A weekend in the woods

The boy and I have just come back from a three day family bush crafting course. I know it’s not geocaching but it has very similar goals and I think it belongs in the blog. Both activities encourage the kids (and adults) to discover the great outdoors and be comfortable in natural surroundings. I expect most geocachers will love bush craft stuff as well, if you have not tried it I enthusiastically recommend you do! We booked this course though BCUK  www.bushcraftuk.com with a company called Bushcraft expeditions www.bushcraftexpeditions.com. We started on Friday evening and ran through to Sunday afternoon. It is very possible to do this on a weekend but thankfully we had more time to recover as the course fell on the June bank holiday and the extra jubilee bank holiday.

We met at Beaminster in Dorset, pronounced Bemster (Presumably to spot the grokels more easily). We had over prepared as per usual turning up much earlier than we needed to giving a wide margin of error for the traffic on the three and a half hour journey which turned out to be trouble free. We scoped out the village, grabbed an ice cream and a flag and waited around kicking a football around and having a burping competition with the lashings of ginger beer we had brought with us. Sadly there were no geocaches in the immediate vicinity. Soon enough a Landrover turned up and a guy jumped out wearing camo gear he came over and introduced himself as Adam. I instantly liked him, he had a way with the boy, I later found he had experience with young offenders which I’m sure is good experience for keeping young kids in line! Soon we were chatting about the boys aspirations of being a ninja / Jedi in later life. Adam was certain the course would offer some assistance on that front. We were introduced to another instructor Ross who was more serious than Adam but was equally personable and approachable. These two together formed a really great team and made for a fun time with a dash of learning that just felt natural, absolutely perfect for families with young kids.

The other families turned up and all eighteen of us set off in a convoy following the instructors to nearby Hooke Park. Once there we moved all of our kit to the land rover which delivered it to the campsite with us following on foot. I had packed way too much, if I learned anything on this course it’s that if you can’t carry it on your back it probably doesn’t belong on a bush craft course. After being introduced to the third and last instructor the camp chef Shane (aka Welshy), we were given an amusing safety briefing that the kids actually listened to because it was funny and had a get to know each other session where we had to say what out right hand would be if it could be anything. Adam chose a gorilla hand to give us an idea of the level of silliness that was expected. The kids loved it, I chose a GPS hand and the boy chose a hand that shoots fire, ice and poison… hmm.

Next there came a guided tour of the camp site. It was all pretty amazing the main focal point was a huge parachute canopy which housed a fire that kept a big cauldron supported by a steel tripod warm at all times, this was our main hot water supply. There were stumps to sit on in a circle as well as drink making facilities and a white board for instruction this was a really cosy area. We were shown the boys “Pee Tree” and the toilets that were built around natural growing willow. The shower block wasn’t quite what expected being a temporary tent like structure with a bag on a rope and a shower head that was turn off and on able very clever. We were given a rough idea of our boundaries and told that we needed to stay within that area but feel free to explore. Our camping site was under a grove of cedar trees downhill from the canopy. We went off and pitched the tent and grabbed all of the stuff from the Landrover, again I regretted packing so much!

We had some vegetable soup and a bread roll and I realised that despite bringing enough kit to last a week I had left the bug spray in the car along with some other bits and bobs that I would no doubt need before the night was through. After checking it was okay with the instructors I walked back the 800m or so through the woods back to the car. The instructors were sweet in offering to drive me back but I wanted to do it myself and play with my new torch. After doing the 11 mile walk in the middle of the night in the woods to do the Legend of the Lost Cachers http://coord.info/GC1PAWM recently this was no problem at all. I had placed a GPS waypoint at the car park but I didn’t need it. There was a big commotion on the way and I saw a small deer running away from the area. The torch was splendid and did an excellent job. When I got back I stumbled into the middle of a game of  one to three who can I see which consisted of Adam standing by a tree and spinning around to see which of the kids had not hidden themselves well enough as they crept towards him. This was a game we did quite a few times, I got spotted easily every time we played, curse my inadequate ninja skills! Lumbering fool.

