A blog article written by Aspirant Instructor Tom Seward about his experience on the Heroes of Telemark Expedition earlier this year:
Earlier this year I was lucky enough to attend the 2019 Heroes of Telemark course in Norway.
I wanted to take part in this course to start to learn about the cold environment, cross country skiing and to learn more about the amazing story of the men of Grouse team and what they went through in 1943.
We have received this lovely post from Rupert Brown of Brown’s Bushcraft who tells us the story of The Brown Filter Bags:
My name is Rupert Brown founder and owner of Brown’s Bushcraft based in the South West of France. In addition to teaching bushcraft I am also the creator of The Brown filter bag. Along with many bushcrafters, I used Millbank bags for coarse water filtration and recommended these to students on my courses. The Millbank bag was used by the British military worldwide since the 1940’s. It was issued to every soldier along with chlorine tablets to provide a simple and effective means of treating dirty water. Millbank bags used to be readily available from army surplus stores. But when the army stopped using Millbank bags some years ago, they became more and more difficult to come by.
The original millbank bag
With the upcoming course season celebrating our 35th anniversary, the Woodlore field team assembled to share tales of adventures over the winter and maintain skills and knowledge in preparation for a very exciting year, with Ray leading a selection of time-honoured courses.
Fundamental Bushcraft with Ray Mears
Woodlore Aspirant Instructor and Quartermaster David Southey recently enjoyed some well-earned downtime following his trip to Finland, assisting Ray on the Woodlore Winter Bushcraft in the Northen Forest Expedition and before the busy course season gets underway in April.
Winter Bushcraft in the Northern Forest
Ray has been interviewed by several newspapers, magazines and radio presenters over the past few months as we are celebrating Woodlore’s 35th Anniversary.
Ray Mears
Our final instalment from Senior Assistant Callum Hilder, of his recent solo trip to the Cairngorm National Park:
So lunch over and a chill coming over me from sitting down I move on. As I continue around the base of the Forest of Mar I can see woodland in the distance. After a short while I cross the Lin of Dee river and see numerous signs stating ‘no fires’, quite rightly as it is very dry and the vegetation let alone the peaty ground is perfect tinder, sadly though I come across a ring of stones with a large old fire inside. This really spoils the countryside and I am so very glad that I have been taught to leave no trace wherever I camp!
Fire remains
Our second instalment from Senior Assistant Callum Hilder, of his recent solo trip to the Cairngorm National Park:
As I wake (a little late!) to the sun glowing through the walls of my tent, I climb out of my sleeping bag and have a simple breakfast by the side of the river – even more majestic in the dawn sunlight.
Tent in the morning
