Woodsmoke’s first native course.

A woman on the train, had a tiny Piccanise dog, and carried it around in a shopping bag.

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of it.

The idea was to build and live in natural shelters for the whole week.

Ben always explains theory before any activity, and uses his skills as a fine artist to illustrate his ideas.

I think white boards are fantastic (I have one in my office and at home).

This one was constructed by Dave Alty. Dave and I were on the Abo course together, its always great to see him.

This shelter used a kind of hook at the top, and a v shaped fork at the bottom, so it sort of hangs of the tree.

Its main features are that its raised of the ground, and can be moved around the tree to stay in the shade.

Not so much a shelter, as a feat of engineering, I was totally impressed.

Here Rob demonstrates a pump drill, originally designed for drilling holes.

It was the easiest way to make fire from friction that I have ever seen. They had 3 different types to demonstrate.

As Ben put it, its quite the most elegant way to light a fire.

It required a lot of concentration to get it working. Here Jeremy attempts to get an ember.

I wish I had known how to make one of these on the abo course.

It was an amazing piece of primitive technology, and would enable a full nights sleep, which would transform the overall bushcraft experience.

She had previously been on a course in Utah, where you had to survive for 10 days, without any man made products.

For some reason, I have an expression like a child in this picture, and I am not sure why.

Preparing animals for cooking, is perhaps the least desirable parts of bushcraft (although actually one of the most important.)

Anthony always teaches it with such enthusiasm and professionalism, that it doesn’t seem so bad.

Adds a whole new angle, on taking care of your knife, as it resulted in him being shoulder deep, and later finding that the knife was somewhere else completely !

Pete took a picture of me retrieving it from the water

Since Pete hadn’t used a digital camera before, he didn’t actually get the fish in the picture

You will just have to trust me, I did catch one.

In the centre of the picture, are the fish that we all caught.

There were some brilliant personalities on this course.

He shows us a small bow and arrow, used by African bushmen.

Next to the bow, is a blow pipe and darts, which were amazingly accurate.

There was also, a traditional crossbow, but this isn’t in the picture.

It features 4 special holes, so a toggle holds the fishing lines in place.

It also had a stone underneath, to keep it upright, and a sail made from a piece of bark.

Here Lisa stops for a quick brew.

In front of her, are a selection of the baskets that Phil had previously made.

The fish that came out of it, tasted delicious.

The one on the right, was made by Lisa in Utah.

Obviously nets can be used to catch fish, but they also compliment the Roycroft pack frame, to make a functional rucksack.

Unfortunately, this one didn’t work, and as Ben pointed out, there is no perfect formula, you just dig a few of them, and wait until one fills up with water.

A lot of the self help books I have read, encourage you to think like a child.

The idea, is that when you are young, you have dreams, and that as you get older, people encourage you to be “realistic” and in actual fact kill your enthusiasm.

When I was at school, I remember a teacher talking down to me, and telling me “I bet you are one of those people who think you can get water just be digging a hole in the ground” !.

Mr Evans, from 1st year science at Moston Brook, back at you pal !.

Note the Y shaped sticks used to put the rocks into the bowl.

Dirt from the stones, however, makes the water a bit grey.

A box is constructed from bark and held together with small wooden pegs.

As long as the flame doesn’t go higher than the water, the bark container will not catch fire, and the water will boil.