cambrianmike

09:16 pm: Countdown to Canoe Fun!
Almost single figures for the number of days before I head off for the remote Tobeatic Wilderness area of Nova  Scotia, and to say I am excited would be an understatement!  Plans have been made, tickets bought, canoes chosen and family commitments re-arranged.  I am thinking about starting yoga too in preparation for the rigours of the trip, after tweaking my back.  Its the one thing you really have to take care of, especially where there are portages (or carrying the canoe) involved.  My good friend Jim Todd and his friends are coming along for the ride too, and as experts in this area, have promised to take us even further from civilisation, if that is at all possible!

I am in two minds about which camera to take.  Last year we had some decent photos from a little digital Coolpix but am considering taking the Nikon because it undoubtedly does the job better but its all a question of weight. Decisions, decisions!  Whichever I decide to take, you will be able to see the results on here.

Fingers crossed all the pesky black fly have gone too!

07:43 pm: Summer Holidays
Greetings from all at Cambrian Survival.

The Great British Summer is upon us and soon children will be breaking up from school, many no doubt with little or no idea how to occupy themselves.  Here at Cambrian Survival, we are doing our bit to educate and inspire the nation's future by running a course especially for families.  The activities are alI geared towards encouraging families to enjoy themselves outdoors and enjoy quality family time together.  I truly believe that if we can motivate, inspire and teach young children about the great outdoors, we will be setting them on course to develop a life long passion for it.

It's always fun to watch children on these courses - they are like sponges when it comes to learning, soaking up effortlessly the things we teach them.  Their natural inquisitiveness and fascination make them the most lively of all our students.   In fact, it's often the parents who struggle to keep up with their boundless enthusiasm and sheer 'go'. The delight on their faces is such a pleasure to witness.  In fact the more disgusting, squishy or strange the activity, the better they seem to like it.

Also coming up on our horizon is our annual canoe expedition to Canada.  This is truly an epic adventure, as we disappear deep into the Canadian wilderness.  Such has been the fascination will all things canoe that you will shortly be able to watch us build a 16ft Canadian canoe, built from Red Cedar.  This is the classic Canadian canoe and promises to be a thing of immense beauty.  Watch this space in the following weeks for more details on how we get on!

Until the next entry, I wish you all a safe and lively summer.

10:05 am: Fun at the South Wales Boat Show
The South Wales Boat Show in Margam Park is fast becoming a regular feature for Cambrian Survival, and this year was no exception. Despite gloomy weather forecasts, the weekend of 12 - 14 June proved to be one of glorious sunshine, and insect bites!  As ever, our aim at the show was to give people an insight into survival, with practical demonstrations which included the legendary insect eating competition, and friction firelighting. Both went down very well, with the insect eating being most popular with children and teenage boys for obvious reasons.

Friction firelighting is one of those demonstrations which can go one of two ways. When it works well, it is a dream to demonstrate, but if its damp or there are problems with the set, then you can look a complete beginner. Luckily, it all went well, and I am sure that at the end of the day, lots of people went home determined to try and rub two sticks together to create fire.

Both Judy and I were delighted by the interest shown in the Canadian Canoe Expedition to Nova Scotia, being run between 3rd and 17th October this year. We may have our oldest and conversely, our youngest canoeists ever on this trip :) 

10:13 pm: A Little bit of History

Did you know that Lime trees used to be used for making fishing nets or that spruce needles contain Vitamin C?  Or that you can drink the sap straight from Birch trees in early spring?  Or that leaves from certain tree species are good to eat in moderation right off the tree? 

 

An amazingly deep and diverse range of knowledge about Nature and how Man should use it for his own benefits has been accumulated over thousands of years.    And yet, in recent history that knowledge has started to fade from common knowledge, as our society has become increasingly urbanised.    By using this older knowledge you can make any day more interesting because it makes you think about how you can use something growing naturally for your own benefit, just as our recent and not so recent ancestors would have done.  By using this knowledge you can reconnect with the past, enjoy yourself and even save money!

A Few Facts About The Birch Tree

 The birch is one of the most common yet also one of the most useful of trees.  Some of the North American Indians used to say that “as long as the world stands, this tree shall be a protection and benefit to man.”  And so it has proved.  It can be used to make skis and provide an oil to wax them with, tan leather, as firewood, as tinder, for making furniture …...in fact, the list of uses that birch can be put to is extremely long and varied.  I have happy memories of being inside the Arctic Circle, painting birch oil onto birch skis and then 'soaking' it in by heating over a birch fire.   A truly amazing tree!

 

In early spring the bark can more easily be gathered and the range of articles it can be used for is truly staggering.  It has variously been used for cups, canoes, roofing, spoons, bowls, baskets and even as writing paper. There is not much else in Nature that is so incredibly versatile.

Again, in early spring, the sap can easily be tapped and drunk straight away.  It has a slightly sweet taste and is very refreshing.  For those who require slightly stronger sustenance and can wait a few months, fermenting the sap leads to Birch wine, apparently a favoured drink of Queen Victoria.  If you do drink the wine, you are in good company.  Birch wine has been drunk for at least 3000 years!

 

However, there is one area where birch excels above most other trees - firelighting.  The bark, when scraped into a fine powder, will light easily from a spark.  Thin strips of bark can then be lit, producing an oily smoke – an indication of the high concentrations of resinous oil naturally found within.  The smoke at this stage has a distinctive smell to it, not at all unpleasant and utterly unique.  

 
One other area of use is worth noting, especially if you're having problems with your leather boots or spotty skin.  Birch bark oil is good for treating both.  It can be made by heating strips of the bark in a container.  The oil found in the bark is 'sweated'out and can be collected in a smaller container placed underneath.  Detailed information can be gound by typing birch bar oil into any search engine.  It is said that this oil will never rot or mildew and is good for treating eczema. 

05:31 pm: FIRELIGHTING

If you're like me and have an open fireplace in your lounge, this time of year can be a great time to practice your firelighting skills.  There is nothing quite like a real fire for warming your house; even better if you can use it to heat your house's hot water as well.

Regardless of whether you burn coal, logs or waste wood, the fundamentals of fire lighting still apply.  You can practice just about any method you use outside to light your fire inside (although friction firelighting might be best suited outside because of the smoke it generates!).  So why wait?  Here are just a few ideas to get you going in the right direction.

1. Cotton wool and a flint and steel 
Surely one of the easiest ways to light a fire.  A small blob of cotton wool is lit from sparks produced from a flint and steel.  If you want the cotton wool to burn MUCH longer, just try smearing some vaseline on it.  See how small a blob of cotton wool you need.  The more skilled you are, the less you need.

2. Antifreeze and Potassium Permanganate
Although it is becoming increasingly difficult to get hold of in this day and age, this is another very straight forward way to amaze your friends and light a fire.  A small amount of PP is loosely wrapped in some newspaper.  Add only several drops of antifreeze to the PP and then rewrap the newspaper and place it in position.  After a short delay, this will burn with an intense heat.  Now, here's the fun part.  There are a whole heap of things in the house that MAY work.  The magic ingredient they have to have is glycol or glycerin.  This includes toothpaste, food dyes and some hand creams.  If they contain glycerin, you will get a chemical reaction.  However, it is the percentage inside the product that determines whether you get fire.  Try it and see.  Minty fumes are surely one of the bizarrest preludes to a fire you will ever have.

3. Batteries, Magnesium Shavings and some wire.
One of the best survival bits of kit bar none - a magnesium block with flint striker.  Fine shavings (the finer the better) are placed on a scrap of newspaper.  Take one or two batteries (AA or AAA) and two bits of insulated wire.  Join one end of each bit of wire to the different terminals and then join the other ends together in the pile of magnesium shavings, thereby completing the circuit.  Easy in theory but not quite so easy in practice, especially when using two batteries - you have to be quite dextrous to achieve success.  However, it does work and is definitely worth practising.  We've even lit a fire using just one AAA battery!

4. Feather Sticks
Undoubtedly one of the best skills to practice because it is just such a good way to light a fire, especially when the outer wood or bark is wet.  Your stick wants to be straight and ideally elbow to finger tip in length.  Carefully use your knife to create 'curls' by running it down the stick.  Try and keep all the curls on the stick and keep them as curly as possible.  It can't be stressed enough just how important a skill to acquire this is.  Watch out for a tutorial on this coming up in the next few days.

TOP TIP - lighting your tinder is one thing.  Getting that to light you fire is another.  ALWAYS grade your kindling according to this list and you should not have any problems.  Remember to let each stage become established before adding the next stage.
 

1. matchstick thin
2. pencil thick
3. little finger thick
4. thumb thick
5. wrist thick

Anyway, best of luck and keep experimenting and keep practising.  Above all, DO IT SAFELY!

01:58 pm: Happy New Year
A very Happy New Year to one and all.  in the words of John Lennon, "Let's hope it's a good one."

After years of inadequate computer skills, I've read some really great blogs on the web recently.  Well, that's prompted me to set 'blogging' as a New Year's resolution.  So, Cambrian Mike's blog will be an opportunity for you to read about everything we get up through the year.  That way, you can follow us through the seasons of the year, learn about some of the things we get up to and hopefully see some great photos of the truly beautiful and impressive Welsh countryside.  You'll also be able to take a virtual trip with us into some of the most magnificent wilderness in Eastern Canada, when we undertake our Canadian Canoe Expedition to Nova Scotia in October.
 
I'm also going to be posting a few 'how to's' on some of the things we do.  This will include making a canoe - we are going to make one from scratch very shortly.  Other postings will include making a bed mat from Bamboo, a few hints and tips on knife/axe sharpening and who knows what else!

We start our courses for the year very soon - always a fun time as kit is checked and updated - so the updates to this blog will reflect what we've been up to.  We shall also be running a couple of courses at CAT - the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth, mid Wales - this year.  If you've never been, go!  It's not only a really great day out but incredibly educational.  I always come away with a mountain of ideas.

So, to all reading this, you are welcome to pull up a vitual sandbag any time you like and join in with all the team and students at Cambrian Survival as we practise, teach and learn throughout the year. 

Iechyd Da

(that's Good Health in case you don't speak Welsh!)

05:13 pm: Back in the Saddle !
First survival course of the season is almost on us and the excitement in the office is palpable.  It's been raining like crazy which means that most of the woodlands and forestry is bit 'damp under foot'.  We have put in a request for nice weather, but not too sure that the weather gods will grant this request !  

The team are also going to look at some new woodlands, which will mean umpteen stops on the way for a brew :) 

We will also have a possible new recruit with us, so the brew making chores will be all his.  he he he.