Lakeland Bushcraft » Shelter

Being outdoors boosts mental health

wildelycreative — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 12:09:06 +0000

Being outdoors is good for you. Something we bushcrafters already know. But growing scientific evidence is pointing to substantial mental health benefits.

The latest analysis shows the first five minutes of any outdoor activity in nature led to substantial improvements in mental health indicators.

Jules Pretty of the University of Essex: “You get a very substantial benefit from the first five minutes. We should be encouraging people in busy and stressed environments to get outside regularly, even for short bits of time.”

So this summer, take a mental health break and go camping.

Perfect for two the Nanok Arxcis Duo Tent has ample room for gear too. Quick and easy to pitch it’s also possible to use only the flysheet saving weight when strapping it to your back.

For a bit extra room, the Nanok Domus Trio Tent has a large vestibule that can be opend by means of an extra zip along the vestibule pole sleeve.

Or for the truly adventurous and the chance to experience nature up close and personal, why not try a WebTex Basha? In olive green or DPM to blend into the background, nine reinforced loops and brass eyelets at centre and corners this truly is a versatile and lightweight shelter option.

Preserve your mental health, get outdoors this summer with Lakeland Bushcraft. For more great camping products, check out the store.

Related posts:

Bushcrafting in November

wildelycreative — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:56:58 +0000

wildelycreative got Out and About last weekend with her new tarp and bivvi – seems like there’s no stopping her now! This post was originally published on her blog.

I went camping last weekend – a bit cold in November you might think, but I wanted to practice the bushcraft knowledge I’ve been learning at Natural Pathways.

And do you know what, I wasn’t a bit cold living out in the woods!

The answer really lay in a good camp set up. Using just a tarp, a bivvi bag, a pile of leaves for a mattress and my trusty fire steel in about an hour I had my shelter ready and a pot of water on for a cuppa.

Setting the tarp up so it caught the heat and reflected it around my sleeping area made me very toasty indeed. I could have made it even more efficient by building a reflector to bounce the heat back at me, but I thought that was overkill considering the warmth of the November evening.

We’d hiked to our chosen woods, up hill and down dale. We’d watched a huge Red Kite circling above a field of sheep looking out for a tasty snack! We’d seen a kestrel and a crow dive bombing each other – not for food, they seemed to be playing the way they were at it! We chomped on sweet rosehips as we rambled along, enjoying the crisp air and letting the green world around us soak into our souls.

As we entered the woods we startled a deer that leapt off into the undergrowth away from us noisy humans. We stopped at the pond to check it out and see if it could provide our water for the duration. Many oxygenating plants suggested it might be a good source but we boiled the water anyway, just to make sure. There are so many pollutants on our land and in our rivers great care must be taken when choosing a water source. You can read more about that here.

This is the first time I’d made camp outside the safety of the Natural Pathways wood but the knowledge I’ve gained went a long way to keeping me very warm and comfortable.

Catches and holds a spark - perfect fire lighting material

Collecting firewood I concentrated on hot, slow burners like ash and spiny oak, and banking the fire when going to sleep meant there were still a couple of tiny embers in the morning. We got the fire going with strips of birch bark and a spark from the fire steel. It would have been just as easy to use King Alfred Cake fungus to get the glowing ember needed to set the kindling off.

En route to the woods we’d found some puffballs (sorry, no pictures!). Very easy to mistake puffballs for earthballs and not one you want to make if you want to stay healthy! Foraging for fungi is almost as mesmerising as searching for fossils.

A WORD OF CAUTION: Go with someone who knows what they are doing – life is too precious to make a mistake and it’s so easy to do where fungi is concerned.

You'd never know we'd been

When we broke camp we completed the most important task of all. “There’s something sacred about it,” my friend commented. And she’s right. Leaving only footprints and taking only memories (four puffballs and a bottle of pond water) is the only way to be completely respectful to nature.

On the way home, we found some parasol mushrooms that were delicious fried in a little butter. Nearby was a badger trail strewn with pillaged corn. They must love the yummy yellow grains, there were so many chomped ears of corn on the trail!

Parasols and pilfered corn!

But the highlight – and the true test (IMHO) of being comfortable outdoors – was the chocolate bananas for supper and breakfast. You can’t get a better breakfast outdoors than a chocolate banana, sticky and warm straight from the fire!

The next trip will be in February – to see what it’s like when it’s really cold.

It’s your turn now. Get outdoors, walk, hike, run, play, camp, sit, be. However you do it MAKE THAT CONNECTION TO NATURE.

