Every year Ray Goodwin and I lead canoe-camping trips on the River Spey in the Scottish Highlands. It’s a lovely river to paddle in an open boat and the surrounding scenery is beautiful. Travelling in such a fantastic natural environment, there are many highlights. Amongst the highlights of a watery nature are several rapids…
In Episode 10 of #AskPaulKirtley, I answer questions about knife lanyard holes, dromedary bags for water storage, my preferred method of sleeping – hammock or tarp, making tinder boxes for Explorer Scouts and discuss if there should be an NGB award for bushcraft…
In this episode I answer questions about useful bushcraft knife techniques, wool blankets, hammocks and poncho liners as well as revisiting medicinal herbs and book recommendations. In addition, I discuss outdoor first aid, in particular first aid for wilderness journeys. I also give some advice on where to find or source materials such as hides, antlers and the like for practising primitive skills…
In Episode 8 of #AskPaulKirtley, I offer some thoughts on preppers and prepping, make some suggestions for helping kids who get frustrated with learning bushcraft skills, suggest some quiet places to camp and forage in the UK, give some specific advice on aspects of firelighting, fires and leave no trace as well as provide some book recommendations for bushcraft and wider campfire reading.
What can you learn about bushcraft and wilderness living skills from a museum? Lots, as it turns out. If it’s a good museum, that is. And the Manitoba Museum is a good museum for nature, native skills, bushcraft, self reliance, anthropology, history of wilderness living, voyageurs, trappers, surveyors and first nations…
In epsisode 7 of #AskPaulKirtley I answer a request for advice on picking up roadkill deer, offer some thoughts for new or aspiring bushcraft instructors, explain what a mirror on a compass is for, scratch my head a bit while choosing five medicinal herbs and talk about edible snails and why they are not further up the bushcraft menu…
I had an interesting little event happen to me the other day. It wasn’t anywhere wild. Or remote. As is the case with many of my days, though, I was outdoors. And, as usual, I had more than one means of fire-lighting on me. But then this happened….
I answer questions about my bushcraft aspirations – personal and professional, favourite memories from the Bloodvein, bivvy tents, how to minimise the chances of being caught out by the weather, as well as wild camping in the UK – where we can go, where we can camp, where we can have a fire and how we preserve that privilege for generations going forwards….
Alyssa Crittenden, Lincy assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Nevada joins me to talk about her work amongst the Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania, evolution of the human diet and the importance of honey…
I answer questions about bears and camping in Sweden, bushcraft/survival knives and what we do with them when we are travelling or in public places, knife and oilstone recommendations for a beginner to learn bushcraft knife sharpening, where to park our car when going for a multi-day hike and how to stop getting bothersome bits in our boots…