Woodlore Blog

At this time of year, James Bath and Di Taylor from the Woodlore offices would normally be returning from France, after running our Canoeing in the Ardeche courses with canoe instructor Blue.  However, after the major flooding of last year and the inconsistent water levels we ‘ve experienced for the past few years, we decided to run the course in September for this year.

We expect that in September the weather will still be excellent, but with lower water levels, so we’ll able to paddle every day!  Furthermore, with the school summer holidays over, the river should be much quieter too.  This year we have revamped the Ardeche course to include evening lectures to allow more time on the water.

We still have some places remaining for this year’s Canoeing in the Ardeche course in September, so please visit the website and book up if you are interested to avoid missing out on this fantastic experience.

Clients tackling rapids on the Ardeche river in France

We will be releasing the 2012 Canoeing in the Ardeche course dates later in the year.

We are pleased to announce the release of Woodlore’s 2012 winter course dates and, after the release of our new UK courses for 2012, we couldn’t let the overseas courses go by without a new one too!

We are very excited to reveal a new course developed by Brian Desmond, our long term friend and colleague in Norway.  The new course is called Nordic Intermediate Ski Touring, and to attend you need to have experience in Nordic Skiing, either with one of the existing Woodlore courses in Norway or similar.  In addition to this new course, we will also be offering two Nordic Skiing courses in January/February and a Heroes of Telemark course in March.  All of these courses will now be run Glyn Sheppard, the chief instructor at Brian’s training centre in Norway.  

The striking scenery of Norway, where our skiing expeditions take place

In 2012 we will also be running our ever-popular Arctic Experience courses in February, led by Ray Mears and Lars Falt.  If you are looking to attend a course with Ray Mears in 2012, the Arctic Experience will be a fantastic opportunity. If you are interested please book quickly as these places are bound to fill fast.

Last week we held our first Woodlore Tracking course of the year; here’s what our team had to say about it:

Clients checking their ageing stands on the Woodsense course

(more…)

Woodlore customer Paul Savoie kindly sent in the following article and photos:

Dear Woodlore,

Over the past two years I have purchased most of Ray’s DVDs from a local Canadian supplier; I noted that Ray always seems to have his NATO Crusader Cup with him. Shown below are a few photos illustrating some of the modifications I have made to the BCB Crusader Kit. I found the “clip-on” BCB Crusader Cup Hanger to be a rather precarious arrangement and an accident waiting to happen when handling boiling water over an open fire.

I made a new hanger using 3 mm (1/8 inch) diameter 304 grade stainless steel wire with corresponding modifications to the Crusader Cup and lid. The notches on the cup’s rim/lip keeps the wire hanger upright and very secure (see photos below):

At the beginning of 2011, Ray gave two talks at the ExCel Centre in London as part of The Outdoors Show. To coincide with this appearance, the Ordnance Survey group produced a limited run of Ray Mears Explorer Maps, covering an area of Britain of Ray’s choosing.

Ray chose the New Forest, a favourite area of his, and one which he visited as part of his latest Wild Britain series.

Limited-edition Ray Mears OS Explorer Map - The New Forest

Nearly all of these maps were given away to attendees of The Outdoors Show; however, we were able to get our hands on the last three! If you’d like to get hold of one of these maps, we’ll be giving them away with the next three purchases of the Silva Expedition 15TDCL Compass.

If you’d like to take us up on this offer, what you’ll need to do is e-mail us with your name and address. If you are one of the first three people to get in touch, we will reply with a confirmation to say that you can now go ahead and place your compass order, and your free map will simply be included in your parcel.

Update: Congratulations to Dave, Simon and Mark, who got in there first and nabbed the three remaining maps.