Too many to type in the few minutes I have before I leap up again to attend family necessities and before I ask I will say this...
I am going to be dévasté when you post the last of these diaries... I have been held spellbound by every moment of every day and every eloquent word and photograph (I’ve not missed one) of description you’ve published... and I’m sure that perhaps there are those moments you felt unable to share also - I think I can imagine them...
Ok, so my first question; Did you use only animal tracks for your movement or did you create your own? And the second; presumably you don’t eat meat because you never mention hunting for your protein, so I wonder from what source you found it...? Living as you did, as you say uses considerable calories, a good source protein would have been important. So says the ever practical mother and wife of a family prone to eating crap if I leave them to their own devices... excuse my curiosity !
Were you ever scared? Did you spook yourself with imaginings?
And lastly, but only because, I’m out of time, when you left, finally, how did you feel? Maybe I have to wait for your last diary for the answer to that though...
Ok times up... my boys are beginning to look beyond hungry - not a good look!
Haha, I share your issue about not having enough time to type--I opened this last night to reply, but it didn't happen... I hope everyone got fed!?
There are indeed things I have left out, mostly due to space and time, and to also give me something more to add to a potential book proposal/book. When I started this series, I had high hopes I'd be able to include extra essays about the deeper experience, the way it changed me. I've hinted at this and discussed some aspects, but a lot still needs exploring--I just haven't had time. As I revisited the adventure, I realised just to do the daily and weekly posts would already take up a big chunk of time, which is already very short. Still, I'll tell more at some point!
Yes--I really only followed the animal trails, simply because they went where I needed to go. Generations of deer, badger, fox and others create remarkably clear trails! It was relatively easy to go off-trail, whether to source firewood or food, or just to investigate, as there wasn't much of an understorey of trees. Hopefully, in time, that will reappear, once there are fewer deer, as long as the rhododendron isn't allowed to regrow.
I do eat meat, but didn't have a need to hunt. I fished, used my folding crab and lobster pots, and gathered shellfish, but my protein also came from various preserved meats (chorizo, saucisson sec, Polish sausages etc), with peanut butter, powdered milk, fungi--and other meat and eggs when I had resupplied. I took great care with balancing the foods I bought, simply because it wasn't easy to pop to the shops and I was used to buying supplies for two week long adventures. I just scaled up. (Oh, and I made my own jerky before leaving, too--that was just so useful!).
The only times I was really scared was when I was sick, rather than when I experienced weird things. I remember having a conversation with a friend, before I left, who was worried about proverbial mad axemen in the woods. I gently pointed out that, not only were the woods usually empty of other humans and, therefore, far safer than Sheffield, but I was actually walking around with an axe and a pair of knives strapped to my belt--in many ways, I WAS the mad axeman!). I certainly had some moments where I had to control my fears, but that was rare.
As for how I felt when I left, at least a part of that will be answered soon and, in a way, has been touched on in various posts. One thing I have realised over the last weeks, is just how much my life changed following this. How much I STILL feel, and how my feelings and understanding of this time are still evolving. In many ways, what I did echoes the idea of the spirit quest of many so-called 'primitive' societies. The idea of going alone into wilder places to bring back knowledge, and then share it with others, is something as ancient as we are. I'll probably be talking more about this too.
Hope that helps! I'm really thankful for your questions.
I have a ton of questions!
Too many to type in the few minutes I have before I leap up again to attend family necessities and before I ask I will say this...
I am going to be dévasté when you post the last of these diaries... I have been held spellbound by every moment of every day and every eloquent word and photograph (I’ve not missed one) of description you’ve published... and I’m sure that perhaps there are those moments you felt unable to share also - I think I can imagine them...
Ok, so my first question; Did you use only animal tracks for your movement or did you create your own? And the second; presumably you don’t eat meat because you never mention hunting for your protein, so I wonder from what source you found it...? Living as you did, as you say uses considerable calories, a good source protein would have been important. So says the ever practical mother and wife of a family prone to eating crap if I leave them to their own devices... excuse my curiosity !
Were you ever scared? Did you spook yourself with imaginings?
And lastly, but only because, I’m out of time, when you left, finally, how did you feel? Maybe I have to wait for your last diary for the answer to that though...
Ok times up... my boys are beginning to look beyond hungry - not a good look!
Haha, I share your issue about not having enough time to type--I opened this last night to reply, but it didn't happen... I hope everyone got fed!?
There are indeed things I have left out, mostly due to space and time, and to also give me something more to add to a potential book proposal/book. When I started this series, I had high hopes I'd be able to include extra essays about the deeper experience, the way it changed me. I've hinted at this and discussed some aspects, but a lot still needs exploring--I just haven't had time. As I revisited the adventure, I realised just to do the daily and weekly posts would already take up a big chunk of time, which is already very short. Still, I'll tell more at some point!
Yes--I really only followed the animal trails, simply because they went where I needed to go. Generations of deer, badger, fox and others create remarkably clear trails! It was relatively easy to go off-trail, whether to source firewood or food, or just to investigate, as there wasn't much of an understorey of trees. Hopefully, in time, that will reappear, once there are fewer deer, as long as the rhododendron isn't allowed to regrow.
I do eat meat, but didn't have a need to hunt. I fished, used my folding crab and lobster pots, and gathered shellfish, but my protein also came from various preserved meats (chorizo, saucisson sec, Polish sausages etc), with peanut butter, powdered milk, fungi--and other meat and eggs when I had resupplied. I took great care with balancing the foods I bought, simply because it wasn't easy to pop to the shops and I was used to buying supplies for two week long adventures. I just scaled up. (Oh, and I made my own jerky before leaving, too--that was just so useful!).
The only times I was really scared was when I was sick, rather than when I experienced weird things. I remember having a conversation with a friend, before I left, who was worried about proverbial mad axemen in the woods. I gently pointed out that, not only were the woods usually empty of other humans and, therefore, far safer than Sheffield, but I was actually walking around with an axe and a pair of knives strapped to my belt--in many ways, I WAS the mad axeman!). I certainly had some moments where I had to control my fears, but that was rare.
As for how I felt when I left, at least a part of that will be answered soon and, in a way, has been touched on in various posts. One thing I have realised over the last weeks, is just how much my life changed following this. How much I STILL feel, and how my feelings and understanding of this time are still evolving. In many ways, what I did echoes the idea of the spirit quest of many so-called 'primitive' societies. The idea of going alone into wilder places to bring back knowledge, and then share it with others, is something as ancient as we are. I'll probably be talking more about this too.
Hope that helps! I'm really thankful for your questions.