Alone in the wild

Ed Wardle, pictured above, whom was featured in the Channel 4 programme "Alone in the wild" has come in for a lot of stick in the press. This seems to be mainly because he went out to a 'remote' area in the Yukon to survive for 12 weeks but had to give up after 7 weeks.

He was not fairing very well - had lost lots of weight and was basically starving - so, rightly so, he called it off for his own safety.

Many people have criticised him and Channel 4 for sending him out there very unprepared ie little or no survival training. The premise seems to be that he was chosen because he is a good cameraman/producer and had done some 'wild' filming before such as Everest. This clearly did not prepare him for a survival situation and understandably so. It is one thing to be out in the wilds with support and an entirely different kettle of fish to be in the wilds with no support.

Anyway, despite all that I think the guy has a lot to offer us in terms of knowledge. What he put himself through was probably as close to reality as is possible and gives a really good idea as to how a real person may cope if they were suddenly put into that situation. Personally I would love to interview him and find out how it went wrong for him, the psychology he went through and a whole gamut of other things about his physical deterioration etc. This would give me valuable knowledge that I could pass onto others when I teach them survival skills.

So all in all I say 'fair play' to the bloke and we should recognise that he managed 7 weeks before pulling the plug which could be more than a lot of people could manage.

ed wardle

Funny fox!

This made me smile!

Keela ESP clothing system

Just the other day I had a press release from Keela about some new clothing technology that they are to release. It sounds very interesting so here it is:

"Imagine a garment with healing properties, a garment that improves balance, a garment that can ease some of the suffering experienced by those with Parkinson’s disease and other similar ailments, imagine a garment that stimulates muscle tone….
Science Fiction???

Welcome to Keela’s E.S.P. Clothing System
The World Has Just Changed

August 2009, Keela uses E.S.P. Complex to manufacture a new range of outdoor wear. The new range is called ESP, Equilibrium Stabilisation Principle. The idea was exciting and the research surrounding this science is progressive. What Keela has done with this technology is to incorporate the system into a unique membrane and develop key clothing items around it. Tests have proven that E.S.P. textiles actively help to improve blood circulation and sense of balance, as well as reducing muscle spasms.

The garments have been tested with various age groups but primarily with the over 50’s specifically those with particular ailments such as Parkinson’s disease. Keela stresses that ESP system is not a cure for any medical/health issues but can produce improvements in balance and a reduction of muscle spasms.

E.S.P. is a natural substance, made from a combination of different minerals. This mixture is fused at a temperature of 1600 °C - the end product of this process is the E.S.P. material, capable of reflecting infra-red radiation (heat). The human body normally emits infra-red radiation (including long distance infra-red radiation - FIR). E.S.P textiles are able to absorb this radiation and use it within your body, thus providing additional energy for regenerative processes.

Research indicates that the E.S.P fibres in these garments act like a multitude of tiny heat reservoirs that the body can use as needed.

Advantages
• Sense of balance is increased
• Muscle spasms are minimised
• Helps to repair muscle trauma
• Improved toxin removal - natural energy and vitality
• Cell exchanges are facilitated and provide an improved oxygen supply
• Blood circulation is activated
• Antibacterial, eliminates bad smells
Unique
• improvement in performance - the capillary vascular enlarge and improve blood circulation and metabolism. The permeability of cellular membranes for water, oxygen and metabolism decomposition products is higher.

Keela is extremely proud to adopt this technology in their ESP range and looks forward to more innovation in the future."

I'm walking backwards for Christmas!

The title will make some sense if you are a Goons fan! If not then it is imperative that you remedy the situation immediately.

Anyway, the other day when I was out for a walk I was thinking about the fact the we humans are real creatures of habit. We find comfort in the familiar and we often don't like change. By maintaining the status quo we are probably just being a bit lazy because we don't have to think about what we are doing. The reason I was thinking all this was because I noticed that the last 3 or 4 times I had done that particular walk I had used the exact same route.

So next time round I reversed the route and went backwards (in a manner of speaking) and it was incredible the different perspective it gave me. For a start I saw a number of things that I just couldn't see when walking the other way - such as a tree that had been barked by a deer and some mushrooms hidden behind a bush.

I think all I'm getting at with this post is to say that it is important to keep a bit of variety going in your daily routines, look behind occasionally and just keep your eyes open for all the sights that are out there.

