{"id":2601,"date":"2014-08-08T20:54:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-08T20:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/martinblack.com\/?p=2601"},"modified":"2014-12-27T08:17:26","modified_gmt":"2014-12-27T08:17:26","slug":"wild-camp-in-barking-fox-wood-hertfordshire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/2014\/08\/wild-camp-in-barking-fox-wood-hertfordshire\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild Camp in Barking Fox wood – Hertfordshire"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was mid-July and\u00a0so far I had enjoyed only one wild camp since the start of the year.<\/p>\n

And then, unannounced,\u00a0a completely free weekend turned up. The week prior to the camp I nervously watched cruel weather fronts move up, down, and across the south-east;\u00a0\u00a0rain and cloud; seemingly a typical English summer, alas.<\/p>\n

It didn’t look good for the weekend, and then suddenly, a break in the gloom, happy smiling suns on the weather website,\u00a0 the camp was on.<\/p>\n

I took the train south to a sleepy Hertfordshire village\u00a0and twenty minutes later the wood, let’s call it Barking Fox wood, was there, all inviting on the horizon.<\/p>\n

\"Path
Path to Barking Fox wood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was early evening\u00a0as I approached the wood.<\/p>\n

\"Pond
Pond near the wood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sheep nibbled lazily at grass, ignoring me as I strode by.<\/p>\n

\"Sheep
Sheep in a field outside the wood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As I entered the wood I started to feel the usual apprehension of a wild camper…did anyone see me go into\u00a0the wood? Would they come for me when night fell? \u00a0Stupid thoughts, I banished them and whistled a merry tune instead.<\/p>\n

\"Entrance
Entrance to Barking Fox wood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I left the path and dove deep into the wood, heading for the edge furthest from the footpath. \u00a0I prefer to camp\u00a0at the edge a of wood, where there is more light, a view other than just trees, and a greater sense of security.<\/p>\n

\"Hammock
Hammock pitch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I pitched-up just before the sun went down.<\/p>\n

I had already eaten so hadn’t\u00a0bothered with packing a cook-kit. Instead I snacked\u00a0on bombay mix and chocolate, all washed down with generous swigs of Irish whiskey.<\/p>\n

I sat back in the hammock listening to the roosting\u00a0birds and light\u00a0breeze\u00a0curling through\u00a0the trees. At 10pm, I undressed and slipped into my sleeping bag. \u00a0Ah! So good to be in a hammock again, no more hard surfaces, comfort! What luxury.<\/p>\n

But of course, I hardly slept, my mind, well, part of my mind, refused to switch off. \u00a0I tried more whiskey, no good, ate a little cake, no good. \u00a0No sleep, pah!<\/p>\n

I finally dropped off at about 3am and was woken at 4am by the barking fox, after whom I named the wood.<\/p>\n

The fox mooched\u00a0around a short distance from my camp, barking aimlessly for a good ten minutes or so and then stopped. \u00a0I manged to get back to sleep for a bit but not for as long as I would have liked.<\/p>\n

\"Waking
Waking up in Barking Fox Wood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shortly before 7am I put a cuppa tea on and ate a muffin. \u00a0Despite the lack of sleep it felt great, wonderful, fantastic, to be in the woods again, it really can’t be beaten, as any wild camper will surely agree.<\/p>\n

\"Morning
Morning tea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One tea led to another, of course…<\/p>\n

\"Tea
Tea in the woods, hard to beat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Refreshed (kinda), I packed up, leaving no trace.<\/p>\n

\"Leave
Leave no trace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I thanked the wood for having me and made\u00a0my way back to the sleepy Hertfordshire town where I hopped on the train back home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was mid-July and\u00a0so far I had enjoyed only one wild camp since the start of the year. And then,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[75,92,40,46],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2601"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2625,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601\/revisions\/2625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}