Camping 2011 - Laughton Woods - 3-5 September

Sadly it's been a good long while since I last went camping. But having found these photos of my last camp back in 2011 has brought back some great - and not so great - memories.

We chose a spot away from the pine woodland for a change. If I remember rightly, we camped under Beech and it made a real difference. The light coming through the canopies of leaves really brightened the camp area.

We'd been looking online at some difference shapes for tarp set ups and decided on the one below as it provided protection from the wind behind us and from potential rain above, while still providing enough depth to use the heat radiation from the fire well.

Of the two of us, I'm definitely the more lazy camper! Mark always likes to sleep off the ground, sometimes making a bench structure, although this time opting for a structure just above the ground. I have a bivvy bag and have my self-inflating mattress and sleeping bag protected within that.

Me chilling out in front of the fire as some of our food is cooking.

Mark making his sleeping area comfy with fronds of bracken.

Leading up to our camping weekend, I'd been looking up some techniques for making cordage from roots. This idea came to me after watching Cody in Dual Survival make some in a programme. It turns out that it's quite a simple technique and I was able to show Mark, who made a fantastic bit of rope.

Mark's cordage. The technique provides cordage with strength much greater than that of the individual roots.

Here's Mark chilling by the fire.

Sadly, we had to end camp a bit early as I was being bitten frequently by an unknown insect. The bites were all around my waist, ankles and even in my armpits! Mark was affected, but luckily not so severely. After a sterling bit of research Mark found that it was an invertebrate called Chiggers that had been biting us. In the end I counted over 70 individual bites - it's an experience I will never forget!

Every day during camp we go an check on the car, on one occasion Mark filmed some of the walk back to our camp. It's a really nice bit of footage, so I've uploaded it to YouTube and you can watch it below: