Friday, July 8, 2016

Forest Tweetup 26-28 August

So here's the thing...

I posted on twitter some pictures of the events we put on in the woods. We have a bit of a laugh throwing knives, tomahawks and setting fire to things. A couple of people expressed an interest and so I thought I'd throw out an invitation. A sort of open woods weekend.

The weekend will be wild camping; We do have a composting toilet but otherwise it's a forest. No electricity, no running water. It's near Arundel in West Sussex. I'll give exact location nearer the time.

I'm thinking:


  • Some game prep. I can order a skin on deer to be butchered or get my mate to shoot us some rabbits.
  • Loads of projectile weapons. Catapults, spears, bows and arrows etc
  • Fire challenge. One match. One cotton wool ball. Boil a litre of water.
  • Knife and axe skills. We'll make a spoon or a spatula. We might even take down a small tree for materials.
  • Make a bow and arrow. We'll do the nepalese/butanese style bamboo bows. These cab be turned out in under a day but will chuck an arrow 100 paces
  • Campfire cookery. 
  • A few drinks around the fire in the evening
For accommodation we have 5 big wing tarps. 3 of them have slept 9 people. You can get more in if you want to get cosy. Or you can bring a tent. I'll be in my hammock.

All you'll need is some sleep kit, plate, spoon, fork and cup.

Bear in mind everything you bring will have to be carried in and out. It's about 3/4 of a mile down a muddy path.

We usually cater, you eat very well and can get involved with the preparation or chill and be waited on. Menu is usually full cooked breakfast, buffet lunch, proper dinner. The kettle is always on.

I've been thinking hard how to finance it. Getting in a deer costs about £100. The materials for the bowmaking is about £30. I don't intend to charge for my time because I'm planning on having fun. I will be bringing in a couple of the other Forest Knights team and it would be nice to bung them some petrol money and a drink. The fact is that a weekend would normally cost you a couple of hundred quid but for this one I'm interested in having a laugh and meeting with a few like minded people. The way I want to do it is see how many people are interested and sort it out from there. Some might not want to do Friday night...I know some people do proper jobs so we can do something proportionate. 

So far I know there are two people interested.

Discuss...

Some pictures. There might be more if I can find where I put them...
(the royals are to show the type of himalayan bows we make)