Partial kit list

There are a few things I have promised various people I would write about and I think the first of those is a suggested kit list.

The things I have with me vary according to many things, the most obvious of which would be weather. So I’m sure I could waffle on for ages about the things I think are necessary. I don’t have much time at the moment so I will have to come back to this subject in the future but for now I’ll just go over what I consider to be essential.

I have a pair of trousers that I wear when I’m in the woods; they are light cotton and have five pockets – two of them being on the thighs in the style of combat trousers. In these trouser pockets I keep the essential things that I constantly need. In an emergency I have enough on me to keep myself alive. This makes it sound all a bit exciting but realistically in an emergency I could walk a couple of miles to the bus stop and go and check in to a hotel or something. One thing that I have discovered that makes life a lot easier is to always keep the same things in the same pockets, that saves a lot of time.

I carry

Top Right hand pocket – lighter, matches (I never use these anymore but they are useful) candle broken into two pieces (either for light or to help light a fire).

Top left hand pocket – spare pocket – gets used for any random things that I don’t normally carry.

Bottom right hand pocket – gloves and silk balaclava (kept in a zip lock bag). Tinder tin (I have started making my own tinder which is much easier to light than the stuff you can buy in camping shops – instructions to follow).

Bottom left hand pocket – Sheath knife – used for hundreds of purposes from cutting onions to taking the hot lid off the Billy can. Sometimes I keep a small pair of binoculars in here as well, these aren’t strictly speaking a necessity but they can help with navigation.

Back pocket – firesteel it creates a spark to light the tinder. Knife with firesteel attachment, this is primarily a back up in case I loose either the knife or the firesteel, theoretically with a knife and a firesteel it should be possible to survive most things. The knife is very sharp and so is used to slice garlic, part of the blade is serrated and so that gets used to grate nutmeg and thumbs.


Recipe

Sausages

Cook sausages until cooked, serve.

Traditional barbeque sausage recipe.

Put sausage over fire until black on outside and pink in the middle, serve with lager before falling into the pool.