As another hectic month draws to a close we thought we would share our adventures with you once more...
After one or two setbacks we finished the job at Topstones Girlguiding camp, it took a little longer than expected but the end result looked just how was planned. From there we spent a day at Stowes school, replacing the bottom rungs of a Jacobs Ladder. With the historic background it was a brilliant place to spend the day.
With a gap in dates between working away we had a bit of time at Round Ponds to get the site tidied and decided it was time for some fresh wood chip around the place. Once that had been spread (after 2 good days of working & some help from a willing volunteer) we had a bit of time left over re-organise our store.
From here we started working with Challenge Course Consultancy again re-building a low ropes course this time in Barley, Lancashire, at an outdoor centre called Whitehough outdoor centre.
In the middle of our time at Whitehough we spent a couple of days down in Mid-Wales on a Bushcraft course with Learn Outdoors. With us wanting to start offering bushcraft this year we felt going on a training course was a good idea. The day started with a 15 minute trek into camp as the road in was blocked by a logging lorry which had slipped of the the road in the snow. So with our gear that we needed for the day we set off. Once in camp we met our instructors Philip, Sam, Sarah, and the rest of our camp-mates. We learnt many a new skill from friction fire lighting with a bow and drill (which we managed to achieve first time!), to cooking in a moiri pit oven. We definitely made the most of the experience and took away many ideas for us to create our own session at Round Ponds. I know my personal favourite session was the knife skills and whittling, whilst Sallys was the fire lighting with a range of methods and equipment. Our instructors could not of been better and we would recommend the course to anyone who wants to learn more about bushcraft and the skills involved.
So after a couple of days making shelters , bivvying out, making our own bread, and using a compost toilet, it was time to leave, so stinking to high heaven of fire and ourselves we made our way back up to finish the last job working away. After splicing enough ropes to rebuild a pirate ship, whilst losing our fingertips from all the rope we have just finished in time for the Easter holidays, to re-open and get Round Ponds going again.
So that's your lot from me this month, I will be back in April with another update of how we are getting on in our adventures.
