Woodlore Canoeing in the Ardeche course

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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.

Cleints canoeing in the Ardeche

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.

Woodlore Announce the 2012 Winter Expedition Dates

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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

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.

Crusader Cup hanger modifications

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Woodlore customer Paul Savoie kindly sent in the following article and photos:

Dear Woodlore,

Over the past two years I have purchased most of Ray’s DVDs from a local Canadian supplier; I noted that Ray always seems to have his NATO Crusader Cup with him. Shown below are a few photos illustrating some of the modifications I have made to the BCB Crusader Kit. I found the “clip-on” BCB Crusader Cup Hanger to be a rather precarious arrangement and an accident waiting to happen when handling boiling water over an open fire.

I made a new hanger using 3 mm (1/8 inch) diameter 304 grade stainless steel wire with corresponding modifications to the Crusader Cup and lid. The notches on the cup’s rim/lip keeps the wire hanger upright and very secure (see photos below):

Paul's custom-made wire cup hanger
Paul’s custom-made wire cup hanger

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Limited-edition Ray Mears Explorer Map giveaway

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At the beginning of 2011, Ray gave two talks at the ExCel Centre in London as part of The Outdoors Show. To coincide with this appearance, the Ordnance Survey group produced a limited run of Ray Mears Explorer Maps, covering an area of Britain of Ray’s choosing.

Ray chose the New Forest, a favourite area of his, and one which he visited as part of his latest Wild Britain series.

Limited-edition Ray Mears OS Explorer Map - The New Forest

Limited-edition Ray Mears OS Explorer Map - The New Forest

Nearly all of these maps were given away to attendees of The Outdoors Show; however, we were able to get our hands on the last three! If you’d like to get hold of one of these maps, we’ll be giving them away with the next three purchases of the Silva Expedition 15TDCL Compass.

If you’d like to take us up on this offer, what you’ll need to do is e-mail us with your name and address. If you are one of the first three people to get in touch, we will reply with a confirmation to say that you can now go ahead and place your compass order, and your free map will simply be included in your parcel.

Update: Congratulations to Dave, Simon and Mark, who got in there first and nabbed the three remaining maps.

That coat saved my life!

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The following post was kindly sent in this past winter by Woodlore customer Chris Rusby:

The Swazi/Ray Mears Tahr Anorak

The Swazi/Ray Mears Tahr Anorak

Dear Ray Mears team, a little ditty for your day:

I recently purchased the excellent Swazi/Ray Mears Tahr Anorak and started to piece together a bare essentials bush-craft kit, after weeks of YouTube research. It all fits into a small satchel, plus, due to a forecast of 2 degrees, I took two sheep skins and a wool blanket in a water-proofed back pack.

The big day, I set off on an 18 km hike across a torrentially lashed, gale-force, foggy North Yorkshire Moors to an isolated woodland, where I was to rendezvous with a friend. Plans were flawed and this never came to pass, and after hours of EXHAUSTIVE searching for my friend in non-stop rain and wind in the dark, my self-preservation kicked in; tired, cold, drenched from the legs down and inexperienced (first time bush-crafter!) I set up a tarp/hammock camp and fire with the last of my strength. Everything then went well and I emerged bright and breezy the next morning. Sun-shine and everything!

It turns out my friend who came in a car (so I knew he would be OK) alerted Search and Rescue, but after my wife told them just HOW MUCH! Ray Mears I have been watching and that I had the Swazi coat they let me be. This all sounds irresponsible of me, and it was. I now have a deeply humbled view of nature and our fragile place on this planet. I thought this feeling, which Ray and others speak of, would slowly grow inside me as I made the transition from armchair bush-crafter, to hands-on practitioner, but it hit me in the face like a giant cosmic slap!

I guess this is kind of a confession and I do feel silly, but that coat saved my life! It was faultless in the most savior conditions! I’m humbled, inspired and cannot wait to get back into nature, I think I’ll drive next time!

On a serious note, I do understand the dangers, very, very much so.

Chris Rusby

Woodlore announce the 2012 UK course dates

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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

Fallow Deer

The new courses we are now offering include:

The existing courses still on offer for 2012 include:

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.

Nick Murphy’s Julius Pettersson Knife

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The following post was kindly sent in by Woodlore customer Nick, who purchased the Julius Pettersson Knife Blade:

Hello Woodlore,

Having a look at the blog I noticed that there were a few pictures of completed knives and I thought I would send in a couple of mine:

Nick Murphy's Julius Pettersson knife

Nick Murphy’s Julius Pettersson knife

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The Woodlore course season is underway!

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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

Shaping a wooden peg for a shave horse

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Gumnut Fire Stick Handles

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Richard Spencer, a Woodlore customer from Australia, kindly sent in the following post:

Dear Woodlore Team,

Having received the Fire Stick Rods from you, I had a bit of fun making handles for them:

Richard Spencer's Fire Stick

Richard Spencer's Fire Stick, complete with gumnut handle

I used spent gumnuts. These things lie in their countless millions on the ground, in the woods and on the side of the roads where the gumnut trees grow. You’ve probably heard of them. They’re light, they float and they’re very tough yet easy to work with few tools. I used one tiny flat file and a bit of sandpaper to make this handle. There’s a small brass picture hook for a lanyard.

The gumnuts contain seeds which drop out, leaving these tough, smooth shells, which just beg to be used for other things.

They can be stuffed with cotton wool and after a few drops of aromatic oil, they’ll keep the car smelling fresh. If you soak them in paraffin then fill them up with melted candle wax, they make great firelighters.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Spencer