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November over-nighter in our local glen.

G1ZmO

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OK almost ready to go for my first November overnight in the woods.
The sun has come back out after an earlier storm and the forecast now says clear and frosty for tonight.
Hope I've got enough with me. :)

More updates as I go along maybe (can't recall if there's moby signal down there)

2017-11-16 11.59.51.jpg
 
MORNING Paul. :)

Nice to see you reporting in :thumbsup:
Hope you had a good night.....look forward to hearing all about it.:thumbsup:
 
LOL
Well, Daniel is due to be kicked off MY PC at 8pm and I can't do the video editing until then!

Suffice to say I have a very sore back and am now self medicating with RUM! Pack was 25kg which is a daft weight for a 52 year old non-exercising bloke to carry for 2km.
Here is my analysis of the pack for your interest. Suggestions welcome.
Maybe the Army Sleeping bag needs to go?
There were 2 knives on the way out and 1 on the way back though :( (oh and no rolls lol)
2017-11-17 14_27_55-Microsoft Excel - SoloOvernightList.xlsx.png


Also in my Everytime pack: ferro-rod, matches, lighter, hobostove, DC4.
 
Looking forward to the video Paul :thumbsup:... 25kg is a tad heavy lol. But after reading your chart. A really can’t take anything away apart from the seat. What you need is what you need. The heaviest section of your chart has everything sensible to take at this time of year.
 
that's a comprehensive list Paul, and I agree the extra bedding will add weight but like I've always said its better to have it and not need it
 
LOL Neil! Well, given that the site is 1km from the road and down 10m (steeply) at the end, I don't think the farmer would be happy with the destruction of his field :)

Right, video done eventually!
Not mentioned was that a heron flew by me at about 10m away, awesome sight. And a wee robin was bold enough to come within 3m to see what I was doing. I left some fruit and nut mix when I left for him/her/whoever.

Writeup:
Parked up and walked across the fields and down into the glen. Total of 1km from the car. Had to take pack off 3 times to negotiate barbed wire fences. 1 over and 2 under lol
Arrived around 14:00
Put up tarp, hammock and gathered fire wood.

Prepped fire around 16:00 and finally got it going around 16:30. Failed yet again to get it started with the ferro rod and birch bark. Never had this problem in the summer so I'm assuming it must be the damp.
Got my dinner on of sausages, onion, and eggs. With coffee of course.
Sat and read my book by the fire until 19:20 although, being on a slight slope, it wasnt very comfortable.
Once the fire had burned down I got into my hammock and continued reading until 21:00 when I decided to get some kip.

Lesson learned: Make sure your hammock is level! I got some sleep but kept waking in a heap at the bottom. Slept in thermals in my army arctic bag with a liner and used my roll mat and bivvy bag under me. Should have been inside the bivvy bag as I was still cold though.

Got up around 08:00 and prepared some wood which I had kept under the tarp overnight for a breakfast fire.
Another ferro-rod / birch bark fail and even the kindling went out the first time. I see from the video that there was a load of moisture coming from the kindling.
Once I got it going again breakfast was on. Bacon, eggs and onions. (and coffee of course)

Broke camp and hiked the 1km back to the car around 12:30

Unfortunately I lost one of my knives during the pack up. I'll go back and find it another day.

Second lesson: Reduce the pack weight. That lot totalled 25kg and my back is really painful now.

All in all though I had a good night though.

Thanks for reading this.

P.S. Back feels much better after a 1/2 bottle of rum :)

Video pending...
 
A great video as usual Paul, I noticed one thing when you were scraping the birch bark. I always take my scraping from inside the bark layer because I think that's where most of the volatiles can be found. Overtime the silvery white outside cover can be on the dry side
 
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