Felshampo

Twenty year old land rovers are free so maybe working boats.........

Think I'll do the Caldon.

Great boat name!

Would be a very quiet forum if that was not true

I worked at an outdoor centre in the Solent for a few years and the accepted ratio was 6 to one instructor. ( on sheltered water) as for the scouts, don't get me started......they have a more adventurous attitude to safety, shall we say and don't follow the BCU guidelines on instructor qualifications.

All good, more to consider thanks

Sounds good thanks.

I've got a couple of days spare and plan to do a walk that incorporates a canal. I normally like to go somewhere in the Peaks but fancy exploring one of the waterways. I will usually manage about 15 to 20 miles over the two days with an overnight bivvy. It needs to be a round trip to get back to the car. What can you recommend, as the people on the ground, so to speak? I was looking at the Erawash but I am open to any other suggestions. Cheers Jon

And when you try and tell that to the young people of today......they don't believe you!

"We were appier in them days even though we wus poor"

That Was The Week That Was! TWTWTW or TW3?

Did the Leeds Liverpool marathon when I was young and went through all the tunnels. At night with no light at the end of the tunnel to head for is very scary, especially in an unstable racing kayak. Bouncing off the walls was particularly memorable. Didn't think twice about it then, wouldn't do it now!

Several species of solitary wasps and bees put caterpillars in holes and then lay eggs on them. Any chance of a photo and then I should be able to give you an ID.

Your lucky!! There was 15 of us including the Titanic.

An old trick I learnt in minnesota was not to wash, after about six weeks all the insects ignore you!

It looks to work well, would you really prefer the seperator sort just because it is tall? What sort of loo do you have Peter?

As a regular " wild " camper for forty years I have been burying my shit a lot and it is not a big problem on a small scale. Dried shit is even better of course. Also a lot of animal waste, cattle, horse and especially chicken is dried and then spread on the fields were most of the decomposition takes place. I think most animals also shit in the woods, don't they? I luv how defensive some of the "committee" get with topics like this.

Yes I have and used an epipen as well but with thousands (millions?) of people stung every year and only a few going into anaphyaxis you need to keep things in perspective. I agree anaphylactic shock is very nasty. You are right that was a bit infantile but the thread has descended into a pissing competition and it released my inner child, sorry. All I really wanted to say was that if an insect (or spider) enters you home (boat) then try just opening a window or hatch and letting it go. If on the other hand you feel the need to kill it then that is up to you. I think I have also had enough. Toodle-oo.

Malaria is caused by a protozoa, not an insect, the mosquito is just a vector. I don't think the thread is hysterical but abandoning your boat when one virtually harmless insect flies into it Is. And killing things for no good reason is silly at best and immoral at worst. As I said in an ealier post I thought living on a canal would lead people to appreciating wildlife not wanting to exterminate it.

I totally agree. Lack of morals more like, and bacteria are the top of the food chain , not us. I don't think that the bonnet and headlights are more aerodynamic now

I have been fortunate to take hundreds of children and adults on many field courses studying insects. In that time we have often come upon wasp and hornet nests. By simply going in the opposite direction and not attacking the insects I can say I have never had anyone in these groups "set upon" some have been stung but I regard the stinging nettle more unpleasant. I am not advocating that you welcome them into your abode! However the use of chemicals, electric zappers and the rest to kill them I do disagree with. When I had my first car back in the seventies the first thing you had to do before cleaning it was to remove the huge numbers of squashed insects from the screen and bonnet. Due to the catastrophic collapse of insect numbers over the past fifty years that problem is a thing of the past. ONE of the reasons for this decline is that far too many people just see insects (and lots of other wildlife) as pests to be killed. If I had a £ for everytime I had been asked " whats the point of....( insert insect name ) I could afford to buy a boat. Sorry....rant over.

Apparently according to wasp law thats bollocks!

What makes honeybees or great crested newts better than wasps?

I have had hornets come into our home on several occasions. Never saw the need to kill them. Sense of proportion - I couldn't agree more. Wasps are hymenoptera not heteroptera!