The 32 Point Compass Rose

The 32 Point Compass Rose

Some great reading about the compass and directions on wikipedia 😀:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Points_of_the_compass

Booking Confirmation For Glengarriff Bay Sea Kayaking

Kayaking Needs To Be Pre-Booked, By Text Message +353 (0) 86 860 45 63; Or By Email info@outdoorsireland.com


Meeting Place:  Slipway Opposite Eccles Hotel/Glengarriff
Time:  6am-9am / 10am-1pm / 2pm-5pm (Please Be Ten Mins Early)
Price:  €60 Per Person (Payable In Cash Only Please)
Cancellation Fee:  €60 Per Person If Cancelled With Two Weeks (14 Days) Or Less Notice


Please Bring:
Warm Hat
Shorts/Swimwear/Leggings (For Under Wetsuit)
Shoes (That May Get Wet)
Towel
Sun Cream


We Provide:
Full-Body Wetsuit
Waterproof Jacket
Spray Deck
Buoyancy Aid


You will be changing outdoors so it may be useful to be wearing your swimwear under your clothes on arrival.


Directions:
Eccles Hotel Is In Glengarriff Village, On The Main Road.

Eircode: P75 AO72

GPS: 51.751979N  9.539399W


Important:
1. Payment is in cash only please.
2. There is no bank machine in the village.


Trip Details:
www.outdoorsireland.com/glengarriffkayaking.php


Thanks, Nathan Kingerlee - Outdoors Ireland
info@outdoorsireland.com
+353 (0) 86 860 45 63
tinyurl.com/confirmglen

Booking Confirmation For Killarney Lakes Kayaking

Kayaking Needs To Be Pre-Booked, By Text Message +353 (0) 86 860 45 63; Or By Email info@outdoorsireland.com


Meeting Place:  Ross Castle Bottom Car Park/Killarney
Time:  10am-1pm / 2pm-5pm / 6pm-9pm (Please Be Ten Mins Early & Allow For Heavy Town Traffic)
Price:  €60 Per Person (Payable In Cash Only Please)
Cancellation Fee:  €60 Per Person If Cancelled With Two Weeks (14 Days) Or Less Notice


Please Bring:
Warm Hat
Shorts/Swimwear/Leggings (For Under Wetsuit)
Shoes (That May Get Wet)
Towel
Sun Cream


We Provide:
Full-Body Wetsuit
Waterproof Jacket
Spray Deck
Buoyancy Aid


You will be changing outdoors so it may be useful to be wearing your swimwear under your clothes on arrival.


Directions:
Ross Castle Is Just Outside Killarney. From Killarney Town Center Take The Muckross Road, N71. Then Take A Right, Following Signs For Ross Castle. Please Note It Is The Second Or Bottom Car Park At Ross Castle.

Eircode: V93 V304

GPS: 52.04172N  9.52968W


Important:
1. We are based in the bottom car park/second car park at Ross Castle. Continue driving past the first car park you come to. Look for a trailer of blue kayaks, and a grey car or red jeep.
2. Payment is in cash only please.


Trip Details:
www.outdoorsireland.com/kayaking.php


Thanks, Nathan Kingerlee - Outdoors Ireland
info@outdoorsireland.com
+353 (0) 86 860 45 63
tinyurl.com/confirmkill

Wild Foraging Guide

Really impressed with this online wild foraging guide I came across last week: www.wildfooduk.com/wild-plant-guide

Christmas 2020 Gift Vouchers!

We have our Christmas 2020 Gift Vouchers available again this year! Our gift vouchers can cover all and any of our training courses plus all and any of our guided kayaking tours; both Killarney Lakes and Glengarriff Bay.

You can also purchase a part-voucher for any value of your choice.

Our gift vouchers do not expire and can also be transferred from one course to another course.

To arrange one please contact me on info@outdoorsireland.com or +353 (0) 86 860 45 63 or click here.