After that we settled in for the night and I had one of the most uncomfortable night’s sleep in a tent I can ever remember. I had pitched it on a slight incline and we ended up rolling to the end of the tent and ending up in a big heap. It was a bit like trying to sleep halfway down a slide in a play park. The next morning the first thing I did was re-pitch the tent on a flatter bit of land ready for that night. Straight after doing that we were thrown into our first real bush craft tuition session, Adam took the kids away up a hill and the adults had a bit of peace to be taught the basics of building a shelter by Ross over a nice cup of tea. We discussed getting a site near materials and somewhere that provides natural shelter away from areas likely to flood that sort of thing. One thing that really stuck in my head was the idea of choosing a type of tree to sleep under that wouldn’t drop branches on you in the middle of the night. Sadly I can’t remember what type of trees are the most likely to do that, but I do remember that it’s a good idea to look up to see if there are any branches without leaves. From not very far up even a pretty small branch can do some nasty damage to you and your tent.

After that we walked up to meet the kids and found that while we had been discussing the theory the kids had been very much hands on. They had created scale models of a nearby shelter with sticks and leaves. We regrouped and built a basic lean to shelter with the help of the whole group. Even with eighteen of us working on it the basic shelter still took the best part of an hour. It was basically a strong beam between two trees wedged in with a Y branch several million smaller branches leaning up against it and then covered in leaves to about an arms depth. On longer courses they make proper shelters like the one the kids had made models of using the same principles. Even in heavy rain for months the insides remain dry to the point that there is not enough moisture in the air. It was very satisfying to build something like that; I did not appreciate how much time and effort it would take to build a semi-permanent shelter in the wild I hope I never have to do it to survive for real.

After a break we split up again, the adults went off with Ross to learn about some edibles and things to watch out for in the woods. One of the edibles we tried was wood sorrel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_wood_sorrel which is good for flavouring other more nourishing foods. Another was wild garlic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsons I was aware of this one already but didn’t know you could eat the flowers (very tasty!). We collected some hazel for tent pegs and headed back to camp. The kids were wandering around with bare muddy feet having apparently been doing some ninja training! We left them to it, whatever it was there was no doubt they were having fun. We each grabbed a tarp (Basically a waterproof sheet with six guy ropes on it) and headed back to a place nearby our tents where we were shown how to set up the tarps using three knots. Firstly the evenk knot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEQFg6LhFAA then the tensioning knot and then a guy Line knot on each of the guy ropes anchored by out hazel tent pegs. By the way mine were massive and took forever to drive in! When Ross said the width of your thumb he really meant it.

Next we went out as a big group to pick up tinder for some fires we would be making later. While we were out we learned some additional info on local flora and fauna including a story about the poisonous foxgloves and a demonstration that deer hairs are hollow (Like a polar bears). We got back to camp with pockets full of dried ferns, twigs, saw mill wood shavings and some clematis vine bark to find out how we were going to light fires. The kids were led by Adam again to learn how to scrape a piece of bark with a flint can create a useful tinder. They worked together to all light a fire and then bring them together for one big fire up near the shelter we built earlier in the day. They then ate marshmallows toasted on the fire they had made lucky little scamps.

The adults had a tougher time of it using wooden drills and bows to create an ember that would ignite a bundle of tinder when it was blown on. Anyone that has ever tried this knows what an absolute nightmare it is. The trick we found was a straight arm with the bow pointed slightly down seemed to do the trick. Soon we had all done it and I have to say it was hugely satisfying and one of those must do this before you die moments. Ross kindly gave me a fire lighting kit made from willow before we left so I can practice this skill. I would also like to make my own set, which is apparently done on the longer bush craft courses. I managed to burn the middle of my forehead with an ember while doing it which will hopefully turn into a cool scar!

Later that day we spent some time whittling sticks, following Adams simple instructions there was none of the normal carnage and loss of blood that this sort of activity normally provides. With elbows on knees and everyone clear of his blood bubble the boy managed to put in around four hours of whittling over the weekend without so much as a scratch. Before turning in for the night we were given the option of where to sleep, the tents the tarps or the big shelter built by a previous group. Several people chose the shelter which was a good option as the kids had built a roaring fire next to it which was still burning. We chose to sleep under the tarps (I had moved the tent for nothing!) we set up a load of glow sticks that would lead us back to the tents if necessary they added a magical glow to the forest, very Harry Potter esque. In one of the many wonderful moments of this weekend I watched the boy sleeping all tucked up in his bivvy bag http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bivvy_bag and sleeping bag.

