Wild Camping Under a Storm-Felled Tree (Wild Camping England)

June 28, 2020 ~ Bushman All-OutDoors ~ Leave a comment

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!

wild camping uk, camping under fallen tree — **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 tarp over fallen tree wildcamping shelter — **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!

zebra billy can cooking wild camp food uk — **Lamb Stew cooking in the Zebra Billy can over the Trangia Alcohol (Meths) Burner – UK** **Woodland 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 …

Blog Flix (11) — **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) 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):

PHilippine Tirrador Catty Kettie Sling Shot Catapault with emergency whistle ferrocerium rod bushcraft wild camping — **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 camp under tree leave no trace — **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**

Thanks so much for stopping by, if you are a WordPress blogger please do follow and let me know, I will swing by and follow your blog too!
PS: For non bloggers, you can comment below without an account! I would love to hear from you – comments are open to all

Wild Camping and Bushcraft Videos / Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channe/UCfZlsJViwitwPG3qiMIlZOA

Cheers
BushmanAOD

My First National Park Wild Camp (Peak District – UK)

June 1, 2020 ~ Bushman All-OutDoors ~ Leave a comment

Eyup! Here is the full installment of my Peak District (United Kingdom) wild camp session I had a few days before the UK Corona lockdown was announced – what a beautiful place! If I had the time I would have definitely stayed another night at least and, if I am somehow able to convince my wife, I would seriously want to go on a week long trip there and camp everynight at a new location!

In this video I set up the French Army surplus F1 Canvas 2man tent, as the rain was quite persistant I decided to whack on the British Army BASHA shelter as a rain fly – we had driving winds all night, quite moist and reasonably cold (although this was very mild for the midlands area at that time of year …

Wind, Rain, Views of Howden Resevoir, Mountain Rescue Chopper almost buzzed me, some rivers etc etc…. Good food, good drink.

Enjoy the viddy!

First Hammock Wildcamp (Failed?) You Decide!

April 24, 2019April 23, 2019 ~ Bushman All-OutDoors ~ 4 Comments

After obtaining my new Hammock, I was obviously desperate to get out as soon as possible, I love Wild Camping and Hammocking as another option should be on the cards at some point.

**Hammock Cold Weather Wild Camp Setup with Tarp Shelter**

I went out the following weekend to practice setting up, get an idea of quality / strength and have a swing too. After that I was so desperate to have an overnighter that I took a gamble and went out on a weeknight with the intention of just setting my alarm/s very early so as to be able to pack up, head home and catch a brew before work.

The evening prep started out badly, I had previously bought a large 10m long ridgeline rope from DD Tarps together with my 4.5 x 3m DD (which is not the one used in this trip), I intedned on using this ridgeline rope for this nights setup but just couldn’t find it anywhere, so I had to improvise with bungee cords and all the loose ends of paracord which I had as spare for guy lines. Searhing around for all this took a good 30 minutes out of my daylight hours and I ended up on site quite late…

British army dpm patrol rucksacks bushcraft — **My First ”Bushcraft” Rucksack – Dutch / British Army style DPM**

I brought along 3 craft beers for this short trip, Pistonhead Amber Lager (Brutal Brewing – Sweden), Brooklyn Lager (Brooklyn Brewery – USA) and Northern Star Mocha Porter (Northern Monk – UK) – all were good, I love Porters now so the Mocha Porter did stand out because of that, otherwise the Piston Head is always a winner for me Especially their ”Flat Tyre” Lager, < get this if you can! The Brooklyn Lager was surprisingly smooth and enjoyable too.

We had clear skies all night besides some cloud so I did manage to keep an eye on the stars, I had some sky view when I propped up one side of the Cheap-o tarp – I wish I could tell you what was for dinner, it escapes me for some reason (This happened a few weeks back and I have had a few other trips / excursions since).
Anyway, short story long … being my first attempted hammock camp and not owning an Underquilt / Underblanket, I knew I needed to protect my back so I stuffed in a 5mm thick roll mat, my Highlander Base-S self inflating mattress & my Military Style Wool Blanket. These made up my back protection / warmer .. unfortunately it made the hammock stiff and uncomfortable and made me feel that I could fall out of the hammock.