Thanks & Happy Christmas, Nathan

12,000 Estimated Wolves In Mainland Europe

12,000 wild wolves estimated in mainland Europe. Wolves in every single country of mainland Europe, including Holland!

Great Article Here: www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/24/landscape-of-fear-why-we-need-the-wolf-rewilding-scotland

Weil's Disease

Weil's Disease is a bacterial infection, a form of Leptospirosis. It is caught by coming into contact with urine, blood or tissue from an infected cow, pig, dog, mouse, rat, and possibly bat. It is also caught from contact with contaminated water or contaminated soil.

Hill walkers and kayakers can be exposed to this; either through ingestion or transmission through a scratch/cut.

Four simple examples I have seen of infection:
1. Kayaker accidentally swallowing infected river water.
2. Hill walker drinking from a stream.
3. Hill walker putting their sandwich down on a stream bank.
4. Farmer fencing across boggy ground.

Flu-like symptoms develop approx two weeks after infection; however they can develop in anything from two days to thirty days after infection.

Initial Symptoms Include Any Of The Following:
Fever
Chill
Muscle Ache
Head Ache
Cough
Nausea
Vomiting
Appetite Loss

Organ Failure And Death Can Result If Not Treated.

Recommended Approach:
1. Think prevention.
2. Be aware and vigilant.
3. If flu-like symptoms develop two to thirty days after outdoor sports, like hiking, climbing or kayaking, make a doctor visit and tell them you suspect weil's disease/leptospirosis.

Useful Links:
1. https://www.healthline.com/health/weils-disease
2. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/leptospirosis


Nathan Kingerlee - Outdoors Ireland Training School

Click Here To See Our Outdoor Training Courses
Click Here To See Our Guided Kayaking Trips

Course Schedule - Beginner To Mountaineer Fifty-Five Day Intensive Program

Course Schedule - Beginner To Mountaineer Fifty-Five Day Intensive Program

Click Here To See Course Details
Click Here To Contact Us

Next Dates:
Mon 10th Jan - Fri 25th Mar 2022
Eleven Weeks / Mon - Fri / Weekends Off


10th - 13th Jan : Mountain Skills 1
14th Jan : Mountain Day 1

17th - 20th Jan : Mountain Skills 2
21st Jan : Mountain Day 2

24th - 25th Jan : Scramble Skills 1
26th - 27th Jan : Scramble Skills 2
28th Jan : Mountain Day 3

31st Jan - 1st Feb : Scramble Day 1 - 2
2nd Feb - 4th Feb : Mountain Day 4 - 6

7th - 9th Feb : Remote Emergency Care 3
10th - 11th Feb : Learn To Rock Climb

14th - 15th Feb : Bushcraft Skills 1
16th - 17th Feb : Lowland Leader
18th Feb : Mountain Day 7

21st Feb - 22nd Feb : Expedition 1 (Two-Day Exped Galway)
23rd Feb - 25th Feb : Learn To Lead Climb (Part 1)

28th Feb - 2nd Mar : Learn To Lead Climb (Part 2)
3rd - 4th Mar : Mountain Day 8 - 9

7th - 9th Mar : Expedition 2 (Three-Day Exped Wicklow)
10th - 11th Mar : Mountain Skills Assessment

14th - 17th Mar : Expedition 3/Mountain Leader 1 (Four-Day Exped Kerry)
18th Mar : Lead Climb Day 1

21st - 23rd Mar : Lead Climb Day 2 - 4
24th Mar - 25th Mar : Scramble Day 3 - 4


This Is Provisional And May Change, Due To Weather Considerations, In Order To Make Best Use Of Course Time

Three Step Scrambling & Mountaineering Training Program

I am delighted to announce a three step Scrambling & Mountaineering Training Program.

Details, plus dates for 2021, are here: www.outdoorsireland.com/scrambleskills.php

The aim of these three courses is to give you the skills, techniques and safety awareness to become more adventurous in the mountains; tackling rocky steps, rocky ridges and mountaineering routes.