The next morning was a horribly early start before 5am as the sun was up and the birds were in full song. Somehow the others under their tarps managed to stay asleep but the boy was talking loudly and I decided to break camp rather than wake up the others. We went up to the canopy and got the fire going again, the boy spotted a deer in the woods that was checking us out. We had heard them grunting away all night so we knew they were around. We packed away the tent ready for leaving later in the day. We also emptied our tuck box into the general camp tea and coffee box and made a start toasting our supply of mashmallows soon the others were awake and sharing the sweet tooth breakfast. Adam knocked up some tasty pancakes to add a bit of substance to the sweets and biscuits in possibly the biggest frying pan I’ve ever seen. Adam thanked me for giving the kids loads of sugar before they did their games tee hee.

Once everyone was all full up we made a start on collecting bark from a nearby cedar tree to weave into bracelets. It sounds like a daft thing to do but being able to make natural string is really useful for making fire (with a bow), building shelters, and even providing a means to hunt with snares and a bow and arrow. I was really good at it and surprisingly so was the boy, who wouldn’t let me help at all. He made a great bracelet which he finished off with a piece of elder carved as a bead. To finish off a great course we were shown the stealth games the kids had been playing a fair bit of. Firstly was ninja tag where you are all blind folded and the instructors shout freeze when someone is tagged. It was a great game that I jointly won with a little girl by crouching around at the edge of the ring and making a noise nearby to attract potential targets. Most of the others apparently just wandered around with their arms out I saw this in the second round where I got tagged out almost immediately by a kid behind me grabbing my bum hilarious! The best part of it for me was Adam totally losing it and having to walk away to stop distracting the players with his giggling. The last game only one person was blindfolded but they were in the middle of the ring guarding sweets on noisy objects. The objective of the game was to sneak in and sneak out grabbing an object and sweet without getting squirted by the massive super soaker they were wielding. The boy got a direct squirt in the face twice much to everyone’s amusement, mostly because he could not stop giggling while trying to be stealthy… brilliant.

In summary this was a life changing holiday, I would recommend to anyone with a sense of adventure. I’m certainly never going to forget it and hope to put some of the new found knowledge into practice as soon as possible.

A New Year and some new targets

Remember me? Of course not, that's because I don't update this blog nearly often enough! Well 2011 came and went, my first year of geocaching I got a pretty decent 265 finds. I'm going for 500 this year for a total of 765. I'm also hoping to do the Chiltern 100 later in the year and several decent finds that will be worth talking about. I've so far found 89 caches this year which sounds pretty good but it's not. I really need to get my finger out if I'm going to meet that target. Picking up where I was in my last post I finished the Chiltern Three Peaks Challenge it was really worthwhile and I'm going to do it again this year. I'm also going to be doing a bush crafting course with my son and doing a fair bit of camping. I will be attending the Geolympix in Oxford and will be camping at the place mentioned on the geolympix website (can't wait). So anyway, it's good to be back I'll try and post little and often this year so it's less of a burden. You can also follow me on Twitter should the automated feed from geocaching.com actually work.

Trail Rations

Legolas: Lembas bread. One small bite will fill the stomach of a grown man.
Merry: How many did you eat?
Pippin: Four.

Over the weekend my six year old son and I did a nice long trail around Rotherfield Greys. Probably the last big chunk of geocaching I'll be able to get in before the sponsored walk next weekend. I figured this would be a good chance to test some energy bars that I plan to take on the walk to keep my energy levels up. Lembas bread would have been nice but being in the real world we had to make do with what we could find in a quick trip to our local supermarket. We tried a few different things and captured the opinions of both of us on the walk.

