Making Camp.

Some people have been asking me for ages to make skills videos, and in particular one on setting up a camp using an oil cloth as shelter. Well I finally got round to producing one. We have had rain for three days in a row here, and it is very wet. But today was sunny so I decided to set up the camp and make the video and get some still shots as well.



I did make one mistake though. I have made several fire lighting videos of late, and I forgot to replenish my tinderbox with more tinder, and I forgot to replace the dried grass kindling I have used! The consequence of that was that when I went to make fire for this “Making Camp” video, I found I was short of both!


Luckily I had found a disused bird’s nest lying on the ground, but it was a little damp. Anyway, at the last minute I decided to tip all the tinder I had in my tinderbox into the birds nest and make fire that way. It did work of course as I knew it would, but now I must remember to prepare some more tinder and find some more dry grass!

Please note the laying of the fire. There is nothing fancy here, no boy scout stick tipi. I put large piece/s of wood at one end to lay the kindling against, this stops the fire being crushed and smothered. I also lay sticks on the floor of the fireplace. You will note that the fire takes straight away and there is no problem with it going out. The large piece/s of wood at one end allow air to get at the fire.