Continued...

...my bag and organised what I needed. In minutes it was all over. I chose a different route leaving the woods to cover my tracks. It was no more than a mile back to LJ where crew was waiting. As I came into view crew could see that my expedition had come good and hanging from my nylon cord was a plentiful supply of seasoned wood for the cobb bbq... 

Where's me wabbit then?

Well how else was I gona cook the vegi stir fry?

Now the problem so far with our cobb bbq, which is really designed for burning charcoal, is that it needs a lot of wood burned down to embers so that it stays hot without being smokey. The last attempt gave pizza tasting like a mixture of engineers grease (I thought Deb had cleaned the new griddle and vice versa) and acrid damp wood smoke. Didn't stop us eating it as it was late and we were famished. This time the fire was good and big so there should be lots of embers. Unfortunately the required heat didn't last for long and the wok made a quick exit to the galley. Deb had made some welsh cakes that would be perfect on the griddle, and the temperature was about right. They cooked really well, nice and evenly brown on both sides and light and fluffy, unfortunately they still had the acrid smokey taste so the next batch were also cooked inside. I wont let it beat me! there must be a way of getting it right.

I had also bought a couple of small roundels of beech branch in to consider using as bases for one of my mini gem trees. The little pull saw cuts them so neatly that they don't even need sanding. Unfortunately some critters had thought that they would make good homes for themselves as well. A tell tale sign the next day of a neat round hole and gritty saw dust on the shelf sent shivers down my spine. Woodworm and a wooden fitted boat is not a great combination. We are being extra vigilant but I suspect that the age of the wood and the fact that it is oak, iroko or other hard woods will turn the worm away.  

A nice quiet day inside today, keeping clear of the hail showers, oh and fitting a new water filter below decks. 

That hail is gona be hurting someone's face.. oh yes..

 

The worm has turned...

Setting off, alone, I skirted the north eastern edge of the private estate known as 'all oaks wood'. I knew that this would be the most likely location that I would successfully be able to stalk my quarry. Tonight's meal was depending on it. I was travelling light, a small, lightweight day bag holding only the essential items that I would need, no more - no less.

I could hear a car approaching in the distance. By my estimation I would just have sufficient time to leave the openness of the lane and get deep enough into the woods to be able to guarantee seclusion. Although the estate had been know as 'all oaks' for a considerable time in reality there were very few oaks remaining and the beech trees that now proliferated provided little cover from their high canopies and slender trunks. 

Evidence of activity lay all around, a well trodden footpath, possibly leading to a farm or manor house; a recent tyre track from a mountain bike, its furrows growing fresh water into puddles. Shotgun cartridges. The wood was not particularly deep and I could see an opening to an arable field no further than a couple of hundred yards away. I knew my time and opportunities were running out and the crew that I had left back aboard would be getting hungry.

My opportunity presented itself. From behind the broadest of beech trees I could see what I had come here for. Not too big nor, too small and about the right age from what I could see. I quickly opened my bag....

To be continued