To get this far you must be really keen so here’s the nitty gritty. Like I said before, one of my aims is to reach out to people who are looking to get something more out of their outdoors life. If, like me, you’ve spent a good part of your life unsure about what you really wanted I thought this might help.
The early years
I started life not far from where I live now in the county of Kent in the UK. A green and tranquil landscape increasingly scarred with motorways, much housing development and criss-crossed with the con trails of aircraft buzzing round southern England’s heaving air hubs. Amongst all this modern chaos you’ll still find the quiet shady lanes and woods I remember from my childhood.
Trying to find ‘normal’
I popped out of the educational sausage machine with no idea what to do. In a decision that has since become one of the only regrets in my life I followed convention and joined the throng of ‘normal’ people striving for a ‘normal’ life. Unfortunately it seems this ‘normal’ isn’t universal. This is something I realise more and more the older I get.
I made a few attempts to stamp something else on life but never had the guts to carry it through. In my twenties I started a period of pushing myself firmly out of my comfort zone. I took trips to various places, usually alone. Once the plane took off it was like I was someone else. I visited Egypt (all the usual bits plus a tantalising glimpse of adventure in the Western oases), Jordan, Morocco, India, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and a few places in Europe for good measure.
This is living!
The terror of Indian bus journeys, haggling with camel guides in Morocco, the joy of isolation and nature in much of Southern Africa, an earthquake atop Mount Sinai all became part of the journey. I started to really enjoy the bits that challenged people’s perceptions. In very rural northern Namibia the very white Namibian lady just assumed I’d be hiring a private car and driver to return to Windhoek. The request for bus times was met with possibly the most amazement I’ve ever seen.
Even more than this I started to fall in love with wild, remote locations. This really lit a fire within me. I was never happier. I had a tent, a rucksack and some other stuff and I vaguely knew how to use it! These adventures were interspersed with work. By day I was a pretty well paid computer consultant. By night, anything else.
Adding a spark to the fire
Towards the end of this period I started to learn more about the nuts and bolts of backpacking and expeditions – the technical end of things I suppose you might say. I’d been in the odd dodgy situation so I guess I was looking for the knowledge to deal with these situations – a safety net. At about this time I discovered that people actually ran bushcraft and survival courses. I had no idea there even was such a thing!
My first formal bushcraft course was Woodlore’s Introduction to Bushcraft weekend. I just went to see what it was like really. It turned out to be a great weekend. The course was led by Ben McNutt who has since gone on to run his own excellent courses at Woodsmoke. It was a revelation.
Back to the nine to five
Anyone stuck in the rut of nine to five will understand the next bit. I spent a few years after this as a serial bushcraft course attender. I was doing some stuff outside of these but what the courses were really buying me was time. Time with no pressure to do anything else. I blew all my holiday on bushcraft courses and the odd trip to Sweden or hiking in the Lake District. This just about kept me sane. In between times I practiced the art whenever I could.
I made loads of mistakes and learned the hard way but all it was fun, fun, fun all the way looking back on it.
Like a blocked hose
Living a life that isn’t really giving you what you need is like having a blocked hose (or something!). Like it or not, sooner or later the blockage needs removing or you’ll end up dealing with the mess.
Bushcraft had quietly taken over my life. But could it become my whole life? I knew I could look after myself in the outdoors and I was passionate about this stuff but how did this help me when I was sitting in an office doing a job I increasingly loathed? I’d had some experience of training people and I’d become a far better communicator than I was a few years back. Maybe this could be a step forward? I knew John Rhyder at Woodcraft School and knew he ran some sort of bushcraft instructor course. Without knowing much more than this I rocked up for an interview and was accepted onto the 2007-2008 Bushcraft Leadership course. Without a doubt this is one of the best things I’ve ever done.
Many people question the likes of this course without really understanding what it’s for. It’s not teaching you bushcraft but taking the skills you already have and popping them into a framework of leadership, teacher training and assessment. People also gripe about the certification of bushcraft but despite getting a certificate at the end that’s not why I was there. I spent a year eating, sleeping, breathing bushcraft with others as passionate as me. I met some incredible people who are now very dear friends.
Could this be it?
I finished that year with some great ideas and more practical experience and decided to start running some low key courses of my own starting in autumn 2008. This was a revelation. People came, learned and went away happy. I even ran a corporate event with a couple of the guys from the instructor course. It went very well indeed. I nearly had to pinch myself.
In January 2010 I took a trip to Nova Scotia to visit Ian, one of my friends from the instructor course. We spent three weeks fiddling about with snowshoes, toboggans, tents, stoves and more besides! I came back with even more resolve. This was the life for me.
Ah, perhaps not
Unfortunately after this things changed forever in my personal life. When I returned from Canada both my elderly parents were pretty ill. My mother later died after a long stay in hospital. My already frail father now needs near constant care. It is his wish to stay at home for as long as he can. I’m doing all I can to make this happen. At the moment this is, how can I put it, pretty hands on. Sadly this means that I just don’t have time to run courses right now. Yeah, I could do them a bit half-arsed but to run them to the high standards I demand and paying clients deserve takes alot of time.
But I’m not finished yet
However, this isn’t the end. This last period of my life has made me rethink many things and strengthened my resolve like nothing else. As soon as things can change they’ll be changing in a very big way. I’ll say no more than that for now as burnt bridges might never be rebuilt!
In the meantime this site remains my focus and something of a lifeline. I grab time out of doors whenever I can and write whenever I can. Sometimes it’s tough but I’ll always do my best.
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