Category Archives: Canoeing and Bushcraft

All general canoeing and bushcraft items.

Badger Watching in Somerset

June 21st is approaching fast and is the longest day of the year. Long evenings mean a perfect time to catch one of our most magical and largest of wild animals the Badger or to use the old name ‘brock’.

Today I’ve been scouting for a good place for this locally and found this fantastic spot on the picture below. Beautiful beech and Ash woods with the floor coveted in pungent wild garlic and the badger set built right on one side of a deep gulley: the opposite side of the gulley is elevated above the badger’s holes and offers a perfect view of any nocturnal activity.

I’ll be going next week for real, turning up before dusk to (somehow!) get comfortable high up on the far bank before night falls. It’s a very steep bank and I think a hammock might be employed between a couple of strong Ash bows, but I may just perch myself in a tree and see if I can keep from falling out…

I read a fantastic book as a boy call “A Forest By Night” by Fred J. Speakman and ever since have had a special affection for badgers. In the book which I thoroughly recommend, although it’s near impossible to get hold of now, the author, recently beureaved and injured during the second world war and unable to work spends a year in Epping Forest staying out at night and recording everything he sees, through each season – most of the activity focusses around the lives if the badgers he watches. It’s an inspiring read and one of the first books on what we would now know as ‘woodlore’ or bushcraft. The author also also wrote a seminal work called ‘Tracks, Trails and Signs’ on the art of tracking. I can’t wait to get out there in the woods and wait for the sun to go down, the birds to quieten down and then, hopefully for the badgers to nose cautiously out of their ungerground home and begin their nocturnal habits of cleaning out their dens and starting to forage for food. I just hope I don’t fall out of that tree! An update will be recorded here – Fred J. Speakman didn’t have the Internet in his day…

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Where to Buy An Australian Swag in the UK?

[Update: the new Wynnchester Australian Swags are now available to buy online from www.australianswags.co.uk – see latest post.

It’s surprisingly hard to get hold of a real swag in the UK. I inherited my Razorback swag from my wife’s family when we were living Down Under several years ago: that’s the brown one below and shown in our main post about swag-camping here (and you’ll see it pop up all across this site as it’s been my main outdoor accommodation for ages now – I haven’t used a tent for 7 years…).

There’s a lot of swags available on Ebay, in Australia see here http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?LH_AvailTo=3&_nkw=swag+canvas – worth a look but the postage is pretty heavyweight – but great for looking at the real Aussie swags that are available over there: lots of different shapes and sizes.

Update: Another company based in Devon also sells Australian style swags – they are made in the UK unlike the imported ones above, but are based faithfully on the original Australian designs – see http://www.wruffit.co.uk/ for details:

[Edit: Seems that Wruffit are no longer trading… website has been down for a long time and no answer on their phone number – so one less place to buy a swag now!]

An authentic Australian Swag for sale in the UK by www.wruffit.co.uk

An authentic Australian Swag for sale in the UK by www.wruffit.co.uk

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Baker Tent Hunt: Get Out and Stay Out… in your own Backyard

Update: See our latest test of the Green Outdoor full size Campfire Tent.

The Baker Tent/Campfire Tent search continues… Evening Tea under the Tarp… Kelly Kettle fires up – wish I bought the bigger one though as the small 1pt version is fiddly to light and get going; next choice for me is an Eydon Kettle, the 2pt “Popular” model looks good according to reviews on SOTP (www.songofthepaddle.co.uk). But the Brew is good once it’s ready.

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After tea the light started to dim, chopped some logs and got the firepit going (this is an old chiminea that fell over and broke during a storm: it’s much improved now!

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Saw a Hare dart across the field just before dusk – haven’t seen him all Winter – lovely to see him back: takes the same path every morning and night during the summer – perhaps one of our most beautiful native animals to see in thier natural habitat.
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The wind picked up a bit once the sun went down, giving the tarp a bit of a test as we’re up on a hillside facing the prevailing wind. The campfire tent / tarp rig stood up perfectly as expected, securely anchored to the canoe behind. Such a simple set up too: it’s easy to raise or lower the side walls dependent on the weather, using sticks of the right height to prop up the wings.

