Smartwool Socks

I am a huge fan of wool clothing. I love Merino baselayers and I have a quite a selection of wool socks. For last few years the only socks I have worn are those made by Smartwool.

I find them comfortable in all sorts of temperatures, they tend to be pretty much odour- free even after extended periods of wear and they do tend to keep my feet warm.

Anyway, to cut a long story short I had a problem with one of my socks where some of the wool had started to ruck up causing a bit of a pressure point. I wrote to the UK distributor (smartwooleurope@timberland.com) to ask if this was a known problem. They were very quick to respond and offered to replace said socks. Well, they turned up very quickly despite the fact that they were in the middle of an office move! I was deeply impressed with the level of service.

So I now have some new socks to review. I'll give them a go over the next few weeks and let you know how I get on.

smartwool

IOL National Conference 2008

Well I survived the National Conference! I think there should be a badge for it myself. Anyway, I took a workshop at the conference this year about the ways tracking can be used educationally - not just for the sake of tracking. I think it went well, I had 20 people or so come and listen, which was pleasing and at least 3 people were really switched on by the ideas I was proposing. That to me is a great success.

There were a lot of talks and workshops over the two days so there was plenty to do. As the conference was aimed at outdoor professionals and educators many of the workshops were completely over my head - a lot of educational jargon that I didn't understand, though despite that I still did learn stuff. We also had a workshop on bushcraft which was very good as well as some input from Forest Schools. It just goes to show that the ancient skills are becoming more mainstream again.

I'm glad I went. It helped raise my profile as well as giving me more practice at public speaking, which is no bad thing. I got a chance to chat to a lot of people I would not otherwise have met. I also think I generated a bit of interest for my friends at Bushcraft & Survival Magazine.

It was a long way to go but overall I think it was worth it.

Until next time....

Exmoor wild food festival

Well on Saturday I shall be taking part in the Exmoor Wild Food festival at a local lake, Wimbleball. This is a week long celebration of local foods and produce.

Wimbleball is running a more practical look at the food to be found around Exmoor. There will be yours truly there showing people how to light fires, sharpen knives set traps and all that fun stuff. There is a wild food walk, people will be shown how to skin and prepare a rabbit and they will get a chance to eat it a bit later in the day, and there is going to be a haangi as well!

Looks like it will be a fun day out with plenty of things to do - so if you feel like popping down - go for it and say hi!

exmoor food festival