You can approach this by completing a two-day Scramble Skills 1, followed by a two-day Scramble Skills 2.

Or, as a complete beginner, you can book directly onto Learn To Lead Scramble In Six Days. This six-day mountaineering course takes you from beginner to safe and competent lead scrambler; including giving you two days of proper ridge scrambling experience.

Converting Wind Knots To Beaufort Scale Force

 Converting Knots To Beaufort Scale Force:

1. Take your wind knots and add five
2. Take this new figure and divide by five
3. The answer is the approx beaufort scale force of wind

For Example:
17 Knots Of Wind
Add 5 to 17 = 22
Divide 22 by 5 = 4
So 17 Knots Of Wind = Force 4 (Approx)




Converting Beaufort Scale Force To Knots:

1. Take your beaufort scale and multiply by five
2. Take this new figure and subtract five
3. The answer is the approx knots of wind

For Example:
Force 3 Wind
Multiply 5 by 3 = 15
Subtract 5 from 15 = 10
So Force 3 Wind = 10 Knots (Approx)

Nostoc Alge / Witches Butter

Nostoc Alge, or Witches Butter, up in the Burren Hills.

 

When it rains Nostoc absorbs water, forming gelatinous algae. When the pools dry up, it dries out to form a paper like substance.

 

Nostoc secretes an enzyme into the pools which increases the acidity of the water therefore increasing the erosion within the pools.

 

Apparently it can lie like dried out paper for up to 60 years. Then swell again with moisture, with it's cells undamaged.

More Reading Here

Climbing Ropes

There Are Two Types Of Climbing Rope; Dynamic & Static.

Dynamic Rope has stretch in it, to absorb the impact of a falling climber. Dynamic rope is used for actual climbing.

Static Rope has no stretch, or very little stretch, in it. It is technically not safe for actual climbing. It is technically not safe for falling on. Static rope is used for abseiling, ascending, rigging and hauling.


Dynamic Rope Then Divides Into Three Types:
1. Dynamic Single Rope (Single Rope)
2. Dynamic Half Rope (Half Rope/Double Rope)
3. Dynamic Twin Rope (Twin Rope)


1. Dynamic Single Rope (Single Rope)
This rope is designed to be used by itself as a 'single rope', fit for climbing.
Single ropes are marked with a circled 1 at each end.

2. Dynamic Half Rope (Half Rope/Double Rope)
Two half ropes, or double ropes, are used on zig-zag/wandering climbs, especially multi pitch climbing or winter climbing. As ascending you clip one rope into all protection on your left hand side, and one rope into all protection on your right hand side. This allows the ropes to run pretty straight upward, minimising rope drag on long zig-zag/wandering climbs.
Half ropes are marked with a circled 1/2 symbol at each end.

3. Dynamic Twin Rope (Twin Rope)
Twin ropes are smaller in diameter, therefore lighter and smaller to pack. You treat them as a single rope, in terms of clipping both always together into each piece of protection.
Twin ropes are marked with a circled ∞ symbol at each end.


More Reading Here
More Reading Here

Lightning On A Mountain

It takes the sound of thunder five seconds to travel one mile. Count the seconds between the flash of lightning and the sound of thunder.

If you count ten seconds between the flash of lightning and the sound of thunder; then lightning is two miles from your location.

5 Seconds = 1 Mile
10 Seconds = 2 Miles
15 Seconds = 3 Miles
20 Seconds = 4 Miles
25 Seconds = 5 Miles
30 Seconds = 6 Miles

Once lightning is six miles or closer; thirty seconds or less; from your location - you are in danger. Especially on an exposed mountain.

We have a 30/30 Rule. When lightning is thirty seconds or closer, take shelter/take precaution for thirty minutes.


What To Do On A Mountain:
1. Move off anywhere exposed (if possible) and take the best shelter you can. A hollow/gully/re-entrant/saddle can be good. You want to move off any peak/ridge/spur.