Northern Monk Mocha Porter, Pistonhead Full Amber Lager, Brooklyn Lager

Whilst just about to catch the last light and film the setup of the tarp and hammock, a group of young guys listening to loud hip hop were encraoching quite close to my area (they just had loud music it turns out, but at the time it seemed like they were really coming into the bush!) And so I kept quiet and unfortunately lost the good light whilst waiting … This brought dinner / fire lighting quite late and so I went to sleep quite late too (Went to bed just around 00:50, and I had to wake up after 4am!)

Urban wilcamp hammock tarp setup new 2019 — **Lixada Folder Stick Stove lights up the Hammock and Tarp Camp Site**

I do enjoy the wildcamp trips during the week, unfortunately there is one issue, if a small thing like being a little too cold, or consciously going to sleep too late, you can end up having a bad sleep or no sleep at all and you still have work the next day! Never the less, I learned some important things such as the roll mat / blankets issue and took this new information over to the next Real Wildcamp session (Which I will post the full video of this Thursday 25th).

Conclusion: I didn’t sleep well, I had to have quite a strong coffee at home and felt drained at work the whole day.

Thanks for joining me on this little trip, do you like Wild Camping / Hammock Camping? Then stay tuned as I have an alternative idea for Underquilts / Underblankets for cold climates which I used successfully a week ago, I will post videos on this and an actual post with photo’s. Underquilts can be quite expensive and many people like me will be low budget after buying tents, hammocks, tarps and other essential gear …

Cheers,
BushmanAOD
~ Greater London – UK ~

#ShowUsYourSteak Challenge – Outdoors / Bushcraft Mens Mental Health

March 3, 2019March 10, 2019 ~ Bushman All-OutDoors ~ Leave a comment

Hi all of you lovely people! I finally uploaded the second Show Us Your Steak challenge video just on Friday. Here is the video below, I have nominated Patrick from ”the Axel Show” channel on youtube, Patrick is Axel’s dad and I know that he will add a very good message to the online community regarding the Mens Mental Health Awareness Campaign.

The originator of the challenge is Haze Outdoors and here is the original video of his.

Here is my first Show Us Your Steak Video, I made a second one because none of my tags (I tagged three people) have accepted the challenge yet and that was over three months ago!

I’m hoping that tagging Patrick and Axel will also help bring the awareness into other areas of Youtube and social media because ”The Axel Show” channel is all about a father and son enjoying playing together and especially in the wilderness / outdoors. this may help being it out of the bushcraft / wild camping box and into more areas.

If you have a youtube channel or other social media, please head over to The Axel Show and let them know that you wish for them to accept the challenge, you can also head over to thumbs up my comment where I am informing them about the nomination, please comment there as well!

Thanks a lot! I am knackered and need to hit the sack, it’s 1am and I have promised my boy an early morning adventure plus I might wildcamp tomorrow night ….

PS: My comments section is open! you don’t need a wordpress account to chat with us here, please comment! 🙂

Regards
BushmanAOD

Ancient Woodland Wildcamp Session: 3rd One

February 20, 2019February 17, 2019 ~ Bushman All-OutDoors ~ Leave a comment

Wild Camping is really just going out, to where ever you like and setting up camp for a period of time, you cannot really label it a wildcamping session if you head over to an official camping ground, it really has to be done somewhere you normally cannot set up for an overnighter.

Wild camping is probably what is the main factor that got me interested in Bushcraft and experiencing life outdoors in such a way.

I have had a longing for it for quite a few years now but couldn’t put my finger on what I was missing? The thought of buying loads of family camping equipment and going on a few annual trips would only fill a small part of what was missing.

This was my 4th Wildcamping session but the first in this new woodland which is an Ancient Wood as per the local maps, I am very lucky to have stumbled upon this place and for this, will be keeping it very secret (because it actually has very-very little human presence / activity) and therefore is a valuable place for wildlife and such – I have now been at this woodland on at least 6 or 7 times and so far have seen not a single soul even on the edges!