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I’m completely happy with this rig now as the perfect Campfire Tent and simple canoe shelter: it packs up tiny with no poles needed ( I hate threading shock-corded poles in the dark ;-), sets up in under 5 mintes nd provides great cover even in storms with the option of rigging it low over the canoe. And as an open camp-fire style tent for one its fantastic, you really feel your open to the elements and the views and sounds of nature around you. Why go outdoors only to lock yourself in inside a little canvas room! My Baker Tent Hunt is over.

As it got dark the Owls came out – I sat listening to their calls for an hour, back and forth between a male and female. At times they were so close I was sure I would see them – I’m convinced now that they’re invisible! They’re Tawny Owls and that classic Twit-Twoo is surely one of the great experiences of being outdoors at night.

Climbed into the swag at 11am and slept soundly with just the gentle flapping of the tarp against the canoe and more owl noises echoing through the air. Tomorrow we work, but felt I made the most of an average evening at home! If you can’t get to the river, at least “Get Out and Stay Out”, even if it’s in your own back yard!

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Kelly Kettle In The Snow

I received a new (large size) Kelly Kettle at the back end of 2008. We just missed out on taking this on our October 2008 trip down the Wye (see the trip report for more info on this!). Anyway, itching to use the Kelly Kettle, I decided that the garden in January, with plenty of snow, was the right place to give it a good test :) For fuel I had a small amount of card (and I mean small), a few twigs (mostly dry) and a bit of kindling that I chopped up with a hatchet.

Firstly, lighting the Kelly Kettle with a fire steel is straightforward, the base protects your spark from wind and lets you build the fire a little. I used a small cotton pad to take the spark, and added the card and twigs on top. After about a minute I added a few small bits of kindling and put the top kettle onto the base. This is the crucial point, if you don’t keep enough air going into the fuel/air hole on the side then there’s a chance the flame will go out. Solve this by either blowing into the hole or turning the hole to face into the wind. Once properly alight there is little chance of it going out.

Some people use barbecue lighters/fuel but I prefer to keep it as natural as possible and will only use pure cotton wool as a tinder to help start the fire. Extra fuel is added through the top chimney, or the side hole – but make sure you only drop small pieces in.

The water boils in minutes – honestly, our house kettle is slower! I was surprised too as there was enough water for 3 large cups easily, probably 4. As far as gear goes this is a must have for any trip (for us anyway!).

Also check out our March 2009 4 day trip (being added real soon), where the Kelly Kettle was not only used for water boiling but also cooking. Enjoy the pictures. We are also thinking of doing a Kelly Kettle video review soon – watch this space!

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Canoe and Tarp Rig Test – Campfire Tent

Part of our Hunt for the perfect Baker Tent/ Campfire Tent – this rig looks promising – the tarp is secured to the canoe for stability and extra shelter, and out front with the paddles. See the following post for why this is a good set up!

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Tarp is held up by a paddle and secured to the canoe giving extreme stability without the need for pegging.

Tarp is held up by a paddle and secured to the canoe giving extreme stability without the need for pegging.

Tarp Set-up

From http://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=16298 this looks like a great Tarp – I think it’s from True North, the Big Tarp (see second pic below and http://www.truenorthoutdoor.co.uk/bigtarp.htm ).

These rigs need good pegging ground to work though: camping on sand and pebbles would give a problem, especially in Big Wind. Our solution is to anchor the tarp to the canoe itself (see previous post) requiring only one guy rope out front which could be held in place with a log or rock: the canoe will provide all the stabiity you need from any Big Wind plus if a storm kicks in you simply collapse the tarp down over the canoe ‘Voyageur-style’ and settle in for the night.

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