Woodlands survival

Last week, I spent 4 days out in the woodlands in Derbyshire receiving survival training with my classmates as part of our Cross-Cultural Communication course. On site, we were provided with a few pots and pans, a limited amount of water every day, and an experienced instructor to give us training in how to survive in the woods. We were able to bring our sleeping bags and clothes and food, but only what we were able to carry on our backs. Tents were not allowed. We would have to learn how to build our own shelters from what is available in the woods.

We packed our cars early Monday morning and drove for about 2 1/2 hours to a place in Derbyshire where we could leave our cars.

From there, we hiked about 40 minutes into the woods.

After we arrived, our instructor Dave first taught us how to build a shelter.

And then it was up to us to gather materials for a shelter...

... and to make a shelter that would hopefully be waterproof!

Here is the finished product and my bed for the next three nights (with a makeshift mattress out of branches and foilage)!

This was what our camp looked like:

We learned how to make string from plants...

... start a fire ...

... even without any matchsticks or the like!

Plenty of smoke!

And useful for roasting a chicken or two!

We also learned how to make traps for animals...

 ... and where and how to find and make sense of animal tracks.

We had great weather every day, with just a few raindrops landing on my face on Thursday morning at around 5 a.m. - because my head was sticking outside of the shelter, not because my shelter wasn't waterproof! ;-)

And then it was time to pack our bags and head back to the car park again.

Goodbye woodlands!

The first to arrive back at the car park! =)

All in all a great experience - learned lots of interesting new things and had a good few days out in the woods with my classmates!