9 bar Original
Dad - Although it looked a bit like the scratchings at the bottom of a parrots cage I actually really like this one in terms of taste. Not sure about the energy levels and it went a bit guey / floppy on the long walk think the hemp is just a sales gimmick but I do remember a song by Cypress Hill that went into it's many medicinal uses so it can't be all bad - 6 / 10
Boy - I'm really proud of myself for not spitting this out I try not to do it these days as mummy told me off once - 1 / 10

Nature Valley Granola Bars
Dad - I really liked these, they come in a choice of three flavors the one with ginger one was the nicest and most refreshing. I did feel a bit more energetic after having a quick munch on these but it's a hard test to gauge in the wild. I didn't like so much that they were very crumbly and I ended up tipping a packet of crumbs in my mouth. 5 / 10
Boy - I liked the honey one but not the others so much, it's nice that there are two in each packet 5 / 10

Lucozade Gel
Dad - Yuck, this is disgusting it's got the consistancy of thick cream looks like wallpaper paste and tastes like glucose syrup with a hint of orange. My mouth felt like a desert, I felt a strong urge to wash this down with water and I couldn't bare to have much of it. However it is compact and probably packs a punch seeing the effect on the boy (He is actually glowing), I'll probably take some with me as backup - 2 / 10
Boy - AfterwefinishthiswalkcanwegotozoomaniacanwecanwecanwelookathowfastIcanrunweeee! - 11 / 10

Jordans frusli bar
Dad - This felt like a good middle ground, very tasty and kept it's shape well. Not sure about the energy but then as I say it's hard to gauge. I think we have a winner - 7 / 10
Boy - I really liked this one and had two just to make sure - 7 / 10

I'm still not 100 percent happy I have found the right energy bar / gel for me so I'm going to keep looking.

Some further reading:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1179890/Five-best--natural-energy-bars.html
http://www.freediettips.com/diet_energy_bar_review.htm
http://walking.about.com/od/snacks/tp/energybars.htm

New Kit

On Sunday the 18th of September I am doing the Chilterns 3 Peaks Challenge.
This is an 18 mile sponsored walk in aid of Iain Rennie Hospice at Home.
The route is along the Chilterns Ridgeway, from Princes Risborough to Ivinghoe.
The walk will include Whiteleaf Cross, Coombe Hill and Ivinghoe Beacon which are the "three peaks" if you feel the urge to sponsor me send me an email to dornorn@gmail.com and I'll forward the sponsorship link to you.

I've been doing loads of training for the event but as it draws near I can't help but think is it enough! I thought I would share with you some of the kit I'll be taking on the walk. I intend to do some geocaching where possible so a lot of this kit is geared towards that end and you might find it useful for long geocaching expeditions.Firstly there is the issue of power your phone and or GPS device is no good without it and generally there isn't a power outlet waiting for you in the wilderness. The solution I have got is The PowerMonkey Extreme! not as exotic as it sounds the it is made by a company called Power Traveller and is basically a rugidized battery capable of charging my GPS device 6 times it also has a solar panel that is surprisingly powerful and capable of topping up the charge in the GPS device or recharching the PowerMonkey Battery while it's not in use. It is an excellent piece of kit and I totally recommend it. I resisted the urge to take a portable DVD player with me although the unit is capable of running it ; )

Next there is water. I have mixed feelings about my solution for this. I would have liked to have got a handsfree camelpak hydration system that sits on your back and provides a hose to your mouth. This is perfect for a number of reasons it's hands free so you can hold your GPS your walking pole and have a drink all at the same time. Also it holds a huge amount of water and although that weighs a lot it is nicely distributed on your back. You can also put ICE in the reservior to cool you down on the walk. The problem with this solution was price, low end systems start at about £20 but all the advice is don't buy cheap for a number of good logical reasons such as cleanability, weight, reliability. The decent systems start from around £50 which was way above my budget. I may well get a hydration system one day but not this time.



So the solution I will be using for water is a straight forward boring old water bottle. I wanted something that was reliable, watertight, didn't leave a horrible taste in my mouth, light and practical. The best solution I found was a 32oz (1 litre) water bottle from a company call Nalgene. When it arrived I was uninspired but I have been using it every day since at home at work and out in the wild and now I wouldn't be parted from it, it's very safe to say I have fallen in love with the bottle so much so that I wrote to the customer services people at the company to give them ideas for a hydration system like hose that I could use with it. Seriously next time you look at one of those crappy £5 water bottles check out Nalgene on the internet spend a little more and you'll have a reliable water bottle for life! So many people have stopped me and asked me where did I get that wonderful bottle which I was honestly not expecting and makes me smile every time. Again excellent piece of kit and I totally recommend it. Be aware that you too may fall in love with it.