British backpacker found alive in outback

This is one lucky hombre!

Jamie Neale, a British backpacker has been found alive and remarkably well, after being lost for 12 days in the Australian Blue Mountains. This is the longest that anyone has survived in that area before.

He got lost whilst on a trek to Mt Solitary. He survived by eating berries and weeds and sleeping under logs. He had seen rescue helicopters pass overhead, but had not been able to flag them down.

Eventually, two bushwalkers stumbled upon him off the southern end of the Narrowneck Plateau, several kilometres from the Ruined Castle rock formation where he was last seen. His rescue has been hailed as a "miracle" by police, who had grave fears for his safety during the freezing nights and bitterly cold days of the past two weeks.

I like a good survival story.

jamie neale, survival

Raven' mad?

Over the last few days we have had at least one raven fly over the house each day. So I thought I would look into the 'meaning' of raven.

In the native American tradition, raven, throughout time, has carried the medicine of magic. Raven magic can give you the courage to enter the darkness of the void, the Great Mystery. Raven is the messenger of the void. If Raven appears to you it means you are about to experience a change in consciousness. This portends "You have earned the right to see and experience a little more of life's magic". Black can mean many things in Native teachings from the seeking of answers, the void or the road to spiritual or nonphysical.

Raven represents that something special is about to happen. The deeper mystery is how will you respond to the synchronicity of the moment when it happens.

In European folklore ravens are portents or omens that auger both good and ill. It was widely believed that a raven seen at the start of important activities such as hunting or fishing was a good omen. Unfortunately many of the superstitions are negative. An Andalusian belief is that it will be an unlucky day if a raven croaks over a house and there will be a death if it croaks three times. In parts of Germany it was thought that ravens contained the souls of the dead.

Of course an alleged centuries old tradition surrounds the ravens at the Tower of London. It is said that if they leave the Tower, Britain's downfall will soon follow. It has been shown recently that it is probably a Victorian invention. During World War II all the birds were killed during air raids and were not replaced until 1946 when the Tower reopened.

Ravens have also been messengers in many legends. In Tibet they were believed to act on behalf of a supreme being, in China it was believed they caused a storm through the forest to warn people that the gods were about to pass. The Vikings revered raven as it was the symbol of their chief god, Odin. It features in some native world creation myths and in some European traditions is believed to possess magic stones that can perform various functions such as healing and invisibility.

All in all, ravens are steeped in myth and legend. I for one love to see and hear them flying over the moor and I'm going to go with the idea that they are a good omen and something magical is about to happen!

raven, mythology

Bowdrill experiments

Whoa, ho, ho, ho - sinister Peter Cushing-type laugh. Time for a little experiment. Enough of this nonsense.

I had some bits and pieces of wood lying around drying out that were just begging to be abused. So I dug out a pine hearth, a hazel drill, a holly drill and my trusty teak bearing block (salvaged from an old table leg). I decided to go against the grain and have a little experiment with drill shape. I fly in the face of convention, ha!

In one of Ray Mears' books he says that the rounded end of the drill should go in the hearth because of greater friction and the pointy end should go in the block because of less friction. Seems logical but I was bit bored and decided to have a go with my rather eclectic mix of kit. My thinking was this, if the pointy end was in the hearth then due to its smaller circumference you would achieve faster rotations relative to the amount of effort put in. You would also be able to apply proportionately greater pressure for the same amount of force due to its smaller surface area. Elementary physics something to do with woman in high heels, elephants and who you would prefer to be stood on by! I believe that there are specialist websites for that sort of thing. I'm not sure what happens if the elephant is wearing heels though?

By contrast having the rounded end in the block means that it generates less heat due to slower rotation speeds even though it is presenting a larger surface area. Of course my physics could be completely cr*p!

Either way I went for it. I managed smoke very easily and after a couple of passable attempts at recreating the bouncing bomb effect with flying drills I got a really good ember. This worked for both the hazel and holly drills and didn't take much effort. The reverse configuration seemed to work well though the penalty was greater wear on the pointy end.

An interesting way to spend an hour on a sunny Saturday afternoon. The question is - has anyone else flown in the face of wisdom and tried doing it differently (the bowdrill that is)?

bowdrill,fire by friction, bushcraft