4x4RNE Kielder Forrest Training Nov 09

[nigel leyland]

The weekend of the 28th November 09 saw members of RNE gather at the Kielder Village carpark to indulge in two days of training. Together with the usual off road training afforded by this venue with many differing terrain options, including stone and sand quarries peat bog and gravel surfaces deep wading etc......the weather again helped make things more interesting with freezing conditions from day one especially on Forest Drive (highest toll road in England and closed to the public during winter months) with High winds and rain for day two......which was fine by us considering that the majority of call outs are liable to be due to such weather conditions, all the more realistic! :D Many thanks to our member Paul & The Forestry for the provision and execution.



We also partook in a "Fire Extinguisher Tutorial and Practical Exercise" Most enlightening. Not that most of us have not had various H&S insruction on same, but I've never actually used one before and being able to do so does make a big difference to one understanding of their operation. Plus I got to light fires in a forest....not something one gets to do everyday! :lol: (OK it was in the quarry, but that was in the forest..)

Many thanks for the above to our member Ken.



Hopefully we will get the chance to use the forest again in the future and I'll be issueing a thank you to the appropate official asap, and although we have offered places to other groups, it's a tad far north for most to travel.....so I'll be requesting if at all possible other forests around the country be made available for local groups to use.....can't hurt to try!



Nigel.

[Jim Wallace]

Nigel well done with training in the forest we in Wales already have access to a few forestry sites for training which are fantastic and hopefully will get a few more to use in the future.

You will find that some forestry managers are very obliging but can take a bit of persuading with others though.

[nigel leyland]

As an footnote....



As we gathered in the car park on the Saturday, there was also a group of cyclists including children and I asked Paul if we would be liable to encounter them during the day. Paul thought that as they would be using the "cycle tracks" it was unlikely but as a precaution introduced himself and made them aware of who and what we were doing. It seemed prudent at the time.



Low and behold, as we later negotiated a particularly technical section of trail we met up with one rider, who had taken a wrong turn and gotten lost.....no not unsure of his local.....lost, almost entirely, as he was still reasonably sure he was still in the forest.....the trees being a bit of a give away! :lol:



Soon had him back on track, but it does demonstrate that even in situations where we should not have encountered anyone, we still did and prudent safety precautions should always be adhered to.



Nigel.

[BobWessex]

As a follow-up to Nigel's story above. I can easily see a situation where said lost cyclist could have come off and injured himself.



2 questions then come to mind,

1) would anyone have been aware? - i.e. is there any record of who goes into the forest?

2) who would have been used to look for him? --- I can think of an answer to that one :D :D :roll:

[nigel leyland]

1. Yes, he was with a group but they obviously all cycled at there own pace also his car would have been noticed in the car park eventually but I doubt he would have survided overnight at this time of year in the forest wearing only lycra!



2. I suspect the local search and rescue group would come to mind initially but, as we were already there......and had already found him (or him us) job done before the call as it were..... :D



Nigel.