Wild Hut 10

Location:

Govan, Glasgow South-Side

I decided to spend my next hutting adventure with my daughter Katie who is 6. If it takes around 5 hours to build a hut, I was fairly sure she would be bored and cold after 1 – especially on these dark winter evenings. It would also be an organisational struggle to get her home, showered and ready in time for school the next morning.

So I decided to venture out the evening before in an effort to prepare the materials and complete the main structural work. I donned my wellies and wandered out through a quiet industrial estate, on-route to the River Clyde like an urban farmer. As I approached a redundant patch of land on the river bank, I noticed a fox racing past at speed. It was bounding high through the tall grass like a drugged kangaroo. I thought it must have been confronted by a passing dog walker which sent him racing for his life through the undergrowth.

The Build:

The back corner of the waste-ground had a vast pile of cut stone – part of the old quay wall and cobbled riverbank. Without haste I began the heavy work of building the base-wall. I decided the hut should have a softer, more organic feel so arranged the wall in the shape of a horse-shoe, 7 courses high and about the size of a double bed. I knew that high walls need cross-bracing so built an inner and outer leaf, using some lager blocks to brace between them.

As I lifted a stone block a large frog jumped out from between my legs. In the darkness I just noticed a fast, darting movement and jumped backwards like a big girl. In fairness though, he was a frighteningly big frog, darting around in the darkness with threatening intent…big eyes etc.

On one hand…it seemed like a sensible and secure place for a frog to hide, but on the other hand frogs are so soft and delicate in contrast to these sharp heavy blocks. I was fairly sure that at one stage I was going to accidently squish it…so picked it up and placed it well out of harms way. No sooner had I returned than another big frog was flopping around across the stones. Comically - it leaped headlong into a stone block and halted in a daze (it was either running for its life or was as blind as a bat). I picked up this kamikaze-Kermit and popped it beside his girlfriend who could easily have been his dad for all I knew. I left them with strict instructions that I didn’t want to see any tadpoles out of season…

I came back the following evening with my daughter Katie to complete the roof part of the hut. She got back from school and was fairly excited to be heading out into the cold night for an adventure! We gathered sticks and soon arranged a ladder frame roof-structure across the top of the base-wall. We then added a thick layer of twigs at which point I decided to take her home for some supper and help her with her homework…which I had forgotten about...eek.

We came back out with 3 plastic bags and gathered up bundles of golden leaves which would give the roof a great waterproofing layer. We found 2 large sticks and propped the roof up at the front in order to achieve more head room and water run-off. I liked the flexible nature of a roof that could lift or drop depending on the weather or usage.

Roughing it:

We spread our gathered leaves across the roof and pushed them flat. Katie seemed fairly excited at the prospect of spending a night in the wilds of Glasgow, although it was hard to see her expression from the dim light of her Nintendo DS…We were soon snuggled up under layers of sleeping bags with the buzz of a nearby lamp post keeping us company.

The odd firework pierced the calm night as I drifted in and out of sleep. Katie fell asleep as soon as she felt the warmth of her sleeping bag. After only a short time I woke in absolute horror at the sound of someone whistling directly outside the hut. It was a sinister whistling sound as if someone was signalling to someone, but quiet as if they were really close. I lay fairly motionless for around 20 seconds hoping that the hut wall wouldn’t suddenly be kicked down on top of us.

To my relief and embarrassment, I had only days before received a new mobile phone, which has a SMS text notification sound of someone whistling! I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the sound now. I soon fell asleep to the further sounds of Katie snoring and the continual buzz of electricity. We woke dry and warm at 7am and headed home to get cleaned up for school and a days work.

Katie was asked to stand up in class today and tell the other kids about sleeping out in a wild hut in the middle of Glasgow. I’m only glad she was talking to kids and not the social services…

Wild Hut 8

Location:

Mavis Valley, Wilderness Plantation, Bishopbriggs

Just north of Glasgow is a strange rectangular woodland which is depicted on 19^th century maps as a ‘wilderness plantation’. The woods are interrupted by an ugly recycling centre and the Roman Antonine Wall passes just yards from its north boundary. Just to the south of the woods across a field, is the lost village of Mavis Valley which was built in 1855. Nothing remains of the village today (other than some brick footings) but it was once a thriving coal mining community.

I had managed to convince my girlfriend to come and explore these woods with the possibility of building and sleeping in a hut. She suggested she was happy to go as long as it was not a regular occurrence. She had already been out ‘hutting’ the previous weekend so I was skating on thin ice. We turned sharply off-road along the old access track to Mavis Valley and came to halt in the sticky mud. I got out and pushed and we soon found a suitable place to park. The dense forest had a series of man-made ditches which ran their full length. This area had become a local dumping ground and we clambered past old prams, gas bottles and tyres to the forest beyond.

The Build:

Once we entered the woods it was clear that few people used them for recreation purposes. There was no sign of any well used footpaths or even any evolved muddy trails. We did find the odd beer can and a couple of broken tents although these looked more like teenage parties rather than the drug-dens of inner-city Glasgow. We wandered quietly across the dense wet carpet of moss and ferns, exploring this magical pristine forest.

We managed to find lots of large structural branches fairly quickly and got to work constructing the hut frame. The basic concept is much like a 4-poster bed (only the best for my girlfriend!) with a lightweight canopy above for shower protection.

I decided that the roof could be built like modular panels and lifted into place. We built 2 simple ladder-frames and tiled them with foliage. This was fairly time consuming but created light-weight, sturdy panels which were easy to lift. The structure was shower-proof in around 3 hours. I also completed the double bed by laying out lots of horizontal branches and twigs which created a springy platform.  

