Bimble : Woodland Bimble and Alpkit BruKit

Bimble : Bushcraft Dog Bimble

Now the all the Christmas food has been eaten its time to try burn some off.  This frosty morning was perfect for a good bimble around the woods. I met up with Jamie and his puppy Marvin for a walk and a brew.

It had been a long time since Jamie and myself had been to this woods but it has always been a favourite of ours.  The woodland is so varied, going across the fields you first walk into a diciduous woodland but we walked in to one of the coniferous patches in the woods.

I had planned to have a small fire for a brew, so collected some pine resin which seemed to be abundance in this woodland. 

We collected the tinder and fuel for the fire from all the low dead branches and prepared the fire on a base to keep it off the floor.

I used my light my fire ferro rod to get the dry resin alight, I have a few ferro rods but find this one threw some good hot sparks.

Once the fire was going I placed the Nalgene stainless steel water bottle from my brew kit over it to get the water boiling. I had recently purchased the Pathfinder bottle hanger and wanted to see how good it was. First impression are good, however thought it would have a better grip on the inside of the bottle than it actually has and once it came when I first went to lift the bottle by the hanger but after replacing it and lifting more gently it held well.

 Marvin had not seen fire before and was very inquisitive but kept a safe distance away.  He loved the woods and found lots to play with and we had to stop him from running off with the pot hanger once or twice.

Jamie and Marvin

Big bubbles no troubles, even thought this was tap water its always good to see bubbles as it means the brew is not far away.

Whilst warming up with a nice coffee I put some bacon over the fire, originally I had the bacon over the pot hanger after debarking a the end section.

However the fire had died down  the bacon was not cooking very well, so I had to come up with an alternative, thankfully I had packed my Honey stove with hive extension and I used the grill to place the bacon over the coals, I had a moment of genius when I realised I could used the Pathfinder bottle hanger as a makeshift handle to move the grill.

Honey stove grill and Pathfinder bottle hanger

Bushcraft bacon and bagel

 It did not take long for Marvin to sniff out the delicious bacon and he begrudged me every mouthful.

Over the past 6 months I had spent some time thinking about my kit and what I want from it, so I decided to make my kit more modular, allowing me to take anything from just a brew kit up to all the kit needed for an overnight or two.

I have had the 5.11 Rush 12 pack as a EDC/Work bag for the past year and found it to be a very well put together pack. Since getting it I have added some addition 5.11 and Maxpedition pouches to make it a more versatile set-up.

5.11 Rush 12 pack and Maxpediton H1 Waistpack

What could be called my possible pouch is the Maxpedtion H1 Waistpack, this contain all my main use its, including Silva head torch, small cuts kit, fire kit, ferro rod, Svord Peasant Mini, Outdoor Edge Flip n' Zip Saw and much more.

The Maxpedtion 10x4 water bottle pouch contains my brew kit, which is the Nalgene stainless steel bottle and Alpkit MyTiMug.

If I have a knife on me I always carry a small cuts first aid kit (although there is a small fak in my possible pouch) this is kept on in a Maxpediton 5x3 pouch above the 10x4 pouch. The final pouch on the pack is the 5.11 H2O carrier, this allows me to carry an extra litre of water when out, this is the only pouch that stays on the pack every day as always take it a bottle of water with me to work.

Maxpediton 10x4 water bottle pouch

Every day life was calling and texting, so we all head back out of the woods after making sure the fire was out and cool too touch, the ashes were scatter in to the surrounding area.

Another great moring in the woods.

Bimble : Tom Dick Harry Tree

For awhile my brother and myself had wanted to go find a local tree with which has some history behind it, so we took the kids out for a walk.

It was a nice eerie day as we walked to the tree we were looking for.

an this was the tree we were looking for.

 

The History
The Dunsdon brothers, Tom, Dick and Harry were from Fulbrook which is just outside Burford and part of the Burford Parish, they were also known as "The Burford Highwaymen". The brothers began their life of crime by robbing farmers of stock and money as they travelled to market, they would hide the stolen livestock in the local Wychwood Forest. 

They were rumoured to be responsible for robbing the Gloucester to Oxford coach. The oldest brother Dick disappeared after a failed robbery at Tangley Hall, 2 miles outside Burford. The brothers attempted to rob the place but the owners had been tipped off and as Dick put his arm through an opening in the door to remove the bolt the people waiting inside grabbed his arm and tied it to the bolt so that Dick could not pull it back out. Dick shouted to his brothers "cut! cut!" and one of his brothers drew his sword and severed off his arm at the elbow. 

As they fled they are rumoured to have gone to the Merrymouth Inn where their requests for help were refused and they then shot the innkeeper and left him for dead. The brothers fled and Dick was never seen or heard of again and is believed to have died of his injuries. Tom and Harry were captured after attending the Burford Whitsuntide Festival in Capps Lodge, after an altercation with a man called William Harding who was shot by Harry in the chest,  The landlord and several others apprehended the fugitives and delivered them to the Gloucestershire gaol (jail). 

Some weeks later Harding died and the brothers were tried for his murder and convicted. The sentence on these "desperate fellows who had long been a terror to the country where they lived" as the judge summed it up was death by hanging and their bodies to be hung in chains thereafter. Their bodies were hanged from a gibbet tree on the edge of the forest which was once their refuge. This tree is still there today. 

Text  from http://www.tomdickandharry.co.uk/othertomdickandharrys.html

H, T carved into the tree. (possibly a D below but could not say for sure)

The Gibbet Tree - Gibbet Tree, Capp's Lodge, Fulbrook

The Gibbet Tree a couple of miles beyond Burford, near Capp's Lodge, still stands today, gnarled and crooked branches reach out of the old oak like a witch's fingers pointing to the sky.

Text from - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1447209

Kids loved the walk as we found some Geocashe treasure on the way to the Tree.

Bimble : Introducing Bushcraft to SWMBO

Today I took the girlfriend out to the woods for lunch, I am slowly getting her into the woods. Last summer was her first time camping (family camping style loads of kit) But today we planned an afternoon in the woods for a bit of a bushcraft lunch.

Weather was not the best as it has been pretty non stop rain for the best part of a week.

And as you can see there is just a little bit of flooding down by the River Evenlode

The wind must have blown this down in the past 2 weeks since I was last down the woods.

it was only just raining, but just in case it decided to get worse I put the tarp up.

SWMBO was enjoying herself so much watching me do all the work and gathering firewoods she took a selfie.

Getting the fire in the honey stove was nice and easy with a magic biscuit. Drying the twigs in my pocket worked a treat.

The lunch was an easy pizza Calzone, made with a tortilla. some bbq sauce and ham and mushroom with cheese did the job.  Tin foil hat to keep the heat in.

Then I was told it was time for a photo.

And then it was ready.

Once enjoyed it was time to get the fire going again for desert.Banana and choc once again, one of my personal favourites.

On the hive with a coffee brewing up

SWMBO now loves banana and chocolate. Sadly no rum or whiskey, as Sam (SWMBO) is pregnant. I did forget about a spoon, but thankfully i had something that SWMBO was happy to use.  Not like i will need to use the card again.

Sitting and relaxing before its time to pack up and finish a walk and head home.

The path was washed out so had to head back the way we had come.

One happy SWMBO after enjoying a few hours in the woods. Next step is a night out before the bump gets to big and uncomfortable.

Bimble : Woodland Wandering

Another bimble around the woods with Noah and Ellie.  Both had great fun climbing over the logs.