stream flow after storm Katie

Storm Katie

endless pounding

Good Friday food

Arrived late Friday afternoon and pitched a couple of tents, got the fire started, ate dinner and feeling a bit smug at our achievements without the boys, we chin-wagged til the moon rose high above the clearing. It was a beautiful night, dry, but a little chilly. However, come Saturday morning (about 430am) I realised the tent was on a slope and I had left the front zips open! cold and sliding around inside the tent didn't afford me much sleep. So we started the day erecting an A-frame canvas bed with a tarp over the top and left the tent for Ant to sort out later. I clearly am not good at tents and much prefer the comfort of the canvas stretcher - I think it's way warmer being off the damp floor too.
That job done, we emptied the stagnant and stinking water butt, cleared the guttering and put up a small tarp over the fire - rain was definitely on its way. Thunderous clouds and the wind picking up didn't bode well. The weekend task-list mainly consisted of getting the clay base down and level and ready to actually start making the oven on. Despite our fear at getting it wrong we couldn't really put it off any longer and made a start on pounding the clay to compact it as much as possible with a heavy sledgehammer. It was hard going.

clay, water and sharp sand mix

Thankfully Mungo, Rain and Megan arrived after lunch to lend a hand and we were soon mixing clay slip with sand and ready to trowel on the first layer. On account of the rain we also rigged up a temporary tarp to keep the worst of the rain off the work area. Seemed to do the trick for while.

first slip layer down

Ant turned up shortly after, followed by Flee, and unfortunately the bad weather arrived as well. It became seriously cold and very wet; hail stones hit the Yardarm and we spent the evening moving back and forth from the Yardarm which was relatively dry to the fire to keep warm in between rain showers. Camp quickly became a 2 inch deep mud bath. However it didn't dampen our spirits as we drew names for the fancy dress characters we would each be on our next boating trip - all from the Wizard of Oz!!!! and giggled the night away.

Sunday saw all the girls hurdle making as two more (Simon and Helen) turned up to lend a hand. Flee did some more work on the dam before replenishing the firewood pile, and Ant and Simon resumed the Rhodie clearance.

lazy Sunday afternoon

Unfortunately despite moving the sloping tent last night to a flatter spot Ant hadn't managed any sleep at all and went home drained and cold to thaw out in the bath. Simon took Helen home and returned with a fantastic fire-pit-dish-thing - the answer to our prayers. He had checked the weather report on his venture out of the wood into the land of phone signals and discovered storm "Katie" would be arriving around 7pm. In preparation, we transferred the fire to the new dish which we placed in the Yardarm and erected yet more tarps to block the wind. Tents were tied to trees, the gaffer tape holding my bivvy tarp together was inspected and we checked the whiskey supplies were all within easy reach. Bring it on Katie - we're ready for you!

The night was indeed wild. The noise was incredible. Like nothing I've ever heard before.
Around midnight I went to check on the dam - the pond area was almost half full and the water gushing through the middle of the dam with such force and noise it was really quite exciting.

Excitement turned to apprehension as everyone went to bed and I was alone in my bivvy with the wind howling and debris landing all around me - pitch darkness really does strange things to your hearing. Surprisingly I think I got off to sleep around 2am and woke again a few hours later... Katie was still venting her anger and something had hit the tree I was sleeping against - I felt it through my bed-poles. I didn't dare get up to look in case I dislodged something else - it was still raining hard and the deep darkness kept me in my bed, even opening my eyes I could not make out a single shape in front of me. I must have dozed off again because when I next woke it was light enough to see. The ridge pole holding the tarp over my bed had come down and was resting on the golfing umbrella I had rigged up over my head. No drama, the umbrella wasn't even bent, the rain had stopped and all was well. Time to get up and inspect the damage elsewhere in the wood. I feared the worse and was keen to check everything and everyone was ok. First things first though.... sausage sarnies for breakfast, on the new fire dish.
Then Mungo and I headed out for a look around. All seemed in order. A dead standing tree had fallen and was balancing on another in the camp area which Simon took down with the chainsaw but nothing major at all. Remarkable given the force of the wind.
We tidied up, cleared the wood of tools, tarp and rubbish and returned home for an overdue date with the bath tub. Exhausted, but happy.
The now-flooded clay base will just have to wait until another day.

