A week of tracking!

A couple of weeks ago, I was up at Canonteign helping Max of Shadowhawk teach tracking. We started off with an Advanced course and then a back to back /fundamental and intermediate - 6 days worth of tracking. Fantastic!

We were lucky with the weather and the people we had. It stayed dry (which is unusual for the area) and the people we taught were brilliant. We pushed all of them hard and they managed to up their game each time. We had a really good time with the Advanced course because it gave us instructors more chance to be creative in our scenarios, shall we say!

The back to back guys picked up the principles very quickly indeed and gave us a run for our money trying to keep up with them. It was great to see all the 'eureka' moments that people had and there were a lot of those. I would like to take all the credit for their fast progress but it wasn't just down to me and the other instructors - they were all very good and quick learners.

On a separate note, I have been promised that there will be something for people to see, concerning my secret project, before the end of the week. I really hope that is the case because I'm busting to let people see what I'm up to and get some feedback.

I will keep you posted. Until later ....

tracking

Paperback writer.....

Well not quite! I have just had an article published in the Bushcraft & Survival Skills magazine on tracking. This is the first of many (I hope) and I think it looks good - even though I say so myself.

I really recommend you go out and buy the magazine because it is full of great articles, pictures and me (only kidding). Follow this link if you want to see my humble offering - tracking article and choose tracking.pdf.

Hope you like it!

Lifesaver Water Bottle (Part 1)

As promised, a first look at the incredible Lifesaver Water Bottle. This bottle may not be the most elegant of beasts but it is probably the most important invention to hit the survival/bushcraft market in recent years. It is a highly significant evolution in portable water purification systems. You may think this all sounds a bit OTT, perhaps it is, but the bottom line is that this is an awesome piece of kit, taking water purification to new heights.

In an earlier post (The OS Outdoor show aftermath) I mentioned meeting the inventor of the bottle, Michael Pritchard. A very nice chap whom I gave a rather hard time over the design and the principles of the system. He graciously answered all my questions and after 3 days I became convinced about the concept.

So, I put my money where my mouth was and bought one! So far, I have only primed the bottle because I had to give it to someone else for a trip to Russia and have only just received my replacement. Anyway, overall, the bottle is very easy to use but does take a little getting used to. The bottle comes with a fitted activated charcoal filter as well as a spare, a spare teat, a strap, a small pot of lubricant and an instruction manual. It is important to follow the priming instructions before you use the bottle in anger, so to speak. I did find that tap water still had a taint after the priming process so I just repeated the last stage another 5 or 6 times to lessen this - no doubt more use will reduce it totally.

To fill the bottle is simplicity itself. Unscrew the bottom, ensure the filter is covering the water inlet hole (this just removes large debris like leaves) and scoop up the water, screw the bottom back on, give it a couple of quick pumps and drink! It is a very fast process. You use your teeth to pull up the drinking teat and also to close it and you can literally start drinking it after pumping. The pumping process does pressurise the water meaning it will squirt out quite vigourously at first. This did catch me by surprise the first time I used it and I nearly choked! So be warned. It does mean that the bottle can be used at any angle (see picture below). That's not me in the picture by the way!


The beauty of this system is that there are no chemicals used in the purification process. It is all done through filtration. Speaking of filtration, it is still a good idea to pre-filter your water if it is very dirty. The only reason being that your filter will last longer! You can scoop up the nastiest, dirtiest water you like (except sea water) and the bottle will deal with it in its stride but it is always a good idea to choose the cleanest looking water you can find - no point in lessening the life of your investment unnecessarily, is there?

I will post another short review later when I have used the bottle in earnest. There is a full review of the bottle in the Bushcraft & Survival Skills magazine along with other water treatment systems. I'm not going to tell you what it says because you need to go off and buy the magazine and read it for yourself!

Go out and buy one - you know you want to!

bushcraft water survival lifesaver

Still alive!!!!

That says it all really! I'm still here but have been outrageously busy with some of my other work. It keeps the money coming in but it hasn't done much for my outdoor life.

I'm also working on a bit of a project at the moment. At the moment I can't say much about it - it will involve another website and a rather radical departure from my normal day to day activities (though still bushcrafty in its nature). Soon as I have something to show I'll post up links here.

I'm off again with work tomorrow for a week and a half - this time to Barcelona for 5 days then Thurock (of all places for 3 days immediately afterwards). This is the kind of thing that has kept me away from the blog! Having said that I do now have my Lifesaver Bottle and will be doing a preliminary review in the very near future - I know, I know I said that before and it has taken me 3 months to get this far.

Right, until then - see you later!

The OS Outdoor show aftermath

Don't get me wrong, it was a great three days but I am glad it is now over! It was quite tiring standing up all day, under artificial light, getting slowly dehydrated by the heating system. Well worth it though!

I must say a big thank you to the guys on the Bushcraft and Survival Skills magazine stand for their hospitality and friendliness. They are a good bunch of people. You really should go and buy their magazine, you know.

I have no idea how many people came to the show this year but we were all very busy on the Saturday and Sunday. Friday was a lot quieter but we still had a good number of folk come and listen to the talks and demos.

As for kit....what can I say? There was loads of great gear around and I surpised myself by not buying much at all. Well sort of not buying...! I did buy a headtorch which I will review in a later post. I tried to buy a jacket but they didn't have my size so I will have to order that in the next couple of days (at show price I hasten to add) and I tried to buy a water purification system but that is on back order now.

I must tell you about the Lifesaver Bottle. We had the inventor of this system on the stand for the three days, Michael Pritchard. I will admit that I was initially very skeptical about the product but the more I spoke to him (well, interogated him more like) about it, the more I liked it. The product does exactly what it says on the tin. It is the only filtration system that does not require pre- or post- processes on the water, it also does not use any chemicals within it. A fantastic bit of kit!

The upshot is that I am willing to spend the money on it as I believe it will be worth every penny. Once I get my hot little hands on it I shall do a more comprehensive review of it.

Well I'm off to do some more work - no rest for the wicked, eh! Look out for my next reviews and if you got to the show, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

The Ordnance Survey Outdoor Show

Due to circumstances beyond my control (only kidding), I am going to be attending the The Outdoor Show this week.

Myself and a couple of other guys are going to be covering the Shadowhawk part of the show because Max is off filming again. We are going to be attached to the Bushcraft and Survival Magazine stand.

I'm going to be there for the duration and will be giving a couple of short talks on each day. The rest of the time will be spent, either at the stand, or having a little wander around the show looking for goodies to buy!

Drop by and say hi if you are passing. Hope to see you there!

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Frog Spawn

A couple of weeks ago I was taking a walk in one of my local woodlands. Strolling along one of the tracks, I came across this in one of the puddles:


frog spawn!

I was a little surprised to see so much of it, in so many puddles! I thought it was very early for such behaviour but clearly not for my local frogs. I shall be visiting the woods again soon to see how they are fairing. There might be lots of amphibian tracks to see soon!

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