I also found that humorously ironic. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Excellent pics. That's a nice looking piece of wilderness there. Very pretty. If I had to survive in the wood, that sure looks like a great spot. Thanks for sharing, especially with the great pics. BTW: You did excellent work on that log. I would have broken my saw or given up much sooner. <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for your words mate, made my day. Where I practiced is basically an extended backgarden of my parents. Indeed, very pretty. Can't wait to go back there in the summer to continue playing there.

that's a nice piece of forest you've got there, perfect for what you're doing. To they have in forest like that in the rest of the U.k?

I don't live in the UK but I was born in Scotland and have been back a few times for visits. Several years ago, I took a long walk from Tobermory to Calgary Bay (on the Isle of Mull) and much of the road went through woods, but it didn't feel like the woods in Nova Scotia where I grew up. I didn't know why until a few days later, when I went for a short walk around Tobermory which went through a very small wood, which was completely different - the smell of decaying wood and the sound of the birds brought back so many memories.

I think the first wood (which was very large) was a tree farm - it had a cultivated, "dead" feel to it. I suspect what made me uneasy was the lack of any birds.

In the days of William the Conqueror (1066 and all that) there were over a dozen "Royal Forests"; by the 1800's only a few of them still existed. The Forest of Dean owes its existence to Admiral Nelson, who was concerned about the elimination of oak trees to build naval vessels and lobbied the British Parliament to turn the Forest of Dean into a nursery for growing oaks. Of course, 60 years later, the ironclad was invented and the need for oak trees to build ships disappeared, but - like any good government sinecure - the mandate to grow oak trees remained on the books. Today, the forest is an ecological display piece, and they are working to restore it to its original form.

But by and large, most of the people in the UK simply don't understand the concept of getting "lost in the woods" because it's virtually impossible to do so. That may have changed; over the last 30 years or so, there has been a movement to try and replant ancient forests that had been cleared for farming and other purposes (often hundreds of years ago). But those efforts are still pretty much in their infancy, I'm pretty sure.

Couple of pics I would also like to share here of my recent trip to scotland. Enjoy!

It was great but
very cold first thing in the morning!!. The trip just concisted of a drop-off,
march from A to B where we would be picked-up again at the end.


dry run in the local forrest testing and checking equipment. `


equipment for the trip.


Our en suite, bit small but it made sure that we didnt get cold even
though, come morning, our maggots were frozen to the canvas.




Landscape


Dark pic of another night. During the day we hardly stopped. Thats we got cold.
When walking I was only wearing a vest and coat, with hydration pack of
frozen drinking water in between to melt.

We had little daylight so walked right into the dark hours
when in the mist sets in which made for interesting navigation!!
Luckily The military spec compass I carried allowed for
night navigation to be made easy. All In all was great trip
and cant wait to go to the Ardennes for the weekend during
in Febuary.

EDIT: Couple more pics:

Mug set of my traveling companion. His was superior to my BCB standard issue metal mug as it allowed to be hung from a stick aswell as being able to with pour it better and a perfect fitting lid (important!!).






landscape.

beautiful landscape!
I wish I had places like this for weekend trips.....

nice pictures. The food looks formiliar, from the Lidl isn't?

Yeah! I found a cute, traditional scottish shop called lidl. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> However I cannot recommend their pasta, however convinient... far too salty! Their shortbread OTOH <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

well i think the funghi one is pretty good. I don't eat them often, but that because i usually go solo (cooking thats is).

Do you actually carry a real roll of tape, or do you roll it around a plate piece of cardboard first? Looks pretty bulky. And toilet paper, with cardboard centre? You do remove them don't you? Or do you leave them that way to prevent your self from overloading?