2. Move off wet/boggy/swampy ground.

3. Sheltering in a cave is fine, once you are deep in the very back. You do not want to be in a cave entrance, a shallow cave, or sheltering under an overhanging rock.

4. Separate your party by 50 meters apart. Lightning can jump from person to person if you are too close together. You see this happen with cows, where several are killed as that one lightning strike jumps from cow to cow.

5. Get rid of anything metal, anything with batteries, and your gps/phone.

6. Insulate yourself off the ground by sitting on your backpack. Your feet should also be pulled up onto your backpack. Head tucked down, eyes closed, and importantly - hands firmly over your ears to prevent an eardrum rupturing.

7. If you have no backpack adopt the lightning position. This is crouching down, on the balls of your toes, feet close together. Head tucked down, eyes closed, and hands firmly over your ears.

8. If caught in woods move into a patch of smaller/shorter trees; not into the taller trees.

9. If you have a lightning casualty, they may well not be breathing. In this case you perform cpr until emergency help arrives.

Direct Belay & Indirect Belay

Direct Belay & Indirect Belay - Which Is Which, And Which Is Better?

A Direct Belay is when the climber is belayed directly off an anchor system. The rope runs straight from climber to anchor system.
See Photo 1. Anchor System Needs To Be Bombproof

An Indirect Belay is when the climber is belayed off the belayer's harness. The belayer is attached to an anchor system. The rope runs from climber to belayer. See Photo 2.


Benefits Of A Direct Belay:
Belayer is not in the system; not put under any pressure; and very easy to lock off and walk away - in case of incident/accident.

Benefits Of An Indirect Belay:
Your anchor system should always be bombproof, but in real life you sometimes end up in positions where that is not fully possible. By belaying off your harness belay loop; you put your body into the system. Your harness and your body absorbs some fall-load/shock-load; therefore some fall-load/shock load does not pass into the anchor system. Where you have dubious anchors - this protects your anchor system, and therefore protects you.

Mountain Skills Steep Ground Work

 Six Questions For Mountain Skills Steep Ground Work


1. Could I Do It?  (ability-wise)

2. Should I Do It?  (sensibility-wise)

3. Can I see an onward route, or am I moving into a dead end?  (one person sent scouting can be useful here)

4. If I do it, can I backtrack easily if needed?
(always be able to backtrack)

5. Likelihood Of A Slip?  (low/medium/high)

6. Consequences Of A Slip  (low/medium/high)




Three Questions For Mountain Skills Spotting


1. Am I spotting properly here; properly positioned and dug in; or am I simply putting myself and the other person at risk?

2. Can we backtrack whatever I am spotting?

3. Am I happy with the amount of time that will be lost by spotting?

Requirements Before Completing A Rock Climbing Instructor Course

Once you are a safe, competent, self sufficient climber; able to Bottom Rope, Top Rope, Abseil and Lead Climb - including all associated anchor placement, setup, rope work; here are the requirements you need to log before completing an RCI Course / Rock Climbing Instructor Course:

mountaineering.ie/trainingandsafety/leadershiptrainingandassessmentschemes/singlepitchaward

Coronavirus - From A Practical Survival Approach (12)

Coronavirus - From A Practical Survival Approach (12)
 
Tip 1. Plan For The Future

While coronavirus was not the pure apocalyptic scenario - it did give a valuable insight into a potential complete emergency survival situation. It made us very aware of how reliant we can be on things like going to the supermarket for our food.

Some people laugh at the thought of a large scale emergency survival situation; others believe it very much to be on the cards. Now is the time, with the benefit of real experience and hindsight, to assess and re-plan for the future.

Plan, stock-up, build, train, practice for when something far more serious hits.

Even if it never hits - for some people - it can be such a great feeling, and such a great lifestyle, to be partially or fully self-sufficient, out of the matrix and off the grid. Or as much as you realistically can while holding down a full time job, supporting a family, paying a mortgage.

I hope these posts have been of interest. I am finished with them for now. In fact there has been a big gap recently as I took my own advice and started spending much more time gardening, training, fishing and foraging.

I run Bushcraft Survival Training Courses in Glengarriff/Cork if you are interested in upskilling; and if you are interested in survival gear I can recommend Prepper & Bushcraft Store in Macroom/Cork.

Homework:
Asses and re-plan

Coronavirus - From A Practical Survival Approach (11)

Tip 1. Kindling
 
Use dry days and dry weeks to stockpile kindling into boxes or bags. 2/3 pieces of proper newspaper, plus a large double handful of kindling will get your fire started; instead of being dependent on fire lighters.

Fire is really important for sterilizing water, cooking, heat, cleaning and morale. If fire lighters become scarce, or you decide you have more important things to spend your money on, then having dry kindling stockpiled makes lighting your fire/stove painless.

If missing newspaper then a handful of dead dry grass or reeds will take a flame from a match.

Kindling needs to be dead, lying on the ground, and dry; so pick your dry days.


Homework:
Find some boxes or bags and get collecting kindling

Coronavirus - From A Practical Survival Approach (10)

Tip 1. Gardening
Do you have a vegetable garden to supply some, or most, of your food? If things were far worse than where we currently find ourselves, with food becoming scarce, imagine the peace of mind if you could simply walk into your back garden and harvest your own vegetables...

Apart from the practical element of providing food, veg gardening can be great exercise, very therapeutic, incredibly satisfying, and keeps you right in touch with nature.

1. You probably do not have an acre of land to garden, but you probably have a back garden, a front lawn, a flower bed, window boxes, a flat roof, a balcony, an indoor sunroom, or something! Dig it up and plant it up!

2. Do you need the pavement or driveway that wraps around your house? Do you need the tarmac driveway that leads up to your house? Can you build veg boxes or throw down some topsoil on the tarmac and create a garden? Park the car at the bottom of your driveway.

3. People; sometimes individually, sometimes collectively; plant up areas of waste ground/common ground/park land. This is grey area - as you do not own the land - but it is being done. You become veg squatters.

4. Make a deal with someone nearby who owns land that is not being used. Perhaps you garden their field and in return you give them a percentage of your crops.

Good veg gardening is an awesome skill and a real art form. However in it's basic form it can also be pretty simple - just do it, make mistakes, learn, grow and harvest. Be organized, plan ahead, save seeds for the following year, and most of all wage war on slugs!

Getting started - advice from an experienced gardener is best of all, or a good book, or a good website.

You can dig a bed (photo 1). You can mulch the lawn with rotten hay/silage, seaweed, grass cuttings, old carpet, plastic sheeting; and plant down through the mulch (photo 2). You can build a raised bed (photo 3). You can build a veg box (photo 4).

Scrape back a circle in the mulch for each plant. Avoid seaweed touching the plant as the salt will burn. Make an x cut in the carpet or plastic sheeting and plant through the cut. The benefit of mulching is very little digging and prevents weeds. Beware of plastic sheeting flapping in the wind and uprooting your plants.

Potatoes are a nice crop to begin with and this is the time for planting.

Although you do not want to be dependent on a single crop, apparently in the 1800s one acre of potatoes could feed a large Irish family for a year.

I strongly recommend to buy organic seeds/plants, be organic, don't use pesticides, look after the soil and the earth - which is nurturing you.

I have always found the main pest to be slugs. They can be devastating. The only cure I have found personally for slugs is to hit the garden at night, pick them off, drop them into a container of boiling water to kill them, then into the compost heap where they can do some good, or feed them (dead) to the hens/ducks.


Homework:
Convert your space for veg gardening
Get composting, digging, planting
Start small, keep it simple
Think ahead to winter and spring crops
Be vigilant for slugs

Outdoors Ireland Training School - Course Meet Locations (Pre-Booking Required)

+353 (0) 86 860 45 63 : info@outdoorsireland.com

Coronavirus - From A Practical Survival Approach (9)

Tip 1. Partial & Simple Foraging
This link is a previous blog I did on eleven foods to forage: https://outdoorsireland.blogspot.com/…/11-simple-edible-foo… You may have access to all of them or a couple of them.

Running out of food is unlikely in this situation, but this is really good stuff to know regardless (and just in case). Really satisfying to be able to do, and a lovely exercise for the family.

1. Please note the seed of a yew is FATAL.
2. Please note not to pick living old man's beard moss off a tree; just collect what is blown onto the ground.
3. Please forage responsibly and sparingly, just a little bit here and a little bit there. Picking or cutting cleanly - leaving the root/stem intact for future growth.
4. Be aware of where you are picking, anywhere sprayed with weedkiller/roundup/pest repellent will most likely be highly toxic.

Some of these previously mentioned books have great in-depth forage info: https://outdoorsireland.blogspot.com/…/coronavirus-from-pra…


Homework:
Get into the garden or country lane and get foraging; just a little and responsibly
In terms of survival skills and lowering your food consumption - can you manage a light lunch a couple days each week from foraged items?

Coronavirus - From A Practical Survival Approach (8)

Tip 1. Composting
With good composting and recycling you can end up with so little actual proper refuse each week. Reason for composting is (1) you are building up easy access to a worm supply for fishing; and (2) you are creating black gold for your vegetable garden, with zero cost and not a huge effort.

Books and online will give you so much information to composting and the science, but it can also be very simple.

1. Create an area for composting. A heap at the bottom of your garden. The inner corner of a wall or fence. A big dustbin. A proper compost bin from your garden center. A simple structure built from pallets.

2. Ideally your compost is enclosed/walled to minimize it becoming messy, plus dog/cat/vermin.

3. Throw in anything and everything bio-degradable. Tea bags, coffee grinds, newspaper, grass clippings, manure, dead animals, seaweed, cardboard, moldy fruit/veg, kitchen scraps, wood ash (just not coal ash).

4. Good to layer it, rip up the cardboard and newspaper a little. Sprinkle seaweed or wood ash on top in summer months to cut down on fruit flies.

5. You may want to put out some mouse/rat traps under a container. The other way to minimize a mouse/rat issue is never put any cooked food scraps/bread/etc into the compost.

6. Your kitchen waste becomes gold dust for a veg garden or fruit trees. No more money spent on bags of compost from a garden center. Have you a nearby coast where you can responsibly gather dead washed up seaweed? Have you a local farmer or stable where you can get manure to really activate your compost?


Homework:
Make a compost area, ideally enclosed or semi enclosed, and start composting.

The Wrong Kind Of Bushcraft Knife

When choosing a bushcraft knife or hunting knife - this is why it's so important to have a long length, or ideally full length, 'tang'. The tang is the part of your blade which extends right into your handle.

Parts Of A Knife Diagram: https://www.foodfirefriends.com/parts-of-a-knife/

This break happens easier than you may think. In fact this break here happened to a kitchen knife as I was slicing celery.

Coronavirus - From A Practical Survival Approach (7)

Tip 1. Torch & Radio:

Both super useful bits of kit and you probably have them already. But if not consider getting a decent head torch and a decent, yet simple, fm radio - ideally needing only two aa batteries to run.

Stock up on batteries for several months, to run both your torch and your radio. Google the best way to store batteries long term.

Homework:

Get yourself a radio and a torch

Get yourself several months supply of batteries for both

Coronavirus - From A Practical Survival Approach (6)

Tip 1. Resources Water:

Water - far more important then food. You can survive about three weeks without food. You can survive about three days without water.

In order of priority you need water for drinking, cleaning wounds, cooking, washing, cleaning general.

Dirty water can be SIVED through a bottle/container of moss, wood charcoal and sand. Dirty water can then be STERILIZED by boiling for three mins. A one min boil will do at our altitudes, but I always say on training courses - boil for three mins to be safe.

Info on different methods of sterilizing water here; however boiling is simplest and best: https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/pdf/drinking/Backcountry_Water_Treatment.pdf

Do you rely on mains water; therefore relying on someone else for your life-source? Do you rely on an electric pump to pump water up from your well in the back garden; therefore relying on electricity for your life-source? What happens if the mains fails, the electricity fails, or contamination happens?

Neither of these above options are good. Ideally you have your own gravity fed well; which is simply a big and dependable hole in the ground, water running in a pipe downhill from it and into your house and a big tank.

We have two gravity fed wells, a primary well and a backup well. Our water from the kitchen sink and our water from the roof gutters is collected and used for the vegetable garden and fruit trees; especially useful in heatwaves and big freezes. Our ducks have access to a swampy bog cutting out some of their water quota. However for a lot of people this is not possible, especially if you live in a town or estate.

So what can you do if the above paragraph is not possible for you?

1. Once things are back to normal look into getting off-grid and self-sufficient with all your water needs.

2. Right now find a river/stream/bog that can give you a dependable water supply - should you need it. It should be within walking distance ideally, cutting out dependence on a vehicle. Worst case you should be able to cycle to it with improvised water panniers on your bike.

Practice using it for a week, or one day each week.

Get your water from as high an altitude as possible. It should be clean and fast flowing (unless in a bog). Above a factory/farm/main road/housing estate, not below. Check for pollutants, mouse/rat evidence, dead animals.

SIVING is not essential and in fact just leaving water to sit in a bucket/jug for a couple of hours will allow most sediment to settle or be scooped out.

STERILIZING is essential, no matter how clean you feel the water is. Cleaning wounds, washing dishes, brushing teeth all happens with sterilized water.

Homework:

Think about a long-term water plan

Find a self-sufficient water point, as close as possible

Practice self-sufficient water, with everything that entails

Organise the various water containers you would need

Coronavirus - From A Practical Survival Approach (5)

Tip 1. Fill up your vehicle with fuel and always keep it full. This is general best practice anyway, regardless of coronavirus. You don't know when you may urgently need a vehicle; and while fuel shortages are unlikely - they are possible.

Not just a full tank of petrol/diesel, but also keep a daily check on water, coolant, oil, transmission fluid and brake/clutch fluid. Lay up an extra container or two of each of these. Lay up several large containers of petrol/diesel - and be very aware of the fire hazard they could cause you!

Cut your driving to a minimum - save fuel. If you absolutely have to drive, driving slow, gentle, no unnecessary accelerating or braking, use the gears properly, stick at 80km per hour max - this will all help your fuel consumption.


Homework: If you have the money to spare get to a petrol station or friendly mechanic and stock up

Coronavirus - From A Practical Survival Approach (4)

Tip 1. Buy one or all five of these books; depending on your situation and interest. They have been my bibles for many years.

The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency, By John Seymour

SAS Survival Handbook (small edition), By John Lofty Wiseman

Food For Free, By Richard Mabey/Collins Gem

Self-Sufficiency: Foraging For Wild Foods, By David Squire

200 Veg Growing Basics, By Hamlyn
This may be out of print now, but any simple and decent veg gardening book for beginners should do. This one looks decent - Vegetable Growing Month By Month, By John Harrison


Homework:
Invest in some or all of these books

Coronavirus - From A Practical Survival Approach (3)

Tip 1. Resources Food:
Food is important and needs a specific post. In western civilisation, in general, we waste far too much food. Start cooking a little less, eating a little less. Plates should literally be licked clean - no more wastage.

Did you know carrot tops can be eaten, instead of put in the compost? If you are topping and tailing veg - then remove the absolute minimum. Stop peeling things like potatoes, parsnips, carrots - those peelings are all part of your valuable edible food. If you are peeling an onion - take off the bare minimum outer skin. Start eating the core of apples/pears. Pans tend to be put for wash up still coated with sauce/soup that could have been eaten. Bags of flour/cereal/coffee tend to be thrown out still with food within the bag.

One tea bag will give you in the region of five cups of tea - yet so many of us use one tea bag per cup of tea, then bin the tea bag.

Some of this sounds silly - but is so simple to effect. Just change your thinking - put yourself in the shoes of a starving African family - do you think they would be throwing away an apple core or not licking their soup bowls clean?

Any absolute essential food wastage should either be composted or fed to your animals/pets - thus cutting down on animal/pet food needed. Composting is important and I will cover that soon.


Homework:
Cook a little less, eat a little less, most importantly stop all wastage

Coronavirus - From A Practical Survival Approach (2)

Tip 1. Resources General:

Everything you have right now is a valuable resource. Get really clever with how you use your resources. If you start to worry about running out of matches when your match supply has dwindled, then it is too late. Right now you need to nurse all your resources and do not waste anything.

Can you light all the candles with just one match? Can you light the fire with half the firelighters you generally use? Can your dog be fed a little less dog-food? Is that car-run really necessary, or can you conserve your petrol? Will two glasses of wine do instead of three?

Three weeks of food in our normal day to day living can be stretched into five weeks of food no problem. However as I say, if you wait until your supplies are dwindling, then you have left it too late.

Homework:

While you are in a good position resource-wise, get really clever with every resource you have

Business Training/Coaching/Mentoring - Fire Fighting For Coronavirus

I am running business training/coaching/mentoring on a one-to-one basis (via phone/skype), for outdoor adventure businesses; who are facing into a pretty worrying, possibly terrifying, period.

Time to hope for the best, but plan and prepare for the worst - in terms of your business and surviving this. Time to come up with an immediate and a longer term 'fire fighting' plan.

In fifteen years of running Outdoors Ireland I have never seem business crumble like right now, but with a cool head and careful planning there is every chance you can come out of this ready to operate again.

Get in touch on info@outdoorsireland.com or 086 860 45 63 if you are interested. Thanks, Nathan Kingerlee - Outdoors Ireland

Coronavirus - From A Practical Survival Approach (1)

Unfortunately not everyone is as organised as the preppers and survivalists; the likes of Irish Survivalist Group ISG and Irish Prepper and Bushcraft Store. Fair play to those guys.

With a family member in the middle of intensive chemotherapy - I am well aware of how dangerous the virus will prove for certain demographics. However the main risk is:

(1) Panic

(2) Reliance many of us have on essential services we take for granted. Reliance there will always be food in the shops; petrol in the petrol stations; paracetamol in the chemist; a local doctor on hand; a local A&E that can attend to your broken wrist; a working phone network; and so on.

I am going to post a couple of simple/achievable survival tips here every couple of days; aimed at your conventional person/family living in a semi-detached house in a town, and probably not an organised prepper or a self sufficient farmer/forager.

Keep in mind that the full armagedon may come in time, as nuclear, virus, climate, meteorite, etc - but this in 2020 is not the armagedon.

Tip 1. Slow Down. Relax. Put Yourself In Control of what you can control and try not to worry about what you cannot control.

Tip 2. It would be silly and flippant to say enjoy all this; but Be Aware of the press media panic, social media panic, world-wide uncertainty, travel restrictions, supermarket food restrictions, quiet streets. You are living through a piece of history, that will be written into the history annals and told to your grandchildren. You have seen movies about this, but probably never imagined it would happen.

Tip 3. If your world is in upheaval; no work, kids at home, perhaps in self-quarantine (as we are), nowhere to go, nothing to do - then put up a Detailed Daily Routine on a big sheet of paper on your wall. In proper survival there is nothing worse then no definite purpose/no definite routine to your day. Everyone in your family needs to know how each day will run. When is breakfast? When is family walk? When is screen time for the kids? When is your personal time? When do you do your office work? When does your phone get switched off? Everyone needs to input and fully buy into this.

Homework:

Digest these three tips

Put a detailed daily routine up on your wall

Recent Glengarriff Bay Sea Kayaking Shots

Round up of recent sea kayaking in Glengarriff Bay and Glengarriff Nature Reserve