Around 6 months have passed since my last camp at the trusty old Bushcraft Forest, It’s been on my mind a lot recently and it was definitely time for a return. One of the main reasons why I’d been giving it a miss was the increase in traffic, I’ve seen lots more videos and pictures being shared from the BCF so it felt like it was time to steer clear for a while. I mentioned in a previous video that people have been camping up at the forest for years, we are by no means the first to discover it’s beauty.
Since we began posting videos and pictures from there over a decade ago many people have wanted to experience the beauty for themselves. I totally understand why, it’s such a great place with stunning views, the only thing it lacks is a water source… Sadly, with that increased traffic there has been an increase in litter. As is usually the case, the minority always tend to spoil it for the rest of us… So, armed with lots of spare bin bags we headed up there to spend a night around the fire.
I was very happy to discover that my fears were unfounded, when I arrived up at our beloved BCF the place was looking good. Not so much as a twig out of place 🙂 haha. I’d focused so much in the early part of this year on the negatives that the positives had almost been forgotten.
As is usually the case I tend to forget one item, this time it was the memory card for my DJI Phantom 4. The trip was a very last minute idea and I’d finished work at 15:00 to race home to frantically pack my kit. Thankfully my girlfriend came to the rescue, she dropped of that vital piece of equipment and I was able to capture the footage that you can see in the opening sequence to the video. I was very lucky with the weather conditions and managed to capture the light of golden hour. The music I use in the video is a quick remix I did of a song by Yvonne Fair called “Stay a little longer”. You can hear my version below or you can check out the original over on YouTube at https://youtu.be/CHl2GUis4WM. All I’ve done is chop the first part of the song up a little, add some reverb, a sub bass and then a nice break to it.
Back in the forest I hurriedly pitched my DD Hammock before the light faded, as always I was using it in combination with my Terra Nova Adventure 2 Tarp.
Another great thing about returning to the forest was that our old friend Stevo was joining us. For those who have followed the website or watched my videos for any length of time will recognised Stevo. Once he had arrived and got set up it was time to kick back and relax around the fire for food, fine wines, ales and chat 🙂
We have definitely seen the back of summer as the night time temperature dropped pretty low, I used a 2 sleeping bag combination which meant I was toasty warm. The DD Hammock was a great investment and I just wish I’d bought one sooner. We’d been sleeping in our Bivvys aka “Ground Dwelling” for many years and sleeping in a hammock was revolutionary. I don’t think it’s possible to have a better nights sleep while out in the wilds 🙂
Morning arrived and we were greeted by mist, I’d set my alarm for 15 minutes before sunrise as I usually do but decided to go back to sleep when I saw the thick clouds above. It’s always worth a try to capture a sunrise from the cliff edge.
As is always the way we all had commitments later in the day so couldn’t hang around, we packed away making sure we left no trace of our time there. I always enjoy the walk back down to the village and most of us managed to make it down unscathed, Ray however did the best comedy fall I’ve ever seen which you can see in Jay’s video 🙂 haha. Thanks for reading, watching, listening and I’ll see you all again very soon.
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All music by Dean Read. Footage shot with a Canon 7D with a 17-40mm lens, a DJI Phantom 4, an iPhone 6 Plus and it was edited in iMovie.
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