Spring is spingin'

Not much time remaining now before the leaves burst into a bright lime green ceiling in camp so we cracked on with the clay base for the oven by building a hazel "hurdle" wall to shelter it from the wind coming from the South.
Flee got stuck into dam deconstruction in preparation for the rebuild over the coming weeks and Ant ensured the new chairs in the Immac hide were securely bolted down and the tilt and slide is all functioning perfectly ... we felt like we were making good progress.
Trap number two is surrounded by primroses in full bloom and the birds are busy making nests and gorging themselves on the seeds and peanuts. We stopped to gorge ourselves on hot broccoli and stilton soup before stake-making yet again. This activity is not one Tracey and I excel at, and we have always blamed the weight of the axe we use to point the stakes up with - we just cannot seem to hit the stake in the same point consistently - the axe is forever wobbling around on the down stroke. We came up with a design for a giant pencil sharpener which was promptly ridiculed by the boys as a non-starter and so we hacked away at some chunky sticks for a while and eventually managed to get enough of them hammered into the solid clay to form a low retaining wall between the kitchen and the clay oven area. Now all we need is buckets and buckets of clay!

We switched jobs after a bit and started scalloping a level base for pitching a tent near the "spider stump", and using the soil to back fill the seat wall around the campfire. We have a long way to go, but it's a start at least.

Fifty Shades of Rais

Inside the Immac Hide

So chuffed to get down to Rais and discover Keith had completed yet more improvements to our luxury "Immac" hide. We now have mouse-proof storage boxes for all the bird food and a secure wooden hatch for the window. Who needs a TV when you have a 4D hide like this?
I made the netting screen yesterday, even sewed an old chain into the length along the bottom to weigh it down around my camera, but when I hung it today, I feel it's just a little too narrow to allow two cameras on beanbags side by side with enough slack not to leave any gaps, so I've brought it home again to make a second one. Hanging two side by side should do the trick.
Simon had already been hard at it for an hour when we turned up, digging out yet more Rhodie roots and as the piles grew we decided it might be wise to hack a shortcut path to the site of the mammoth "Beltane" fire in the wayleave where they will be ceremoniously burnt to cinders in a couple of months time. Tracey and I started at the fire end and worked as best we could towards Simon coming from Holly bridge, hoping to meet in the middle.
Two of us and only one of Simon should have meant we covered twice the distance, but since we seem to be collectively known as "Cripple and Flid" these days, and I have a hideous cold stripping me of any real strength, we didn't really stand a chance, especially as, soon after we started, Tracy comically face-planted in what she later named "Simon's Ridge", (I have a funny feeling it's a name she may live to regret). Who knew Simon's ridge was full of inch-thick brambles!

Flee started the day building a shelter to keep the worst of the rain off the firewood pile - which was handy as the sun disappeared mid afternoon and light drizzly rain started falling which then turned to tiny hail stones. Our first fire in the new firepit held out though and after Cripple's gorgeous homemade roasted butternut and red pepper soup for lunch we took down the old bright green plastic wood store (another temporary eyesore gone) and Flee put in some much needed steps at the bottom of the new route into camp as well as the uprights for the clay oven wind break and a flexible clamp for my new microphone on the outside of Immac.

Gray's "Green Room"

Over the west side, where Ant has almost completed Rhodie-eradication, we found what we believe are clumps of white and grey Badger belly fur, scattered all over an old tree stump. They look to be fresh and we pondered whether we had found Brock's scratching post, is he moulting this early in the year? we don't think anything sinister happened as there is not a speck of blood anywhere. Could it be that he has a skin condition? - not sure what else would cause such quantities of fur to come out in one go - unless of course we have the Christian Gray of the Badger world wandering in our wood! It's mating season afterall and apparently the male Meles meles likes to talk dirty to his sow for up to 90 minutes first, making some kind of churring gargling noise, then takes a swift bite from her nape before getting down to business! I know I'm desperate to see Badger's at Rais... but I didn't really want to start with the remains of boar-porn!

