stealth camping - the rules

Olympiad training ground?

The first rule of stealth camping is... well, there is no stealth camping. And if you're stealth camping and get discovered then you've obviously not been stealthy enough.

Here's my 'guidance' on how to be stealthy - or not.

Bushcrafters wear green and drab coloured clothing for a reason. Wearing a day glo red synthetic base layer isn't going to help. Unless you happen to be hunkering down in an azalea or rhododendron plantation in April.

Similarly the same goes for your shelter. A Vango Force Ten? Too large profile, and foot print. And even in an azalea or rhododendron plantation in April you'd be hard pressed to hide something that orange. Even a green coloured tarp might be too high a profile; how often do you see green pyramids in the woods when you take your dog for a walk?

Planning on taking a mate? Make sure that s/he isn't a prospective gold medal winner in the 2012 British Olympic Snoring team. Or for that matter, whether you're a similarly aspiring Olympiad.

Using the shelter of the woods is often a ploy of would be stealth campers. However the woods are home to a myriad of munchers that range in size, from the micro sized muncher such as the mosquito, to much larger munchers, badgers or foxes, that have been know to munch rucksacks to get at morsels of food. That said if you're ensconced with one of the above Olympiads chances are that their training will keep the larger munchers away. Sadly micro sized munchers like mosquito's are indiscriminate and will not be deterred by snoring however loud.

So you've found a spot just off the track and someone has helpfully built a lean-to out of rotten branches, and put a black spot on the soil marking the spot where you should light a fire, should you fancy one. Think again, it's probably a trap set by rangers or wardens. Or if not they will certainly know of the place, and so will everyone else.

There is no smoke without fire; avoid being the centre of an arson investigation, leave the stove at home. Whilst wood gas stoves like the Bush Buddy are really efficient, if you can't get really dry wood you'll have a lovely pall of smoke hanging over your camping spot. The equivalent of you putting a poster up on the trail side saying, "I'm in here, on the right, behind the huge thicket." And even if the smoke dissipates some vigilant passer by may get a whiff of it and come and investigate.

Dog walkers do take their dogs out for a walk before seven in the morning.

chilterns, walk for wildlife part two

Still some colour on the the trees

Saturday morning started with a lot of talk about gear. I had packed the Scarp1, and was kept busy answering a string of questions about the tent. This didn’t matter too much because the day’s mileage wasn’t going to be excessive, and we were expecting a few more to turn up. I also had a chance to chat with Grant about his Big Agnes bivi bag and Terra Nova tarp combo. The wind had given his set up a battering and we chatted about the ways that tarps can be pitched to withstand the elements. In this case the tarp wasn’t big enough to be pitched in my favoured bad weather configuration – the cave or pyramid. Not that it was crucial, as the Big Agnes he was using gave full protection to him and his kit.

It became clear that once we started to break camp, that black and grease Golite rucksacks were the most popular by far. In fact there were only two rucksacks that weren’t, out of a group of about twenty people.

Spot the Golite rucksack...

The Walk for Wildlife weekend is unique. The Warburg Nature Reserve allows the BPC to stay (exclusive to the club) and each attendee makes a donation towards the reserve. Better yet Anne has a sponsor who matches pound for pound what she raises.

And it was towards Warburg we walked. The previous week’s windy weather had stripped much of the leaves from the beech trees that the Chilterns are known for but there was still a burnished colour to the hills. The Chilterns are also known for Red Kites that were re-introduced very successfully here about twenty or so years ago. We hadn’t left the campsite when one of these most graceful creatures circled above our heads.

The route was a pleasant ramble through woodland and up and down hill, with the occasional trot along a valley. And there were plenty of Kites to see along the way.

Arriving late afternoon we found spots to pitch our tents between the trees. With foresight I could have packed my tarp and hammock instead of the Scarp1, next time for them then.

The quiet magic of the Reserve was shattered by the solitary chatter of someone’s radio, so I pointed out that we were on a nature reserve and myself and others wanted to enjoy the dusk as nature intended. With the radio off I cooked supper listening to robins, and then the owls as the light faded.

The nearest pub was two miles away but as I was feeling fit the four mile round trip didn’t deter. Besides what else was I going to do with the rest of the evening? So a bunch of us set off on mass, and returned a couple of hours later. After having convinced the locals that we weren’t mad for camping out at this time of year; it was for charity see.

The night passed with a sweeping soundtrack of foxes, owls, pheasants and other creatures calling out. At one point I had a dream that I was struggling to hang my food from a tree in a bear bag whilst the wildlife circled my tent.

I’d learnt that the train service that I came up on was being replaced with buses. So being close to Henley on Thames I checked whether the service via Twyford to Reading, and back to Richmond from there was running. I was in luck, so Sunday morning I bailed out along the Oxfordshire Way to Henley; a stroke of luck. As I headed along the way I got offered my second lift of the weekend, so thanks to Roger I was able to catch the first train out of Henley. And I got back to Richmond before lunch.

news from the bird feeder

Over the last few weeks we've had a number of visitors to the fat balls hanging from the apple tree. Throughout the early spring blue tits, great tits and robins have made best use of the food on offer. With pairs of blackbird's scouring up any pickings that have dropped from above. Occasionally a green woodpecker would flit in for a brief peck or two. Wood pidgeons have taken their turn and marched stiltedly across the lawn looking for fat ball manna from heaven.

Recently a greater spotted woodpecker has been stopping by, a shy and nervous bird that will fly off at the slightest scare. The pick axe beak makes short work of the food balls creating tidbits for the ground feeding garden visitors.

A male and female pair of chaffinches have shown up this week prompting me to think that with the arrival of warmer weather they've migrated in from Europe to take their Summer in Surrey.

And some news from the pond... the frog spawn has hatched and the tadpoles having eaten their opaque former residences have now dispersed across the pond. No doubt as they grow they'll begin to attract the unwelcome attention of any passing herons. Question is, do I intervene and stretch some netting over the pond?