I decided to road test the structure so jauntily hopped-on and heard an almighty CRACK as the first structural timber split. I asked Kirsty to also apply her weight…and we soon found ourselves snapping the entire sleeping platform. Like many household beds there are often small ‘central-legs’ underneath which help support the mid point. I set about finding better timber and hammering support posts underneath around halfway. The bed was now fit for Pavarotti himself and we rolled out the sleeping bags and made a small fire.

Roughing it:

The fire kept the midges at bay which were a mild irritation the whole evening. Kirsty had earlier mentioned that she had been bitten by a mosquito like creature. After stupidly explaining to her that ‘we don’t really get mosquitoes in Scotland’ – I soon noticed one sinking its needle-like face into my arm. This is the first time I had ever seen a mosquito in Scotland let alone jousting with a family of them in the forest. I later found I had large blister-like bites all over, along with the smaller midge bites and a variety of sheep ticks clinging to exposed areas of skin. Of the 3 I still think midges are the most irritating although ticks are itchy after the event much like mosquitoes. The mosquitoes though do have the most irritating bite which can be blister-like for days after. I guess this is the effects of climate-change and something us Scots will have to get used to.

Our sleep was often broken by noisy trucks screeching past the woods or the occasional firework from a nearby housing scheme. I had expected to see deer or foxes but the woods remained eerily quiet other than a distant falling branch cracking the silence.

We woke to another cool sunny morning and left as we had arrived via the recycling plant. Kirsty remarked that she didn’t have a single tick or mosquito bite. Enviously, I suggested it’s because bugs only like clean people! She smiled as I looked down at my filthy clothing, and the scent of wet earth.



Wild Hut 7

Location – Mugdock Woods, North Glasgow.

Group Hut

‘Experience gathering’ defines humankind’s behavioural and evolutionary makeup. Our perception is the process by which we ingest our experiences in unique ways and store them in the library-vaults of our minds. The sum total of these memories help to define who we are; ‘we are…what we experience!’…maybe.

I decided to take some city kids out into the woods for a spot of ‘experience gathering’…but mainly for grass and timber gathering! My daughter Katie is 6 years old and my girlfriend Kirsty’s niece and nephew (Jamie-Lee & Robert) are both 12. We decided to take them to a vast, deciduous woodland just north of Glasgow to build a shelter big enough for 5 people. I grew up building dens in the woods and feel its something a lot of young kids are missing out on. The woods can be an inspirational and immersive place for a child and can supply real wholesome worthwhile experiences that are hard to shake.

 

To keep it simple, we planned to build a traditional cone-shaped teepee. We picked up the kids around 10am and headed for Mugdock woods just beyond Milngavie. It was dry and sunny, although forecast for rain through the night. We backtracked along the West Highland Way trail until we found a delightful clearing with a ready supply of broken branches nearby. Kirsty armed the team with some scissors and knives and went off to collect bales of long grass for roofing tiles.

 

I was collecting wood when a lady suddenly appeared with some yappy dogs. ‘What’s going on here?’ she said in a stern authoritative voice which instantly annoyed me. I asked her why people can’t pick up fallen branches in the woods in today’s society without raising suspicion? I then proceeded to tell her that most of the mess around this area is from dog-poo. She apologised profusely and disappeared down the trail in a blur of furry yaps.

I managed to find around ten 2.5m long fallen branches which I whittled with the axe until tidy and straight. I arranged them in a circular cone-shape (3m diameter) and bound horizontal rails between each tilted upright (like a ring of triangular ladders). The rails would support the roofing tiles and stop them draping inwards (the more ladder-rails you have essentially means that water will run off rather than drain through. It also has a laminating effect and braces the whole structure rigidly).     

 

I quite fancied a shelter which had a hole in the roof for an internal fire chimney, but heavy rain was forecast so I decided the roof should be closed and the fire located outside near the entrance.

    

It took around 5 hours to gather all the timber and build the main structure. By this time we only had enough grass for around a 5^th of the hut’s roof. We stopped for dinner and decided on a change of material. The team’s hands were cut to ribbons collecting the sharp grass and binding them into bales so we decided on softer bracken instead. This was a much quicker process and the whole roof was complete by 9pm.

Kirsty built a smoky fire which duly dispersed the biting midges and we all sat round to toast marshmallows on sticks. I rolled out the sleeping bags (5 deep) and by 10:30pm the kids were suitably knackered and snuggled up in the hut searching for dreamland. (Although we stayed mostly dry - a more substantial porch would have been a welcome addition to keep out driving rain during the night.) The roofing tiles shed the bulk of the rain exceptionally well and it just goes to show what can be achieved with a little time and allot of effort.

 

Around 7am, a group of walkers appeared outside the hut in matching red wellies (there must have been a sale on), extremely surprised to find that the hut was actually occupied! I slept through the whole event though so would have been completely useless had it been a dangerous situation (I had already checked the internet and most violent crime does happen between Thursday and Sunday, but very rarely in the morning…so I slept soundly!).



Jamie-Lee & Robert



I’m not overly sure what the long term effect of hut building and sleeping rough in the forest would be for the kids. They suffer from an experiential-overload much of the time so I’m not sure if these ‘primitive experiences’ can compete with the likes of Harry Potter, the Nintendo-DS and the X-Factor (although you don’t have to pull blood-sucking ticks out your bum watching x-factor!).

Wilderness Shelter - Mugdock woods