Woods 14-4-09 VV Pic Heavy

[Kepis]

Took the boys up the woods, supposedly for a couple of days, but events ie an electrical storm last night, dictated that we just spent a very long day up there instead, youngest is not at all comfortable with electrical storms and the last thing i needed was a very scared 9yr old in the woods in the middle of the night, so we decided to pack up earlier than intended, anyway, few pics of the trip.

The woods that i have use of, shining in their spring glory, they are not very big, but we have more or less free reign from the landowner to do anything we want whilst we are there;

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Eldest getting the fire going, he's turning into a real pyro these days

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Fire on the go with the all important kettle

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Youngest collecting and sawing fire wood, the trees in the background are all Sweet Chestnut and are the remains from the '87 storm

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Eldests set up for the night that never was

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll141/kepisbushcraft/woods%204-09/Woods14-4-0951.jpg

and himself enjoying it

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll141/kepisbushcraft/woods%204-09/Woods14-4-099.jpg

a quick nap

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Time for a spot of lunch, the boys bought bannock mix and bacon with them for their lunch and wanted to cook it in a true bushcrafty way with a grill made from locally available materials rather than using the frying pan.

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The two cooks at work

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wasnt long before eldest took over though, he's a good cook and quite regulary gets in from school and cooks a meal for the whole family, no prompting, just something he likes to do

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll141/kepisbushcraft/woods%204-09/Woods14-4-0924.jpg

The fruits of his labour, bacon butties, bushy style

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Youngest wanted to try something he saw on RM Wild food, so i collected the nettles for him and wilted them over the fire, youngest having a munch

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll141/kepisbushcraft/woods%204-09/Woods14-4-0940.jpg

After lunch we had a bit of poke round the woods seeing what we could find

Deer Poop

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll141/kepisbushcraft/woods%204-09/Woods14-4-0961.jpg

Butchers Broom

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll141/kepisbushcraft/woods%204-09/Woods14-4-0965.jpg

Wood Spurge, seeing more of this up here than ever before at the moment

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Birch Polypores by the dozen

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll141/kepisbushcraft/woods%204-09/Woods14-4-0957.jpg

Anyone for a burl?

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll141/kepisbushcraft/woods%204-09/Woods14-4-0958.jpg

The woodland floor is carpeted with Primroses at the moment and the Bluebells are just starting to appear

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll141/kepisbushcraft/woods%204-09/Woods14-4-0939.jpg

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The woods are littered with these holes, talking to the owner and his family they are old fox holes/practice OP's dug by the Canadians back in WW2 as they used the woods for training purposes.

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll141/kepisbushcraft/woods%204-09/Woods14-4-0962.jpg

After a poke around we headed back to camp, where the boys got the marshmallows out and toasted them over the fire

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Eldest decided to sit and whittle for a while, is this not the pose of a lad who is totally at home in the woods?

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll141/kepisbushcraft/woods%204-09/Woods14-4-0945.jpg

Whilst youngest played with his hammock, this was very kindly donated by a member here after the lads previous hammock was destroyed by mice.

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll141/kepisbushcraft/woods%204-09/Woods14-4-0948.jpg

As late afternoon approached we got the message that storms were on the way, so the boys and I elected to call it quits for the day for the sake of youngest and got back home in the early evening, shame we didnt stay overnight, but there's always another day, as it was the storms got here at about 0330 - 0400 this morning and the lightning was spectacular, to my mind the decision to leave the woods early, although disappointing, was the right one.

[Mike Bowler]

Great Pic's looks like you all had a good time

[robbi2]

what a fantastic day out !! 2 lads you can be proud of there mate !! many thanks for showing us.

[hammy]

Thanks Kepis great pics and write up.
Love the griddle.:)

[Celt_Ginger]

Great pictures as always Kepis. Thanks for sharing.

[Lentil]

Looks like they had a great time ... days like that when you're a kid make great memories :)

[Spamel]

I think that was a wise decision, there are plenty of other days to go out in. I've called it quits and not too long back neither. I went on an invitation from Shewie and we were caught in an almighty blower that had trees cracking and falling to the ground! As two sounded very close, we decided it was like playing russian roulette but with trees so we packed up and buggered off! It's only a hobby, not worth getting squished or zapped over!

The noise and light show may be awe inspiring to us, but to a child it can be very frightening. I also got caught in an electrical storm on the flat prairies of Canada and was right out in the open, in fact we were the tallest thing for miles around. Lightning bolts were hitting the ground round about us and it is possibly the most scared I have ever been in my life, and that was only three or four years ago. They are powerful things, definitely wise to go home and save the youngest from being scared out of his wits and if you had stayed out he may have gotten that scared that he wouldn't want to go out and try again in future, and that would have been a crap result!

I'm really impressed with those guys cooking their own food and lighting their own fires. Their skills seem to be coming on leaps and bounds, they are learning valuable skills for the future and they have you to thank for it. Good on you mate!

[tigermoth]

What a lovely Lads & Dad day out. :)

My own father (now 91) although a wonderful dad to me and my bro, he was always working, 7 days a week for long stretches. We were not wealthy.

Our kids grow up so fast ( my oldest is 30 the other 16; boys) for you to be doing this is just wonderful for all concerned. You must make sure the photographs are kept safe and backed up on CD or whatever. So the boys can look back on these days in years to come.

My oldest had his 30th birthday in January. I gave him a photo album titled
"Robin: the first 30 years through the eyes and lens of his father"
The first photo being taken on his birthday down in Cornwall with 12 or so of his pals outside a couple of log cabins they hired for the weekend. Then the pages went back in time to the day he was born. They all loved it. I had to send the first page on to him.

Time spent like this with your boys is so precious.:)

[treeboy]

very nice family bonding experience there mate.

[LazySod]

Great pix as ever Kepis, looks like a great day out.

[SimonM]

Looks like a cracking day out for everyone.

thanks for taking the time to share.

Simon

[Leon]

Looks like a lovely time to be out.

Primrose is out here too. No better way to spend a spring day than in the woods with yer lads..

[spiritofold]

Nice one :)
Those boys will grow up with happy memories....

[JP]

Wicked mate, good to see the boys out having some bushy fun ;)

[wolf_diver]

Looked like a great day, thanks for the look.

Jay

[HedgeComber]

Great pics and lucky lads

[Kepis]

Cheers all, the boys really enjoyed their day out, but were a little disappointed to leave early, still as Spam said, better to leave and be safe.

[the quixotic man]

very nice pictures and nice to see the family getting on so nicely in the woods, keep up the good work.