, even though I never knew them … but still, the main issue is that they either didn’t understand the purpose of my channel – or perhaps they are people who walk / hike or journey by other means through the countryside on Green Lanes and just don’t like the 4×4 / 4WD culture, for whatever reason.
My channel is ”Bushman AOD” the AOD stands for ”All-Out-Doors” so in essence, anything to do with the outdoors, not only Bushcraft and Wild Camping but also Hiking, Kayaking, Overseas Trips and yes, 4×4 Overlanding too as this will inevitably take me further into the countryside to discover new places!
Wild Camping with other Friends / Youtube Buddies … This is something I have been trying to organise for more than a year now! Long story short, I will be meeting up at some point with a YT friend but want to keep this quiet before we both upload the video/s – it all depends now on their own belief about this Covid thing and whether or not they are cool to camp with others, I do know the person in question will most likely be very busy once they are back at work!
Gear … I have attained quite a lot of new gear over the last year or so and most have been seen on some videos however some of it hasn’t really been featured or spoken about in any detail – I might make the effort to post about them here and briefly explain all of it. Things include Shelters, Rucksacks, Sleeping Gear and Clothing.
Lixada Stick / Twig Stove – great Wild Camping companion! Folding on hinges, weighs a fraction of the weight of the famous BushBox range and 4 times less cost!
Oversea Trips … I went to the Philippines in 2019, I did spend time in the mountains of Cebu and did some hiking / wild swimming, I even almost ran into a Rebel Group called the NPA (New Peoples Army) – don’t worry, we got out safe!
So loads of good footage of our travels is upcoming and perhaps also some photos and blog posts here too (once the computer is back online).
Interesting Upcoming Content ? … YES indeed! but when time allows, I have great plans mainly in the ”bushcraft” part of things with little and bigger projects planned, but things are quite hectic at the moment so .. literally only when time allows.
– One Very interesting event happened in the Philippines, I discovered a very unknown Fire Tinder and managed to create fire with it, whilst I am not claiming to be the only person in human history to have done so, I do think this is something very unknown and definitely not seen on any social media especially Youtube .. I will edit the video and upload once the time is right.
Wild Camping when everyone else wasn’t … did I camp in my garden? Did I ”wild camp” on a balcony? HELL NO! 😉
4×4 Again … As a reminder, the car will make me mobile, I can now reach places accross the UK and even farther, once the Bothies reopen (Hiking stop-over cottages in the UK), I will be travelling around and vising quite a few per year which will inevitably take me into Scotland – I got interested in Bothy culture through Funsized Earthling on youtube who spent a very interesting night in Cadderlie Bothy in Scotland near Glencoe.
I think that’s it, thanks for surviving this far, I do hope you take a look at the Youtube channel as I have spent many many hours editing videos for online viewing – it’s all free, if you don’t want to follow I am always grateful even just to see you in the comments just to say hi or even to give critical feedback!
Here, Andrew St Pierre White of 4xOverland takes a very beautiful overlanding journey through the Northern Cape region of South Africa with a Toyota Fortuner and a mate who rolled up as a guide in his 80 Series Toyota Land Cruiser.
Highlights are beutiful landscape, caves, a meteorite crater and more!
I thoroughly enjoyed this video and really miss my home country of South Africa, after watching this I definitely want to go and see this great scenery one day.
Whilst the chances of doing so in my Suzuki Grand Vitara are very low, perhaps one day I will still be able to enjoy 4×4 overlanding journeys there one day – somehow …
Are you from any part of Southern Africa? Or anywhere in Africa? Please come visit and say hello in comments below! You do not need an account to comment…
Grab a snack and nice drink, this is a nice video and it’s hard to stop once you click play … Enjoy!
One of the best most practical and sensible modifications to do on a 4×4 is installing a ”Bash Plate’‘ or ”Skid Plate, Sump Guard” etc. This is essentially under body protection for your engine and other expensive-to-fix elements under your car!
For pictures of the Bash Plate refer to my previous post of unboxing the delivery which also included a spare wheel spacer and Rear Recovery (towing) hitches.
In th below video (3+ mins) I show the very basic way how I installed mine on my Suzuki Grand Vitara – Bash Plates / Engine Guards are also often made even for road vehicles to protect sensitive areas like the Radiator from damage on the highways. Paying £80-170 to prevent a hefty £200-600 bill from a mechanic is quite a no brianer – considering that one of the vehicles at my work as had 3 radiators replaced in the last three years where all three cases were allegedly caused by highway debris…
Tools / Items needed for this installation:
-17mm Spanner
-19mm Spanner
-13mm Spanner
– Solvent such as WD-40
– Long (50cm+) Scaff Bar (to assist undoing old rusted chassis bolts)
– Car Ramps or Jack
– Jack Stands
I recce’d this woodland a good few months prior to this trip, about three spots were Identified as good for camping (this woodland has public access and many dog walkers including dog walking professionals come here).
I just needed a camp, things at work got busy and stressful so I needed some time away from society, even if only for 18 or so hours!
Fallen Beech Tree made a simple natural shelter option for the Rain to come – Wild Camping UK
My first option was a fallen Beech Tree which was still living, it created a nice shelter like structure which is suitable for a small tarp to be supported as a roof / shelter. There was a second option only if things were a little too busy in the woods – woodlands change a LOT especially ones which have many paths through them, luckily this time, spot #1 was good to go!
British Army Basha shelter and Bivvy Bag over my Snugopak Sleeping bag was the full Sleep-Shelter-System for the night
British Army BASHA Tarp shelter
Above (L to R): (L): We have the Bivvy bag over the sleeping bag, some gear on the sides and the Basha tarp overhead.
(R): The view of the BASHA from a few meters back, it blends in relatively well and from a distance it was admittedly hard to spot.
Below: The full shelter setup was finished around 9:30 / 10pm after only being able to leave for the trip after 7pm and arriving on site just before 9pm – important items left at home? Yup, the Head Torch!!! Arghhh
BASHA (British Army Standard Hotel Accommodation) Shelter fully set up with candle lantern
Dinner was supposed to be a nice lamb and veg stew but the time was just so late and honestly after cracking into the awesome Berliner Weiss by Stone Brewery I was reasonably content, I definitely just didn’t have the energy and will to slow cook a stew until 12 midnight! So I hit the sack early and decided to film everything the next day…
Usng mother nature to aid in gear storage – hehe
Northern Monk (UK) vs Stone Brewery (Germany) – sorry Lads and Lasses, the Germans won this round!
A visitor – smelled my brekkie!
Above: The next day I pretty much wanted to get the stew going early, here’s the two beers (Northern Monk – Hazy Pale Ale vs Stone Brewery – Berliner Weiss) I drank the Stone that evening and had the N.Monk the following morning – Stone won this contest with a very lemony / tangy beer which was very delicious and welcoming – BUT, The Haze Pale Ale was great and I thoroughly enjoyed it even though I ususally hate beer in the morning.
I had a rogue visitor as well, the stew smelled THAT good!
Lamb Stew cooking in the Zebra Billy can over the Trangia Alcohol (Meths) Burner – UKWoodland Wild Camp
Below: Just look at the juices! It takes good practice to make and enjoy stews in Billy Cans, it is so easy to burn the bottom if the levels of water are not maintained – cabbage was a welcome new addition and will likely be present on many future wild camp stews …
Lamb & Veg Wild Camp Stew – UK Woodland Bushcraft and Wild Camping
I brought a few nostalgic items along to show the youtube channel followers but remembered to take a flick too, I recently found my original first Ferrocerium (Fire Steel) which is more of an EDC (Every-Day Carry) tool used by prepper types, it is attached to a lanyard (Paracord of course)Â and is cylindrical in form, breaks into 3 pieces which build into the rod and handle with seperate striker.
On the left is my Philippine Tirador (or Catty, Slingshot / Catapault) – I upgraded it with Theraband Rubber and it works very well despite the look. Attached to the lanyard are the following; an emergency whislte bought earlier this year for a ”Virus” interrupted family hiking trip to Wales then finally a Swedish Army surplus can opener (All Below):
L to R: Tirador (Catapault / Slingshot) I bought last year in the Philippines, EDC Mini Ferrocerium Rod, Emergency Whistle and Swedish Surplus military can opener
The camp overall went well, I slept very well indeed and enjoyed the trip, amazingly I still managed to get my head down depite being awoken in the morning after 4am by the birds, I probably finally got up after 7:30 onwards – some filming was undertaken randomly between 4am when the rain first started and perhaps around 6 / 6:30am till I got down for another hours snoozing.
Bushcraft Wild Camping – All Packed up and soon to head out! LNT (Leave No Trace) is an important aspect of Wild Camping, Always leave the site as you found it
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YES! Today I walked into my living room to find the Radzikone.pl delivery arrived from Poland (And much quicker than expected!).
I ordered three items for the GV with the main purchase being the Under Engine Armour ”Bash Plate” or ”Sump Guard” as it can be known (Radzikone refer to it as Engine and Trnasfer case guard) – these items are highly recommended when modding a 4×4 for more serious Off Roading.
Radzikone.pl Suzuki Grand Vitara 4×4 Parts Unboxing
The other two items were: Rear Towing / Recovery Hitches or ”Towing Eyes” as labelled and a Spare Wheel Spacer – I upgraded my tires from the stock 235/60/r16 to 205/80/r16 which is a much taller tire – the standard Suzuki spare wheeel mount is quite tight so I decided to get the spacer.
The towing hithces are for extra strength towing or recovery points as the GV comes with very basic standard road capable towing hitches which aren’t designed to be used out on the tracks.
Full Unboxing – Radzikone Engine / Transfer Box Bash Plate / Guard, Rear Towing / Recovery Hitches (to help recover Landrovers!) and a Spare Wheel Spacer with some freebies
Overall my order with them went very smooth, delivery was a good few days faster than expected, items were packaged VERY Well! and the nice little key ring / tag with quality Radzikone sticker was a very nice touch.
The products themselves are made from high quality materials, laser cut very well and the design is good – I can definitely see myself using them for as many future modifications or spare parts replacement as I will need – especially due to them being a Suzuki Specialist.
Radzikone Rear recovery tow hitch long towing eye suzuki grand vitara
Radzikone Spare Wheel Spacer Suzuki Grand Vitara modification
Above L to R: (L):Rear Towing Hitch / Recovery Points – these will be installed between where the towbar is attached to the chassis and the chassis itself (R): SpareWheel Spacer – attaches to current spare wheel mount
Why not stay up to date and get connected! This 4WD upgrade will constantly be documented via video and image and posted here as well as youtube. Comments are open to guests as well so please let me know your thoughts!
Bushman AllOutDoors 