To more practical kit, blisters the bane of all walkers. After a fair bit of research I decided to get a blister kit which I haven't used yet but looks pretty handy I have also got two pairs of socks one a polypropylene thin liner sock that goes next to the skin the second is a more traditional hikers sock. The idea is the moisture from the feet is sucked out of the first sock layer into the next layer keeping feet dry and blister free. I also got a tub of petroleum jelly (vasoline) which is rubbed into the feet again to prevent water and rubbing. Lastly in the blister prevention area. I have my trusty gortex boots that have seen me alright for a long time. All in all it seems a robust solution to the blister issue but only the day will tell.


Finally once you have a load of kit you need something to carry it in! I wanted something lightweight and flexible that I wouldn't have to take on and off in order to access it's contents. Again after a lot of research I ended up with a Maxpedition Fatboy which is reviewed nicely here by a guy who seems to like knives a little bit too much! 


Well I'll let you know how it goes on the 18th wish me good luck!

Caching on Holiday

Holiday time took us to not so sunny Scotland this August. From Oxford by car the whole way we travelled down the M40 to Birmingham up to Glasgow via the M42 / M6 / and M74. From there it was over to Edinburgh and then towards St. Andrews we stayed there for a week before heading up to Perth and over to Ullapool to catch the ferry over to the Isle of Lewis to stay for another week. To give you an idea of how far that is on the way back we started off in the Isle of Lewis at 10am and arrived home at 3.30am the next day! As far as geocaching went we grabbed a few services caches on the way. I love these types of caches you need to stretch you legs anyway after a long drive and the make a perfect little distraction after you have taken the time to grab your coffee and perform your ablutions. Talking of such activities our first lot of geocaches near where we stayed for the first week was in or around Dunbog Hill and was entitled "Burstin' for the bog" see GC1QEF0 for one of the series you should see the others nearby. The first thing I found was that Scotland doesn't do footpaths like England does. Rather than having signposted footpaths and rights of way and the knowledge that if you stray too far off the path you will get a shouting at by a farmer you have a system that entitles you to pretty much go wherever you damn well like! This is both a blessing and a curse. How many times have you been out doing a geocache and realised that the footpath took you all around the houses where as the direct route was just that direct and shorter but illegal. Scotland doesn't appear to have any such issues so surely time for celebration! Wrong although the sometimes restrictive paths in England mean you can't get to where you want to be quite as fast they usually do it for a reason, a footpath in England is generally well kept, safe and has gates stiles and signposts. Planning a geocaching series is much easier as you follow the path and you can clearly see from an OS map where you are going beforehand. Scotland has no such niceties tracks are made by whoever has been there before. Some are established, others are goat trails many are nonexistent when you get out of regularly travelled areas... we were well outside of regularly travelled areas. The series really suffered from this problem and we ended up cutting it short after two DNF's after a fairly long trek up hill. we found a couple towards the end (one of which was waterlogged) but it never really recovered from the bad start, we were left with the impression that Scottish caches just weren't as good. The next significant caches were done on the Isle of Lewis and I'm delighted to say were a different kettle of fish altogether the first was the most northerly cache I have done so far at the Butt of Lewis. I have been to the location before and it was terrifying that time, it comes with a warning not to do on a windy day indeed there was a memorial to a young man who had fallen to his death nearby! The sea apparently splashes the nearby lighthouse when it gets really bad which must be an awesome sight. Thankfully the sea and the wind behaved themselves and I braved a wander out onto a frankly terrifyingly small bit of rock to get the prize. The next was in the grounds of Castle Lewis which would have been a 10 out of 10 cache if it wasn't fort eh midges that hounded us all the way around. It was just beautiful the views the river running by it the tranquil gardens, the bridges caves sculptures and monuments, the beautiful trees and flowers and castle itself, really wonderful. We finished off the walk at a tea room with Wi-Fi so I was very happy! The last couple of caches belonged to a really nice family that I contacted before going up. We ended up visiting them for a cup of tea and exchanged caching stories and best places to visit during our holiday. I would recommend this to most cachers if you see a predominant cacher in an area you are going to visit far away from home drop them a line you never know you might just find a new friend. The caches were near to where they live and were really good fun to find we found a big frog and many good sized crabs on an excellent rock pool filled beach. All in all it was a great experience caching outside of my normal area. I'm just gutted that so many caches popped up while I was away and I missed out on all of those juicy FTF's. You can't have everything hey!

