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Perhaps the first question anyone reading this would be: is it worth the extra money to be taught by Ray?
If you want to be taught by and pick the brains of an accomplished Woodsman who does not rest on his laurels; teachings by experienced instructors of humility and a natural ebullience for bushcraft; to push yourself out of your comfort zone and create a new more comfortable comfort zone; to spend six nights in a fine ancient woodland with like-minded people from all walks of life; to learn the rudiments of Bushcraft on the hoof, you will love this course.
The course was redesigned this year due an illness that has been going around. You may have heard about it?
We were informed of a much tougher course this year.
There were certain things omitted and many things added, and the teaching was spread over three groups of four people, whereas in previous incarnations I believe it had been just the one group. This change reduced the teaching time per group since the lessons had to be repeated three times and staggered over the same six-day time period. There were gaps in schedules, this flexibility was vital to the success of course.
I was expecting only one instructor, namely Mr. Mears, (since I was told by a friend a Scout Covid Risk Assessment allows for a bubble of up to 15). We had 4 instructors including Ray, which offset the teacher to student ratio favourably.
The course actually morphed into the 'survival' end of bushcraft, since we were provided with our own personal food and water instead of the normal communal eat. There was no recourse for showering contrary to what was stated in the course information and 'downtime' was reduced to our own groups.
A lot of the course, at first appeared to be conducted ad hoc. We were left wondering what next? However, there was a method in the madness and the modules tied together fairly well in the end. Some demonstrative teachings lost their potency due to distancing making certain things harder to learn.
On the final afternoon our group had 3 lessons in succession, this was particularly stressful for some of us. Learning while tired and out in the bush is requisite for our development and these things just have to be overcome, however I was barely coherent, this just compounded the stress further. It was emphasised that it is all 'part and parcel' of survival in the bush. You agree and just get on with it!
Since the course, my times out in the wilderness have been better prepared and the acquired skills have served me very well.
Ray's teaching is thorough and always on point. The course redeemed itself for me through the magic of Ray. Ray is saturated with knowledge, approachable and generous with his knowledge at whatever scale. So to go full circle, my answer to the first question is a resounding "Yes!"
Craig
Rated: 4/5