Day 2 – The day of the axe

I wake up in the tipi and make a kit list. The best bit of any planning I reckon – it means the adventure’s really going to happen. The hour long trail to civilisation takes me out of the valley, up Brassknocker hill, and down into the valley holding the city of Bath where they have internal combustion engines. I make a beeline for Homebase and buy myself an axe. I must have got 20 other things, but all of these paled in comparison to the axe. You know you’re in the right game when you get to buy an axe. My axe is cool. I’ll put feathers on it when I’ve got time.

I get home at dusk. The tipi is dark inside, but I get the tealights out and make a swinging lantern out of last nights beer can. I cut my teeth at cooking on the fire, Pasta’n’Sauce… it takes 3 hours, but I love every second of it. I’m learning. My fire was crap, as was my pan-positioning, but I’ll do better tomorrow.


My axe is brilliant! I chopped a log right in two on the first cut and quickly went round looking for big bits of wood which could be smaller. After doing that, I jam it over the inside of the door in case anyone comes looking for trouble.