Woodlander Course Review, by James Reynolds - 2004



The makeshift bow, wrapped around a wooden spindle and plunged into the fireboard, is moving fast, creating friction. As I draw the bowstring back and forth, steadily increasing the speed, it burns into the wood. Slowly, smoke begins to pour from the board as a small glowing charcoal builds in the ember pan beneath. Carefully removed, transferred to some tinder and nurtured with gentle blowing, within seconds the ember bursts into life and becomes flame. I have made fire.

After a week spent in the company of Woodsmoke, taking part in its Woodlander course, learning wilderness bushcraft, I know that I will never own a PlayStation.

No amount of sitting in front of a television exercising my thumbs could possibly have the magical effect of this supremely absorbing subject.

Strangely, producing fire by friction is an emotional moment. I feel initiated. There is something quite primal about the process, as if I have connected in some significant way with my ancestors. I feel more tuned-in with the outdoors than I have ever felt. I also have an irrepressible grin etched across my face. Think Tom Hanks in the film Cast Away. "Look what I have created! I have made fire! I have made fire!"

Born out of a necessity and a desire to meet the natural world on its own terms, bushcraft encompasses the wilderness living skills developed and refined by native peoples, woodsmen, hunters, trappers and naturalists. The course takes place in one of natures most beautiful classrooms on a remote 300-acre private forestry estate to the west of Lake Windermere, with a spectacular backdrop of mountains, lakes and rivers.

Such a location gives the participants - a maximum number of 12 taught by five instructors - the chance to really commune with nature on a very intimate level. In my ten years of enjoying outdoor pursuits, mainly climbing and mountaineering, with a healthy dose of mountain biking and hill walking thrown in, I’ve never really engaged with my surroundings in this way until now.

Sure, I’ve looked around and appreciated the stunning beauty of the natural environment, but I’ve never actually used the extraordinarily rich bounty it offers up. Woodsmoke is about learning what nature has to offer when travelling in wild places so that, should you lose your pack, damage vital equipment or become stranded, you can improvise using natural materials.

All lessons take place under a parachute canopy around the warmth of a campfire. Although wild food sources are taught - one aspect of the course offers the chance to learn how to gut, skin and butcher some wild game - all meals are provided and vegetarians are catered for.

Accommodation is either the tent that you bring with you, or, for those who want the full experience, the shelter that you construct in the surrounding woodland.

As Woodsmoke’s owner and lead instructor Ben McNutt puts it, the Woodlander course is about "handing you the keys to the door" for expanding your understanding, enjoyment and interaction with wild places. Much like the rest of the five-strong team that he has assembled, his 29 years belie a comprehensive knowledge of his subject. After spending his childhood exploring the wild places of his native Donegal in Ireland, he spent five years studying and training as an instructor under the expert guidance of Ray Mears - the internationally renowned survival expert, author and TV presenter.

During my week I learned how to build shelters without using man-made fabrics, identify wild plants for food and medicine, and find, filter and purify water without the aid of modern chemicals or containers. I also learned how to use cutting tools safely, read the tracks left by wild animals and navigate using the stars. For almost every minute of our daily lives we city dwellers are subjected to a sensory onslaught of smells pumped out by factories and exhaust pipes, the cacophony of traffic noise, mobile phones and aircraft, and the flashing of lights, advertisements and sirens invading our space. The Woodlander course is about liberating us from the shackles of modern life and simplifying our existence to encompass nature in a positive way.

Before I arrived, I did have concerns about the nature of the subject matter, in particular whether it would be an exercise in Rambo-style machismo, an initiation into tree-hugging pseudo-spiritualism, or a sentimental regression into the past. Thankfully, it is none of these things. Rather, it encourages me to see what I’ve been missing when out walking.

On subsequent walks since, I no longer see just plants and trees. I see food, good tinder, firewood and medicine.

Who needs the ersatz stimulation of a PlayStation when the wilderness has so much more to offer? For that matter, who needs TV?