Red Rise

Today was a learning day; the lesson humility.  The forest was lovely, clouds threw dramatic shadows over wood and heath as they periodically allowed bright swathes of light through before returning to somber shade. I was well equipped or so I thought; full survival gear, resources, tools, my ghillie for a hot chocolate, all good, because I know my shit.  

So we made our way amongst the stands, picking more Ceps as we went, collecting some browning bracken and kindling as we travelled to create a tinder ball and fire for the ghillie later. A few miles on we stopped by a stream, the Sun was out and illuminated a gavel bank, lovely, a perfect place to boil up.  It was now my lesson in humility and over confidence began.  I chose the wrong place to try and light the tinder; too windy. I hadn't checked I had the right tinder or that it was correctly prepared, and try as I might I couldn't get the tinder I had lit. I carried no back up all weather tinder. I neglected to ensure I carried alternative fire lighting gear; matches or a lighter. My frustration at not getting the tinder lit had meant I'd neglected to notice I wasn't using my striker right to maximize the sparks. Before all this I'd got my mug and stuff out, another mistake, too soon. Norris came out of the stream and shook water over everything.  At which point frustration led to me lose focus and I found myself thinking 'sod it, I'll go without'; then I reminded myself that if I were really trying to survive 'sod it' would not be an option. So, I started again. I moved, I better prepared the tinder I had, I started using my striker correctly, I got focus and I got the tinder lit and the water boiled, although half the water was wasted in cleaning, in order to avoid any chance of contamination from the stream water.

A task that would/should have normally taken me, with ease, under 5 mins, turned into a frustrating 20 min plus chore. Why? Because I'd become complacent, slap dash, not kept up my practice, not noticed that my kit was incomplete and I had not packed contingency equipment.  I'd become too cocky and a lesson in humility was required; nature is a good teacher and the forest the perfect classroom.