If you’re thinking of joining us on our next Arctic Expedition, the following video will give you a good idea of what you could be getting up to next February:
Scenes from an Arctic Expedition with Lars Falt and Ray Mears
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Category Archives: Bushcraft Courses & Expeditions
Office bod on the loose
Woodlore’s Wilderness Navigation course
Office Team member Becky had some time out of the office in April to attend our Wilderness Navigation course. Here’s what Becky had to say about her experience;
“Back at the beginning of April I was let out of the office for a week (thanks boss) to attend the Woodlore Wilderness Navigation course. I like a bit of a ramble at the weekends as well as the odd longer distance walk but my understanding of the map and compass were at best basic before this course. I was a little nervous about camping out in the woods rustic style for a whole week (I haven’t slept under canvas for more than the odd night for about 20 years) but with help from the Woodlore Outdoor Team I settled to it very quickly.
Course Leader James (Woodlore’s very own Head of Ops) promised great weather – apparently that particular course is always blessed so I packed sunscreen as well as Ultrathon. For the first couple of days the sunscreen didn’t get a look in as we got to grips with the basics of Navigation sometimes in the rain, wind and drizzle and after dark too. The weather wasn’t all bad those first days as I do recall the sun on my face as I attempted to walk across a meadow blindfolded!
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How Woodlore’s First Aid Training paid off
Recently, Woodlore field staff member Adrian Newton e-mailed us to let us know that the first aid training provided to him by Jamie and his team at Fusion Medical Limited, during Woodlore’s Training Week, had really paid off.
Luckily the incident did not occur on one of our courses, but at Adrian’s place of work. It just goes to show, accidents can happen anywhere and you never know when you may need this life-saving training!
This is what Adrian had to say;
“Hi everyone in the office,
Hope everyone is well. I just wanted to pass on my thanks to Woodlore and Jamie for all the first aid training you have given us. I got to use it for real yesterday when a scaffold collapsed at work with a friend, Stewart on top of it.
Stewart fell twelve feet, hitting his head on the way down. I wasn’t the first person there and Stewart had been moved to a safer place away from the scaffold. He was conscious but had blood pouring from the back of his head. I got him to remain in the position I found him, sitting upright, keeping his head still. I was worried about a neck or back injury. He complained his back hurt but there was nowhere flat to lie him down. I stopped the bleeding with every bandage in the first aid kit. Standard kits for the workplace really are rubbish. There wasn’t even any surgical gloves let alone anything to support his neck.
The paramedics arrived and gave him a thorough examination. They put a brace around his neck and were happy enough to walk him off site. He was x-rayed at the hospital and had twelve staples in the cut. He’s back at work today. Damn! He’s got a hard head.
Thanks again to the company for organising the courses for us and if it’s at all possible, could you send my thanks to Jamie. It could have been a lot worse, but thanks to you guys I didn’t feel overwhelmed dealing with it.
See you all soon.”
If you are interested in attending a first aid training course, Woodlore, teamed with Fusion Medical Limited, have several excellent courses running, ranging from a 2-day to week long courses:
Woodlore’s Wilderness Emergency Medic Courses
All of our first aid courses are approved by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and provide you with a certificate. We include mainly scenario-based learning as, after many years of teaching experience, we find this is the best way to remember such vital information.
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Woodlore Canoeing in the Ardeche course
At this time of year, James Bath and Di Taylor from the Woodlore offices would normally be returning from France, after running our Canoeing in the Ardeche courses with canoe instructor Blue. However, after the major flooding of last year and the inconsistent water levels we ‘ve experienced for the past few years, we decided to run the course in September for this year.
We expect that in September the weather will still be excellent, but with lower water levels, so we’ll able to paddle every day! Furthermore, with the school summer holidays over, the river should be much quieter too. This year we have revamped the Ardeche course to include evening lectures to allow more time on the water.
We still have some places remaining for this year’s Canoeing in the Ardeche course in September, so please visit the website and book up if you are interested to avoid missing out on this fantastic experience.
Clients tackling rapids on the Ardeche river in France
We will be releasing the 2012 Canoeing in the Ardeche course dates later in the year.
