Apologies but it seems my microphone has gone on the blink on this occasion. :(
Myself and one of the other guys from the Bushcraft forum (Link below) met at 11:00 today at my usual parking spot and took a trudge down through the deeply snowy fields to our local glen.
After a wee hike around some of my previous camping spots and a quick tour around the cliffs and the castle remains we settled in the lower, more sheltered area, about 30m from the water (though about 10m higher)
We discussed kit for a bit then set about collecting what dead wood we could find, none of which was any drier than a soggy sponge in "The World's Soggiest Sponge" competition.
Stephen set up his tarp for shelter and we did our level best to get the fire going and keep it going in the folding BBQ but eventually decided an open fire would have been better, despite the falling snow. So we set about getting more wood for a platform to keep the fire off the ground. At this point I wished I'd brought the bow saw to make getting to the drier wood inside larger logs easier.
Stephen had his wellies on and decided to cross the river in search of some dry wood in the shelter of the overhanging cliffs. I video'd his crossing just in case there was a "You've Been Framed" moment. Sadly/Happily there wasn't and he returned with a chunk of dry wood.
We resorted to using firestarter blocks to get the second fire going and managed to keep it going while we cooked the sausages and 'heated' the water (note that I didn't say boiled) (I had used the Sawyer on the water first)
Around 15:15 we decided to pack up and head back as the snow was getting really heavy and was obviously going to add to the already chaotic roads.
We struggled through the deepening snow back to the cars and headed home.
Pretty knackered now and self medicating with a rum and coke but had a good 5 hours in the woods with good company.
