I planned on packing on the 22nd, this was put off for a few days due to other family commitments and WORK, so I did not get to pack until the morning of the 25th, so I planned on packing for us both and Beef could then just add his clothes when he got home from school, which he did.
We left around 17.00 and was off to the woods, arriving around 17.30 leaving a note in the window BADGER WATCHING, then the walk through to camp, that we did in two runs taking kit first then back for food, water and a few extra bits only stopping to check on the wild gnomes.
Once at camp we cleared the fire and set up the fire pit, tarp, chairs and I left Beef gettng the cooking kit out while I put up the hammocks and monster tarp, it was not until this point that I realised I had not packed any extra cordage (I remember picking up the cordage bag, then I must have just put it back, idiot), so I robbed cord from Peter to pay Paul, this has ensured I now need to replace lots of cord.
After the camp was set we set about collecting fire wood and got it lit before 20.00.
We sat and I cooked us some calzone bushcraft pizzas then sat chatting into the evening,getting into the hammock was one of the worst experiences of my hammocking life, I could not get comfortable the sleeping bag would not stay in, I ended up waking every hour to sort myself out.
The next morning Beef sorted breakfast on the meths burner, warm croissants n coffee, we then went for a wander looking at various plants, finding a what I think was a satellite Badger set, we also collected some green wood to make a few bows with and when we got back to Camp we had lunch then fashioned two bows, the my one snapped after 2 shots, Beef was working on another that I helped with this one was getting better and we were working on extending the pull (tillering) before this too snapped, we then collected some more wood and processed it before it got dark, at dusk we left to see if there was any further sign of the badgers getting back to Camp unsuccessful after dark.
I cooked again in the evening curry n rice very noice, and again chatted, we turned in earlier this time (even after faffing about with the hammock I still could not get comfortable) as I had set my alarm to wake me at 03.00 so we could go for a night walk, we did this with our wool blankets wrapped around us as it was getting cold, we again looked for badgers (unsuccessfully) listened to the sounds of the night and walked to the edge of the wood to watch the stars, getting back to Camp a few hours later and went back to bed, this time I got comfortable pretty quick and we slept in till nearly 09.00.
Beef sorted breakfast again Bacon wraps went for another walk we then packed up and left, leaving in one trip as without food n water the packs were more manageable.
We eventually saw a Badger on the way home (roadkill), Beef was happy, we spent a lot of the weekend laughing and read a book to each other at night, we have 3 chapters left to finish at some point, we also used reference books to try to identify trees and plants with some success.
When we got home Beef said it was the best weekend of his life, leaving me a very happy dad.
Enjoy the pics
http://s1136.photobucket.com/user/HatMa ... ith%20Beef
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