Grab a snack or cup of tea / coffee / cold drink, the below video is of the whole event and is only 17 minutes long, it starts at arriving at camp unluckily right after sunset, setting up, cracking open some IPA’s (Ales) then going on to making the fire for dinner, much of the footage if of the following day … I show you the inside setup and benefits of the Polish Army Canvas Tipi ”Palatka” Tent, bake up some Bannock (Cree) Bread on some Hazel sticks etc.

If you are interested in Wild Camping but have reservsations due to where you live and / or safety issues, the best thing to do is learn about ”Stealth Camping” as safety only gets risked if you are alone and advetising your whereabouts … loads of people have these worries and Stealth Camping helps you to be hidden .. obviously.

I will be practicing some Stealth Camping this upcoming Spring, Summer and Early Autumn season as I mostly do local-ish (within 25km of my location) and it is quite urbanised here. So I am likely to be purchasing some gas cooking equipment soon to enable myself to do overnighters … keep an eye out here or on my youtube channel for those upcoming sessions and updates!

Thanks, visit again soon!
Cheers
BushmanAOD

Winter Daycamp: Scrambled Eggs with Froaged Fungi, Home Made Italian Bread

February 18, 2019February 17, 2019 ~ Bushman All-OutDoors ~ Leave a comment

I went out a few weeks ago and had a nice little daycamp, I thoroughly enjoyed the trip despite having to film! In the below video I harvest some Auricularia Fungi Aka: Jew’s Ear / Wood Ear fungi which grows predominantly on Elder ‘Sambucus nigra’ which I add into my scrambled eggs, I eat this on lightly toasted Home Made Italian Herb Bread.

There’s more on Spoon Carving, Wood Processing, trying out a very delicious Banana Bread Beer and another IPA Ale, then finish off with a tree climb session, trying out a very nice ”Peanut Soup Drink” From Taiwan – then I also have a heartening talk about our fellow memebers of society whom are disabled in some way who simply cannot move around and experience certain things like Bushcraft or hiking in the wilderness due to access issues etc. I truly hope that one day soon more people would realise what life like that must be like so that we can all push for better access and facilities for them!

Thanks for visiting, I hope you make it through the whole video especially to the point where I talk about people with disabilities, hopefully you will be able to give your view/s on the subject too?

Cheers
BushmanAOD

We Had Real Snow – Finally!

February 3, 2019February 2, 2019 ~ Bushman All-OutDoors ~ Leave a comment

On Friday 1st February 2019 we finally had some good settling snow around London UK, I saw the weather ”report” but this time it felt real, I sensed it in the air that we were really in for some real snow (The previous week we had snow which was expected to be more than 10cm thick and we barely even got over 1cm!)

I would have camped overnight but I only got contacted Friday morning at 6:45am and told not to come in to work, which was a little bit of a bummer! I recently received some new Gear for winter time and would have loved to see how well it faired whilst doing an overnighter … ah well, all’s not lost! I did manage to head out in the morning, set up a poncho tipi (Polish Army Palatka) and cooked up some mushrooms with Polish sausages in Fusilli pasta, complimented by an IPA from Tiny Rebel and a Black Sesame Seed Cereal / Drink from Taiwan < This stuff is to die for!

Real Snow London 2019

Can You Spot The Snow Camoed Tent?

Disco Nap IPA from Tiny Rebel Brewery

Hover the mouse on any of the included photo’s for the captions 🙂

It was fun! I was so engrossed in it all that I left camp after ”Camoflauging” my Polish Army Tent (AKA Lavvu) with Snow or ”Arctic” camoflauge as some people call it, that I was running around filming and talking to the camera seeing whether the tent was distinguishable from the pathways or not etc. and In the end, I was seen by a couple dog walkers and they must have been thinking I was a nutter talking to myself! haha

I only sometimes come to this particular section of the large wild / woodland park but this is the first time I actually set up any kind of shelter or even lit a fire! I just figured that ”today of all days” was probably the best for being able to do so without interfearance … it was good as I love Birch trees and this is the only part with some in!

Love Birch Trees – portrait photo winter

Auricularia Fungi, on Sambucus Nigra (Elder)

Side View of Arctic Camoflauged Polish Poncho Tent

I was very delighted to find the edible ‘Auricularia’ Fungi (AKA: Wood Ear / Jew’s Ear) were fruiting quite well on many of the ‘Sambucus nigra’ – common Elder, In this Article I explain it’s uses – I harvested some for my lunch!

Food for the day was cooked fusilli pasta with sliced Polish sausage, mushrooms and Auricularia Fungi cooked into it with Parmesan cheese thrown in to serve! I kept aside two more of the sausages which were cooked on stick after the pot was taken off the stove.

Black Sesame Seed Drink for Bushcraft — **Best Hot Drink For Bushcraft IMO! – Black Sesame Cereal**

Above is the packet of my hot drink for the day (Black Sesame Cereal – from Taiwan), this stuff is so delish that you would be tempted to smash your cup / mug to be able to lick the bottom!!!

Arctic Snow Camoflauge

Polish Army Palatka setup

Maximising Use Of Space / Heat

Part of the point in going out was also to try out some new gear, I deliberately bought ”Arctic” Snow camoflauge for times I’m wild camping in such weather. Other items were some new Swidish Army winter pants (trousers) – these things are mental! It’s like having a sleeping bag dedicated to each leg! I was cosier than Jimmy Saville in a hospital mortuary.
I am also now the proud owner of a Wood Gasification Stove – these are similar to other twig / stick stoves except that (Through clever design) they help to burn off the excess toxic gasses which are emitted and are therefore more efficient and use less fuel – my stove is made by Lixada (The same Chinese brand as my hinged Stick Stove) and was a jaw dropping £12! I did go out last weekend and gave it a break-in burn in This – 4+Min Video.

The Swedish Army Winter Trousers outperformed my expectations! I was kneeling on the soppy ground (The snow had started melting before I got on site) and despite this, during the whole 4-5 hour little adventure, I had zero penetration within the pants .. even after I went on an hour long foraging walk after packing up!

I ended the day packing up, double-checking all the birch trees for Chaga – none was found 😦 and then walking around trying to find as much of the Aricularia fungus as I could forage, I think I brought home about 500 – 700 grams!

Thanks for dropping by, I will have this trip posted on Youtube in the coming days, if you would like to follow then your subscription would be very much appreciated!

Regards wherever you are ..
BushmanAOD

My Craft Beer / Ale Lineup

January 6, 2019 ~ Bushman All-OutDoors ~ Leave a comment

I recently got into the trying out of Craft Beers and Ales, although I am admittedly not much of a drinker … I am having fun trying out the different tastes.

You may have seen a few ”reviews” on some of my video’s online, here is a quick picture of what my stockpile was like before Christmas .. I did get an IPA / Lager hamper as a gift so everything was re-stocked!

My Christmas ’18 Craft Beer / IPA Lineup

Don’t worry about me, I’m not building up a drinking habit! 🙂

My overall favourite of the lot is Pistonhead from Sweden (Brutal Brewery), they seem to make Lagers with various hops etc. with some fruity tones within, So far I only tried out the Full Amber and the Kustom Lagers, I still have the Haze Lager waiting to be reviewed.

Unfortunately with regards to Norhtern Monk (the company Haz-o from Haze Outdoors youtube channel loves so much), they are only available in London from Morrissons stores and they only stock the ”Eternal Session IPA” and ”New World IPA” core range so I am unable to try out all the unusual funky limited flavours they make as they simply aren’t stocked. I’m also reluctant to be purchasing a box from some company which may be filled with product I may not end up liking at all! So I will need to find a small craft beer store where I can pick up a couple cans to try out.

as far as the others in the photo are concerned; Brewdog Elivis Juice was quite nice, the Easy IPA from New York (sorry, I forgot the brewery name), the Stone IPA from Berlin (again, forgot brewery name) and the Camden Pale Ale (Camden Town Brewery) were all great! I haven’t gotten into all of them yet but the Banana Bread Beer sounds awesome!

What’s nice in the UK is that the craft beer market is growing and so, visiting any of the larger supermarket chains can give you quite a varied selection of local, european and other international options.

Till next time …