Mother Earth is waiting for you.

Related posts:

Snugpak SF Bivvi Stands Up to October Downpour

wildelycreative — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:20:53 +0000

It's dry now - but wait till later!

I could hear people getting up, moving around camp. It was Saturday morning and the heavy rain of the day before had stopped some time during the night. Voices called as the fire team moved out to find some kindling. It’d be a tough job to get a fire going this morning after such a downpour.

Just a few minutes more. I rolled on to my side and snuggled down a bit further into my bivvi. It was the first time I’d slept in what is essentially waterproofs for a sleeping bag. I’d set up my basha the day before and decided to put my sleeping mats inside the bivvi.

Snugpak SF Bivvi

It was an easy job: Pull the bivvi out of the tiny stuff sack (6″x4″x3″), unroll and undo zip. The zipper goes to halfway down on the bivvi which made putting the mats and sleeping bag inside easy. There was plenty of room, even after I got in, to use it as a clothes store either side of the sleeping bag. Putting damp pants back on I wished I’d done that and had a dry set ready for morning. You can tell I’m a novice!

Ready for bed...

I was comfy, warm and slept deeply feeling well protected from the rain and wind. Like a teenager on a Monday morning I was reluctant to get out of bed. When I finally did drag myself out (easy and uncomplicated getting the sleeping bag and bivvi bag zips opened), I zipped the bivvi back up, pulled the locking drawstring and set out for the day knowing that whatever the weather I’d have a warm, dry and comfortable place to sleep tonight.

When we broke camp I just rolled the whole sleeping ensemble together. Carrying it like this I feel confident my sleeping bag and mats will still be dry when I come to get my head down. I use the stuff sack for my paracord and tarp ties.

Thanks to Lurch my whole way of living outside has changed. Now I feel much more connected to outdoors instead of being in the confines of a noisy (zzzrrrpppp) tent. In fact, you’d be hard pushed to get me in a tent now I’ve had the opportunity to try the Tatonka Tarp 2 Bazil and the Snugpak SF Bivvi. (Read more about the Tatonka Tarp 2 Bazil).

Verdict

To stay warm, dry and comfortable (ground choice dependent) with plenty of spare room for even bigger bodies you can’t go wrong with a Snugpak SF Bivvi. The covered half-way zipper is a great idea to make getting in and out that bit easier. The lockable drawstring fits with space around the hood of the sleeping bag and great for keeping the whole kit dry.

Related posts:

Tatonka Tarp 2 Bazil Review

wildelycreative — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:00:43 +0000

The very first time I went bushcrafting I slept in a debris shelter. Very warm and dry but a bit cramped for longer periods than two nights. Since then camping hasn’t held the same kind of fascination it once used to.

Often I’d leave the inner at home and sleep under the fly sheet on the bare earth. But even that wasn’t enough. I wanted to lose more weight (not off the body, that’s fine thanks). I figured the best thing to do would be to invest in a tarp and bivvi.

I went to Lurch for a bit of advice. As a novice it’s useful having a more experienced kit man available. He suggested the Tatonka Tarp 2 Bazil, the Snugpak SF Bivvi and of course, the ubiquitous paracord.

It's dry now - but wait till later!

This is me in the woods with all my kit for the weekend. The kit mats are standard closed cell foam (about 25 years ols) and the sleeping bag is not the smallest but it’s snug.

Now I’d seen on one of the forums that some people have had problems with the ridgeline eyelets for pulling the tarp taut. I can understand why. I didn’t feel confident tying them to the tree and suspect they are designed more for using with walking poles.

Ridgeline Eyelets look like they are designed to be used with poles

Having said that, even with the wind and rain over the weekend both eyelets held fast and didn’t tear as I expected them to. I would feel more confident if they had something more substantial at these two fixing points though.

The tarp is huge (technical specifications can be seen here).

Big enough for a family of four!

Easily big enough for four adults to squeeze under if set at the right height, or to be used as a kitchen tarp on a longer camp. But with just little ol’ me sleeping under there, there was a significant amount of space. Great for keeping my kit bag dry when the rain came down. And it did. Not just any old rain but lashings of the stuff like God forgot to water the plants and decided to give us an extra dosing. It poured down solidly for 7 hours.

Ready for bed...

When I got back to my basha I was very pleased to see that everything was still in place. My bivvi was dry, the ground was dry and sleeping under the tarp I felt comfortable and draught free. (Read more about the Snugpak SF Bivvi).

