The woods were dark and I was snuggled up in my sleeping bag. All was quiet and I started to drift off into the Land of Nod. Still, your senses are are on high alert in this situation. You think you hear small noises, maybe distant voices or was that just my brain trying to make something intelligible out of randomness. Like seeing faces in clouds. It’s just noise anyway, no big deal. Until, close by, a loud piercing bark rings through the night. For a second your adrenaline explodes and so does your heart and head. Four letter words come to mind, then another bark, like a dog that’s had it’s vocal chords shredded with broken glass! My conscious mind came to the rescue, I knew deer made this type of sound when they are calling to others. My heart dropped back into my chest and I listened for several minutes as it slowly wandered off and all was quiet again. I hoped it wouldn’t return. It took some time to settle down again but sleep eventually came.

I woke around two am needing a pee. You can’t ignore that so had to get out of my warm bag into the cold so I was wide awake again. Eventually the Sandman sprinkled his dust but it was not what I wanted. The hypnogogic dream state I’ve experienced before came. You feel like you’re awake and it seems so real. Voices outside the tent, someone trying to get in through the roof, you feel under attack. Bizarrely I recognised it as such, shouting at them to clear off (or words to that effect) and I told myself to wake up, it worked once before but not this time. I woke again around five am, it was getting light and some birds were singing. Too early to get up in the frost so I laid there. Knowing that day was coming and the terrors of the night were gone, I relaxed and fell into deep sleep and didn’t wake until 7.30. Later than I do at home! Phew, I made it. It’s such a wonderful feeling to step out into the sunny glade, hearing and seeing the little birds while you light a fire and make a nice coffee followed by a cooked breakfast. You truly feel alive and that’s what makes it all worthwhile.

One of my woodland neighbours turned up to collect some logs and we had a good catch-up. Most of the morning was spent packing all my gear away again. I did a few more jobs and had a wander around taking some photos. I spotted this beauty sunning itself, probably newly hatched. Not seen many blue butterflies and wondered if it was rare. Somewhat disappointed to discover it’s a Common Blue. I think it needs renaming. It sounds so bland and insignificant, even derogatory. It doesn’t deserve that label.

I started the trip with trepidation but looking for answers. Can I hack cold weather camping and is my gear adequate? Yes I can and with a bit of tweaking my gear is good. Am I getting to old for tenting in the woods and is it worth it? Maybe I am but it’s definitely worth it. It’s the rest of the experience that makes it. Staying late, sitting around a campfire and waking up to the beauties of a woodland are priceless. Coping with some adversity successfully gives you strength and boosts your confidence. My comfort zone has stretched a little. Now that I’ve literally broken the ice, I shall plan more in the coming months.

Camping in the woods in temperatures dropping to freezing point and the word comfort do not seem to fit well together. They seem like polar opposites. I’ll explain. The pandemic situation has robbed us of much – time with loved ones and hugs, fun experiences, adventure and confidence. Living in lockdown has denied us much these everyday experiences. Building fear and anxiety into our subconscious, to the point where many of us are finding even simple things – taking a walk or popping into the shops, have become somewhat uncomfortable and challenging. Basically our comfort zones have shrunk massively and combined with a sense of inertia from doing very little outside our homes, it has started to take it’s toll on our confidence to go out into the world and be at ease with anything that might involve more than sitting at home on our comfy sofa, watching tv, doing household jobs, eating and sleeping. It’s time to fight back and reclaim our confidence. The only way to do that is to push ourselves beyond what we have become used to, face out fears and challenges and stretch that comfort zone. It might be small things – sitting outside a cafe with coffee and a friend. Having a look around a few shops. We need to practice living again, rather than existing in survival mode.

How about sleeping under a thin nylon tent in the middle of a forest in close to freezing conditions? Whaaat? Well that’s what I planned to do. Yes it’s pushing the boundaries of comfort to the point of silliness but I have really missed my mini adventures. I did no camping last year, even when lockdown was lifted. I just couldn’t face the challenge of planning and organising it all. I had only done one overnighter the year before and that was almost two years ago. Last year I bought a new tent, one that should cope with the condensation in cold weather. I wanted to try camping in the lower temperatures we get in early Spring or Autumn, try out a new four season sleeping bag but I didn’t get the chance. If I didn’t try it now, the opportunity would be lost for six month. I was starting to question whether the whole idea of sleeping in the woods for me was still worth the hassle. It was time to face my fears and go for it. There were several unknowns to face on top of the general feelings of angst from the pandemic and the normal, primeval fear of sleeping in the wild, that is built into our ancestral subconscious. Yes comfort and wild camping are at odds but that is what bushcraft is all about. It is not about “roughing it” it’s about “smoothing it”. Learning to provide yourself with some comfort in a hostile environment and proving it to yourself that you can do it. With that comes confidence.

The day started well, the forecast was dry but cold. I spent half the morning clearing the area and setting up the tent and sleeping equipment. You need plenty of ground insulation between you and the earth. Ground upwards was a groundsheet to protect the built-in one from sharp objects, a picnic rug, inflatable mattress, sleeping bag. The tent has no frame or poles, it’s basically a fine mesh inner tent (to allow free flow of air to clear condensation) and a tarp sheet over the top to protect from wind and rain.

The woods are looking gorgeous right now, the floor carpeted with Wood Anemones and Bluebells and some of the trees starting to leaf up. I was starting to relax into it again. Did a few jobs, lit a fire and cooked my evening meal of my own recipe of veggie curry. More like a curry flavoured rissotto and using my cast iron dutch oven which I absolutely love, suspended on the beautiful steel tripod that my pal Simon helped me to forge. Having good kit is a joy to use.

A short evening walk around some of the rides. Then settle down in front of the fire with a couple of glasses of red wine, watching woodland tv (the only channel and no adverts!) The day slowly withdrew, the half moon rose, birds stopped calling and the woodland gave way to the darkness of night. I was alone. Will I be warm and comfortable enough, will I find any decent sleep, will I have nightmares like I’ve had before? I wasn’t too nervous though, I felt reasonably well prepared. Worst case scenario was to jump in the car and head home but that was the absolute last resort. I turned in early and settled into my sleeping back. See part two for what happened next………..

I absolutely love Spring when it really starts to kick in. A symbol of new growth when everything is fresh and bursting with life. I have loved it since I was a child. I didn’t know anything about nature or the tilting of the earth on it’s axis as it orbited the sun. I did notice that when the light of day got longer, the weather warmed up, plants started to grow and there was lot’s more birdsong. It meant playing out longer at night with my mates. New colours, smells and sounds that had been missing for months and bees and other insects were present again. It filled me with a quiet sense of excitement. My little world came more alive somehow and I knew there was lots more to come for the next few months. Even as a small child I took a keen interest in these things. Not in a way that I do now where I like to identify the species but in that innocent way that a child looks at life – to simply watch, observe and marvel.

When I visit my woods, I can regain that feeling. I put food out for the birds and just sit and watch their antics and enjoy the beauty of these tiny feathered creatures who have mastered the facility of flight. No less amazing are the trees and plants that withdraw their energies from the outside world when the days shorten and the temperatures drop, then re-emerge with new growth transforming the landscape. I spend time just walking slowly, standing, sitting, looking, listening, smelling. Taking it all in with that sense of wonder and joy. This time of year, I treasure as the best time.

Yesterday the weather was weird. I passed through a sleet storm then back out into sunshine. Mid morning came a short but intense fall of small round snow balls, like hail but softer and gentle. I had lot’s to do, collecting logs to take home, chopping some of the newly felled ones and repairing my composting toilet enclosure that had rotted and collapsed under the winter snow. Chopping logs is hard work, especially on your back. Chopping a single log into four or six pieces and stacking them involves bending and picking at least the same number of times. Multiply that action by the number of logs you chop in one session and you have a lot of bending to do. Still it’s very satisfying when you see the results.

As you know I am interested in bushcraft – the skills of utilising what nature provides to enable us to survive in the wild. Foraging and cooking wild plants is one of the main aspects and a favourite amongst bushcrafters is making teas with them. Nettle tea is a popular one. The plant is easy to identify properly (essential) and it has various health benefits. It’s supposed to help reduce inflammation and is a mild diuretic to flush out toxins. I have been meaning to try it for a few years but keep missing the opportunity. It is best when the nettles are young and tender, you pick just the tops then boil them up for a few minutes. I had no idea what they tasted of and I decided now is a good time to try it. I imagined it might be quite bitter. No it’s not. The aroma and flavour is very mild and vaguely reminds me of something but not any plant based drink I could think of. All I can say (and this is a bit weird) is it reminded me of the smell of freshly ironed cotton. The smell I remembered from childhood when Mum did her ironing before we used fabric conditioners. It was pleasant to drink and somewhat comforting. I’ll drink it again for sure.

The birdsong in the morning was amazing. I am also interested in making experimental music and one of the things I like to play with are field recordings. That is sounds that we hear around us that are not created specifically for listening to but sounds that occur either naturally (as in birdsong) or by machinery for example. I took my little recorder and plugged in my earphones to monitor the sounds. It worked like a super sensitive amplifier and the amount and volume of different bird calls was stunning. I could identify robin, wren, chiffchaff, song thrush, nuthatch, bluetit, great tit just for starters. It was an avian orchestra. Here’s a snippet. I couldn’t add just the sound file here so uploaded it to my music website, hence the odd and unrelated picture.

What a great day, hope you can catch even a small flavour of spring in the woods and am glad I can share it. Go out if you can and find some woodland and switch on your senses, this is the best time of year to do it.

It’s been an odd and at times stressful week. My car was in for service and repairs and it cost me an arm and a leg to sort it out. When I went to to it to drive to the woods yesterday, the battery (a new one) was completely flat. I must have left the internal light on or something. I had arranged to meet my pal at the woods to spend the day together and as he doesn’t use a mobile phone, I couldn’t cancel but fortunately I was able to borrow my wife’s car. When I arrived we had something of a drama to deal with and so the day got of to a rocky start. I’d tried to think of what I needed to take, am usually well prepared but the car saga threw me out of sync and I forgot to bring my boots and a few other things. We did a bit of work shifting the remaining felled logs. It was very cold but woodland comfort was soon under way. A mole had left a big pile of soil in my fireplace – of all the places to tunnel! We cleaned it out and soon had a nice fire going and a brew.

It was nice to have a visitor to share the day with – the first since lockdown. The help shifting logs was welcome but that was as much work as we did. We spent time chatting and discussing plans for repairing or replacing my rotting shelter. I need to give it a lot of thought before tackling it. It’s only lasted two years due to insects and rot damaging the roof timbers. The next one will need to be good for ten years at least.

The Wood Anemones are fabulous now and the first few bluebells are open. The next few weeks will see some amazing transformations as Spring gets under way. Not much else to report, hoping to camp out for a night before long.