What's in your bag

Having mentioned my cachers kit I thought I would tell you what's in mine. I'll leave it up to your own imagination what I might use these for not all of it comes with me everytime.

1. Gardening gloves
2. OS Map in a map case
3. Penknife
4. Torch
5. Compact Mirror
6. Notebook with several pens and pencils
7. Geocacher Stamp from here
8. Waterproof coat
9. Lightweight Long Sleeved jumper and tracksuit leggings for unexpected severe nettles
10. Several big paperclips
11. Wet wipes
12. Plastic bags of all sizes
13. Walking poles
14. Drinks bottle
15. HTC Desire in a heavy duty case
16. Geomate Jnr
17. Notebook
18. Spare socks
19. Plasters
20. Nettle cream

Did Not Find (DNF)

I have an ever growing list of DNF caches and I added a couple more to it over the weekend. Several other people on my friends list also reported DNF's in other places, I feel for you they are very annoying. You spend ages looking around trying to decide if the cache has been muggled or if it's just well hidden then you give up only to have it found the next day by a dog or tiny child according to the logs. Sometimes I swear I am blind on a second visit the cache is right where I'm sure I looked before! Anyway I thought it might be nice to offer up some tips for DNF's from someone who's been there repeatedly.

1. Double check the coordinates, recheck puzzles that have lead you to the coordinates does it fit and make sense? If you are in the middle of a field then maybe you or the owner have got a number wrong ;)

2. Get out of the tree cover and get several accurate readings to zero in on the location

3. Check obvious places near to ground zero - ivy covered trees, stumps, trees in general, piles of stones and sticks all clichés but they are clichés for a reason! Also look for a "Cachers trail" previous visitors to a site will leave their mark some trampled down nettles is often all the sign I need to find a cache.

3. Dig deep and widen the search, get in there and have a root about uncover those leaves. I have started putting together a caching kit one of the most used items is a simple pair of gardening gloves. With these I have braved thorns, glass, nettles you name it which these my hands can boldly go where no sane person would put them, the only downside is the sensitivity to touch is less but it's generally worth the trade.

5. Read the hint if there is one! Sometimes there are hidden hints in the name of the cache for example.

6. Look at the status of the cache live on geocaching.com is it down for maintenance?

7. Read the logs, when was the last time it was found? are there any useful hints in the logs?

8. Look at the size of the cache what are you looking for a nano or micro is going to be in a different place than a bigger cache. A lot of nanos and micros are magnetic so look for metal objects.

9. Look at the difficulty and terrain rating are you looking in the right place, if its terrain is 3 or higher look up the tree rather than around the base of the tree for example. Don't expect a difficulty 5 to be in plain sight and easy to find.

10. Phone a friend who has found it previously, are you looking in the right place?

11. Leave it for another day and come back with fresh eyes preferably when someone else logs a find so you know it's still there.

12. Log that you couldn't find it this is useful for the owner and other cachers. That you couldn't find it means very little. That ten people couldn't find it means it is probably gone. Don't forget that you can notify the owner that maintenance is required or that the cache should be archived if enough people report DNF's or you find the cache in a bad state.

13. Bring some backup, my wife has in the past walked right up to a cache that I've spent hours looking for previously

14. Add a watch to the cache so you get an email when it is found

15. Consider contacting the owner directly

Above all know that you will get better at finding caches. Once you find a particular type of cache you will be more likely to find similar caches of the same type in the future. A lot of people talk about "cachers eye" the ability to spot a likely cache site in the area, which also improves with time.

Do you have any other tips you would like to share?