I had a nights wild camp in some woods close to where I live to get in a bit of practice with the gear. The hammock was set up quickly and easily, and I got a good solid nights sleep despite apparently having a down-pour of rain at some point during the night. The snakeskins meant I could pack it away in the morning without getting drenched. Cracking bit of kit!
I did however have some issues with the stove. It had been raining all day so the ground was damp, and being in a rush to get to the camping spot before dark (I went straight after work) totally forgot to take dry kindling. So, I only had some wood shavings and a few hexy blocks with me. Attempts to light it in the evening were a massive fail ad I resorted to using my girlfriends Coleman gas stove and piled up a load of wood under my hammock where it could dry out a bit over night. In the morning I used the wood shavings to get the fire going, and a couple of hexy blocks to get the heat up, before adding the partially dry tinder. After a bit of a battle I managed to get just enough out of it to boil a litre of water for a brew.
Lessons learnt: Carry a small amount of dry tinder to help get the stove going on those damp evenings. Prepare properly for trips! I'm out again this Thursday/ Friday; walking from Truro to St Mawes; weathers looking pretty soggy so it should be a good opportunity to test the stove again.
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