Some people responded to the lockdowns by doing more walking, cycling and camping; I did even less. I got used to the idea that wild camping was a hobby I would rarely engage in. Maybe my solo camping days were over. With a big allotment and all of life’s other fun events – like having a new kitchen fitted for about three months, our main campervan holiday cut short by a broken clutch, looking for a new car, etc., etc. – I didn’t get any done in the summer, but I took another trip as the summer of 2021 began to fade into autumn.
I did some filming, and the video below tells most of the story. It’s a pretty terrible video, since it was filmed using a little “key-chain” camera, an 808 #16, mostly hand-held, with a standard lens (where a wider angle would have been better), so it’s shaky, and in parts the volume is very low. I spent as long editing it as the trip took, thanks to being out of practice and the various quirks of the programs I used. In the end, I just thought enough is enough and banged it up on youtube.
So, as I say, the video isn’t a riveting watch, but if you’re into burning twigs in a tin can in the woods, you might like it. The text here will give a bit more of the background and, if you’re not a wild-camp enthusiast, is probably much less tedious to plough through. 😀
Where I left off, in the summer of 2018, my home-made camping stove was the main issue. I’d taken a new design with me then that I thought would be great, only to find it was pretty hopeless. Later that year I experimented with all sorts of different ideas, and then last year I worked on a new one – a miniature rocket stove insulated with perlite – going for walks into the local woods to test it out. I made several alterations, most importantly widening the “feed port”, where sticks are loaded and where the only air input is.
When I set off on this camping trip I hadn’t even tested the latest version. I made one last tweak, swapping the cylindrical pot stand for two crossed riser bars, and set off with my pack and walking poles for an overnighter about five miles from home. The stove actually worked pretty well.
I recce’d the destination last year, a small wood with conifer plantations in about half of it and deciduous trees the other, surrounded by mixed farmland. The wood was used to raise game birds (pheasants, I finally decided).
I was a bit concerned how I’d manage the walk with a pack. I had considered camping for two nights, but that increases the weight of food a lot, so I just packed enough for one evening meal, supper and breakfast, plus a few snacks. The forecast was for a mild night, so I didn’t have to carry a warmer sleeping bag or lots of spare clothing to stay warm. My pack probably came to about 5.5 kg. (12 pounds).
I took my time, having learned from earlier trips, resting often and snacking, and I felt absolutely fine. I’ve also learned that trekking poles are a massive help to me, taking the weight off my legs and lower back, and the exercise of the arm muscles also reduces the pain I often get in my neck and shoulders when walking or cycling. The trekking poles I use are ones I made myself from hazel, with hand straps attached by cords that can be slid up or down for different terrain.
So I arrived quite fresh and began checking out places to put the tent up and to cook, after making sure cattle didn’t have access to the woods. I’d encountered a field of cows with calves and a bull on the way, and didn’t want to find them snorting round my tent in the middle of the night.
The video tells the rest of the story up until the morning, when there was a second visit from someone on a quad bike, presumably to put feed in the hoppers for the pheasants.
On the first visit, in the evening, he’d rounded sheep up in the adjacent field and passed close by, but since I was just into the woods a little way it would have been difficult to see me, although he might have smelled my spicy tomato pasta or the smoke from the stove (luckily, the stove had just died at that point).
In the morning, he drove through the wood a short distance from me. I think I’d taken the tent down by then, but my pack and other bits of equipment were strewn about, some hung up on fallen branches. If he’d looked around, he’d have spotted me. After a while he went back in the opposite direction and I thought I couldn’t be so lucky a third time, but he got his mobile out and looked at that instead. I abandoned the idea of lighting the stove for breakfast and just got out of there as soon as he’d gone. It’s a wonder I didn’t get discovered on either occasion (probably not that much can be put down to my stealthy camping skills).
Cold coffee ain’t so bad. I just mixed some up with the small amount of water I’d boiled the night before and swallowed it for the liquid and caffein. I finished packing, did what bears are renowned for doing in similar circumstances, then headed home with nothing to eat except Minstrels, and no water, but I knew I didn’t have very far to go.
The field of cows was impassable this time, as they were all over the place, but I found the alternative footpath without much trouble. I stopped at a caravan park about half way home to fill up my water bottle. By this time, having stopped a lot less for rests, I was flagging, but the water refreshed me enough to face the last mile or so, down into a steep gorge and back up the other side.
I knew it would be better to stop again soon after I set off, to filter water from a stream, light the stove and cook porridge, but it all seemed a bit too much effort. It’s a danger I have to guard against, pushing on too fast, intent on getting to my destination, and it’s ruined a few earlier trips. Had it been more distance to cover, I’d have stopped and cooked.
On the other hand, the longer I took to get home, the hungrier I’d get, and the hedgerow was pretty full of wild food to keep snacking on. I ate a few haws (hawthorn berries, which are really quite delicious, with a flavour rather like apple and a soft, creamy texture), and a few seeds from the Indian balsam that’s taking over the countryside (which are slightly bitter raw, but nutritious). There were blackberries, but I wasn’t that hungry (I’m not a fan). Even as a vegetarian, I’m pretty sure I could live off the land in autumn.
I’m glad I went. It was a much more successful trip than earlier ones, at least in terms of packing, traveling and using my home-made stoves. And it was a big lesson about choosing my destination better. In future I’ll try to avoid woods where they raise game birds, and I’ll aim to get up higher where the livestock tend to be sheep.
It was certainly the nearest I’ve been to getting discovered. It’s not a criminal offence to wild camp in England, and there’s almost no record of anyone suing, but it’s frowned upon in some parts and might have led to some kind of confrontation. I guess it would mostly just be a bit embarrassing if they were angry. And some landowners might be perfectly friendly and happy for you to camp.
It’s also a good reason to get up on the hills: wild camping is generally accepted at higher altitude. Unfortunately, that will probably mean getting the bus to start a walk – unless I find time in among all the other jobs to fix my bike.
I came back full of further tweaks I want to make to my equipment, mainly my sleeping system, rucksack and trekking poles, and nurturing the idea I might do some more camping in the colder months, which is when I actually have more time for it.
Anyhoo, thanks for reading, and, if you watch, thanks for watching! There’s not much about the Terra Nova Laser Competition (my tent), it’s just Youtube automatically set that thumbnail and I don’t see a way to change it.
Crafty Wildcamper 