I’d set the tarp up with the West fully down to the ground with two small forked sticks, and with the East side raised slightly higher. This meant I could use two of the bright orange cords to bring the ridgeline to tension and the other two to fix the East facing corners.

Strong and strudy corner eyelets

Corner eyelets are strong and sturdy but using bright orange cord bothered me. I understand they are made to be seen and not be a trip hazard but I wanted a bit more “blend”. I shall have to invest in more cordage.

Verdict

This is a perfect beginner’s tarp which would also stand up to more rigorous testing by experienced hammockers/bivouacers. It’s light enough (0.9kg) and small enough (I can fit it into the side pocket of my kit bag) to have as a standby when going out for a day hike, just in case.

It’s strong enough and stable enough to stand up to the very worst of the English weather – God bless the rain. And at £44.95 it isn’t too hard on the pocket either.

The Tatonka Tarp 2 Bazil has changed the way I will spend my time outdoors for a long time to come. In short, I’m one happy bunny! Anyone want to buy a second hand tent?

Related posts:

TGO Recommends Nanok ArxcisDuo Tent

Lurch — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:28:57 +0000

Nano ArxcisDuo

TGO magazine awarded the Nanok Arxcis Duo a “TGO Recommends” in their recent two man tent review as reproduced below!

TECHNICAL SPEC
Design: dome
Flysheet: 30D silicone ripstop nylon
Inner: 30D ripstop nylon
Groundsheet: 100D PU-coated nylon
Poles: DAC Featherlite, packed length 17.5cm
Pegs: 25 x 18.5cm alloy pins weighing 15 grams each
Porches: 1
Pitching: as unit
Dimensions: inner 210 x 120cm, height 112cm, porches 100cm deep
Maker’s weight: 3375g
Tested weight: 3560g
Likes: space, headroom, stable, large porches
Dislikes: quite heavy

This is a very roomy crossover pole dome tent with excellent headroom and big porches. Crossover pole domes can be wobbly in strong winds but double guylines on each pole prevent wobbles in the ArxcisDuo.

I had it pitched in some very strong winds and it withstood them well. The tent is easy to pitch – though care is needed to get the poles in the right sleeves as one is longer than the other and they’re not colour coded.

The tent is freestanding – Nanok say only four pegs are needed, presumably just to stop it blowing away. They provide 25 fairly hefty pegs anyway, but even with all the guylines pegged out I only used 18. As well as the six on the pole sleeves there are guylines on the hoods above each door. These are not that useful – tighten them and the hoods deform.

Ventilation is excellent with mesh vents above each flysheet door covered by huge hoods and circular low ones at each end. All the vents can be closed from inside. The flysheet doors can be left unzipped at the top for even more ventilation, while in good weather they can be zipped out completely for excellent views and access. The inner tent has mesh and solid fabric doors, with the latter on the inside.

For the space the ArxcisDuo isn’t heavy but it does weigh more than smaller two person tents.

Related posts:

Backyard Bushcraft

Lurch — Sun, 31 May 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Everybody needs somewhere to relax. This is my wee garden chillax zone.

Chillax in a Hammock

Related posts:

Keeping The Mountain Top Chef Toasty

Lurch — Mon, 11 May 2009 08:34:00 +0000

Lakeland Bushcraft are happy to have provided Dan from Simply Good Taste with a Nanok Endurance SF sleeping bag to keep him warm on the cool spring nights as he helps man the Skiddaw Hut Cafe this coming weekend.

Nanok Endurance SF

The Skiddaw Hut Cafe is opening on Jenkin Hill this weekend only as part of the Keswick Mountain Festival. The cafe asks for donations to The Calvert Trust.

Related posts:

At the Outdoors Show

Lurch — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:18:00 +0000

My hotel

Related posts:

3 Season Sleeping Bag

Lurch — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:28:00 +0000

Nanok Peak 3 Season Sleeping Bag

I have a load of 3 season (0C to +20C) sleeping bags made by Nanok for Tiso.

In the shop now for £35.

Bloody bargain given that Tiso are asking £50 for these!

Related posts:

Nanok Domus Duo Tent

Lurch — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:39:00 +0000

We've got some in the slate grey colour

Just taken delivery of some Nanok Domus Duo tents in a post of slate grey colour.

One has gone into my pickup for ‘extended trials’!

These are quite pricey normally but they’ll be going at bargain price.

Related posts: