Back to Danemead Part 2

Stuart cooked eggs, bacon and fried bannock bread for lunch


Before lunch some of the Sea Cadets and leaders had called in to say hello as they were doing navigation in the area. We set the cadets the task of gathering fire wood for us and the result was a large pile of mixed sized wood which was great!


They returned in the afternoon as I was about to make a debris shelter and were all keen to help. Firstly I cut 4 forked poles, interlocked then and pushed the ends into the ground.


The Sea cadets gathered a large amount of medium sized branches which a laid between the poles (leaving the front open). And then we all began to gather leaves to cover the shelter. I was impressed with a couple of the cadets who found a bread tray which they used to carry a greater amount of leaves.

This is my good friend George who was proving that a man can infact multi-task by drinking a cup of tea and gathering leaves at the same time!

Unfortunately one of the Horn Beam support poles wasn't strong enough once the weight of wet leaves was on it and as you can see below, bent under the weight.

After the cadets left us we spent the early evening preparing a meal and then Sheila, Mark and Acer joined for food and an evening around the campfire.

To be continued....

Teaching Sea Cadets

Last Friday evening I left work and headed down the M11 to Hoddesdon, to help teach Sea Cadets bushcraft and outdoor living skills as part of there Expedition Leaders Assesment, at the invitation of my friend George and the London North East District Sea Cadets.

I arrived just before dark, to a deserted campsite, so walked around to find the best location to set up, under a dense area of Holly. I found the two longest logs I could find and put them parallel to each other and then filled the space between with 18 inches of leaves as a matress. The picture below was taken the following morning hence the compressed leaves.

My Reindeer skin provided additional insulation

and then I used my summer bag and bivy bag from the US Sleep System.

As the evening progressed cadets and leaders arrived, as did a large number of Police cadets and leaders using the site at the same time as ourselves. It was a good chance to catch up with old friends (I ran a course for some of the instructors 18 months ago) and make new ones. Advertised as "one of the UK 's leading bushcraft and outdoor skills instructors" I felt a little nervous on Saturday morning but thankfully I would be working with "one of the UK's second best bushcraft instructors"......... ;>)

After breakfast we started the day with shelter building. We split the cadets into two groups and made two different shelters

One group made a lean-to

The other group made a kennel shelter


After lunch we spent the afternoon teaching firelighting. Methods included firesteel, flint and steel, bow-drill and pump-drill.


This is Chris who at 14 is one of the most enthusiastic students I have ever had and already posses a variety of skills.

He achieved his first fire using the bow-drill.

Unfortunately I had to depart late afternoon (missing out on navigation, tracking and cooking over/in a campfire) to travel to rural Norfolk for a very special event which I will write about next time!