Chipper not so chipper today

Nuthatch

I spent some time in the hide yesterday trying out my new microphone and earphones, listening to the woodland activity and was amazed at how much the thing captures - and from such a distance too. The only issue I had was that I had forgotten to take the furry windsock to put over the foam, and so there was a low level buzz in the background which was a bit annoying. Will try again next week. Also only realised after taking this picture of a Nuthatch that the winds had brought down yet more debris scattering the floor and ruining my shot. Must remember to scan my backgrounds and not get lazy - hot spots like this pale arch-shaped stick just don't leap out at me when I am looking through the viewfinder at this gorgeous bird - but it's massively irritating me now. Grrrrrr.

Not a lot of sleep and a crick neck started my Sunday a bit worse for wear. Still, it made a change from working through a hangover.

pegged-out clay oven base & new fire pit

A mid morning start saw sunshine and clouds and a fairly chilly 5 degrees which wasn't for standing around in too long. Thankfully as the day wore on it did warm up at bit and the amount we got done was certainly testament to the lack of idle time.

Tracey and I started on levelling off the base for the clay oven, removing the reeds and foliage currently growing in the way, whilst the boys set to work fitting my new luxurious seat in the Immac hide - I say new.... it's the old passenger seat from "Bee", our well travelled, 1972 VW campervan which is currently undergoing another overhaul. The new seats going into the bus will hopefully allow me to reach the pedals and finally drive her, but instead of getting rid of the old seat that has travelled 11,000 miles round Europe with me sat atop, we decided it would make the perfect, if not the comfiest, hide seat ever. It is being fitted in full working condition too, so I will have tilt action in the backrest as well as the ability to slide forward and back on the runners when needed. Can't wait. No more numb bum, backache or wobbly-log-perching for me. 

Extending the bank bench seating in-line with the new campfire

The plan for the day was to get the piles of rhodie brash passed through the chipper and spread as mulch along the paths.  So the very heavy "Beast" was dragged over toad bridge ready to get chipping and the idea was to have the rest of us chopping the brash into manageable lengths ready for Flee, who would feed it in, thus making the most of the fuel and not having long periods of machine idle time. The first barrow load came through no problem, then it was almost as if the Beast had remembered last week and simply said... uh oh... not doing that again and just stopped and refused to start again. We had to remind ourselves that the thing had stood idle for 5 years and last weeks first run had been so easy - we should have known it was a little too good to be true. So the big yellow rhodie-muncher had to be dragged back across the bridge, all the way back up to the Landy and will be taken back home for some much needed TLC. With any luck she will be purring and chipping again before too long.

Meanwhile, back at camp, Ant was focused on moving the camp-fire. He dug a new fire pit, used the turf to fill in the old one, and removed the hazardous tree stumps from the walkway.  Tracey and I later added a long log bench to minimise the trip hazard en route to the wood pile - all we need now is another weekend to christen it.  

Chloe-Anne and Fynn

After lunch of steaming bowls of chilli-come-spag-bog and bread rolls, we set about working on some odd jobs that needed doing round camp... clearing away the A frame beds, finishing off the steps up to Fox ridge and making a start on extending the bank bench seating now that the fire had moved.  Flee installed two new shelves inside Immac... one for my camera and another for my wine and I reset the trailcam over by Trap Number 2. 

My brother and 7 year old niece spent the day camped out over the Eastern side in their favourite spot, getting a cooking fire going and exploring the streams and waterfalls over that side. Chloe made friends with Fynn almost instantly and they spent the day following each other around and occasionally passing by the Yardarm on circuits of the wood or to show us that her second front tooth had finally come out!

So much done, so much to do, but feeling really quite pleased with the progress so far. Slightly nervous about making the clay oven, but chuffed we have at least started and have a plan starting to come together. Slowly and thoughtfully is the way forward.... we only want to build it once!