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Woodlore Announce the 2012 Winter Expedition Dates
We are pleased to announce the release of Woodlore’s 2012 winter course dates and, after the release of our new UK courses for 2012, we couldn’t let the overseas courses go by without a new one too!
We are very excited to reveal a new course developed by Brian Desmond, our long term friend and colleague in Norway. The new course is called Nordic Intermediate Ski Touring, and to attend you need to have experience in Nordic Skiing, either with one of the existing Woodlore courses in Norway or similar. In addition to this new course, we will also be offering two Nordic Skiing courses in January/February and a Heroes of Telemark course in March. All of these courses will now be run Glyn Sheppard, the chief instructor at Brian’s training centre in Norway.
The striking scenery of Norway, where our skiing expeditions take place
In 2012 we will also be running our ever-popular Arctic Experience courses in February, led by Ray Mears and Lars Falt. If you are looking to attend a course with Ray Mears in 2012, the Arctic Experience will be a fantastic opportunity. If you are interested please book quickly as these places are bound to fill fast.
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Woodlore announce the 2012 UK course dates
We are pleased to announce the release of Woodlore’s UK course dates for 2012. These long-awaited dates include our usual range of bushcraft courses, as well as some new and exciting courses that have been in development this winter.
Fallow Deer
The new courses we are now offering include:
The existing courses still on offer for 2012 include:
- Camp Craft
- Family Bushcraft
- Fundamental Bushcraft course
- Traditional Living Skills
- Junior Expedition Skills
- Junior Fundamental Bushcraft
- The Journeyman
- First Aid & Medical Training
- UK Woodland Navigation
- Woodlore Tracking course
Please visit the Woodlore website or call the office on 01580 819668. for more details or to book. Please note that we will be releasing the 2012 overseas course dates at the end of May this year.
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The Woodlore course season is underway!
The 2011 UK bushcraft course season is now underway at Woodlore. This year’s season started off with two Fundamental Bushcraft courses, a Wilderness Navigation course and a Camp Craft course. All of the courses so far have been a great success and the weather has been fantastic; we haven’t had a drop of rain! So plenty of happy, tanned students around the campfire! It’s also been fantastic to see the field team back out in the woods again.
This week sees the start of the Introduction to Bushcraft courses over the Easter weekend, which is forecast for even more sun and higher temperatures.
Di and Steven from the office popped up to visit the Camp Craft course last week, where the groups were putting the finishing touches to their own shave horses, as well as working on other carving projects:
Shaping a wooden peg for a shave horse
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The last Woodlore course of the year
Last week saw Woodlore’s final course of the season take place – a Fundamental Bushcraft course run by Woodlore Fundamental Instructor Dan Hume:
It’s been a very busy and exciting year. I think we all felt the bite of autumn last week, preparing us for the coming winter. – Dan Hume.
The following feedback and photo were sent in by Krzys Lender, who attended the last Fundamental course:
Hi Folks,
Please find attached a couple of group photos from last week’s course. I’d like to say again what a great week it was and that Dan, Emma, Kevin and Nick were simply brilliant instructors who were patient, encouraging, motivating and inspirational. Thank you all so much!
I have booked a navigation skills course for next year so hope to see you all again.
FAO Emma – Just as you predicted, I found my cordage when I got home. It’s rubbish so I’m off out later to collect more nettles to make something better.
Regards,
Krzys
- The last Woodlore course of 2010
Here at Woodlore, we’re already getting prepared for and looking forward to the start of next year’s UK course season, which kicks off in April 2011. Hope to see you there!
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New Fundamental Bushcraft course photos
Tackling the bow drill method of fire lighting on the Fundamental Bushcraft course
A new photo gallery is now online showcasing just some of the goings-on from our Fundamental Bushcraft courses from 2009 to 2010, including fire lighting, shelter building and spoon carving techniques:
Fundamental Bushcraft Photo Gallery
Spaces on our 2011 Fundamental Bushcraft courses are now live on our website and available to book.
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New WEM2 first aid course photo gallery
An excellent selection of staff and student photos are now available to view in the Woodlore Photo Galleries area for the first ever Woodlore Wilderness First Aid course, which took place earlier this month. Be warned though, they’re not for the squeamish…
Woodlore instructor James Bath on the WEM2 course
The Ray Mears & Woodlore Bushcraft Blog 