Lots of people are very interested in foraging - sometimes they do courses with Ray Mears or former SAS members. It seems entirely logical to me to combine foraging with cycling, which after all is just 'natural' human powered transport, with 6 or 8 times better mechanical advantage than legs alone. I'm sure the OP will find people who will jump at the chance of joining this expedition. But perhaps these people are more likely to be on bushcraft forums than cycling ones?
Unique Cycling Tour...Riders Wanted
- Thread starter smith4188
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
SatNavSaysStraightOn
Changed hemispheres!
- Location
- ɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ 'ɐɹɹǝquɐƆ
Being one of those people, I'm not certain they will. Normally foraging is on foot and most of the people I know from 'that' society would travel by foot or car. In fact the only other person I can think of away from here that I know would not bat an eyelid over cycling that kind of distance (in excess of 2,000 miles) is my husband. And my experience of people who do the Ray Mears or similar courses (have done them) is that they are that half of them have never even camped before let alone slept outdoors (and half of those have never cooked their own food before either) and the other half have been camping all their life and are looking at survival options for more remote areas. It is only the ones who have gone on and subsequently applied those principles and carried on living outside that could be interested and then you have to convince them that cycling is an option. I think you stand a better chance with cyclists personally. The outdoor survivalists I know are much more overweight and lazy!
Ganymede
Veteran
- Location
- Rural Kent
That's funny! Perhaps they want to live off their own stored resources!
I do cycle to forage - there's a patch of wild garlic on my commute! I was working with a woman who was into all that stuff like me and used to collect a carrier bag-full on the way in to give to her. She loved it as there was none near her.
SatNavSaysStraightOn
Changed hemispheres!
- Location
- ɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ 'ɐɹɹǝquɐƆ
can you get me some please? I can't get my trike to the only patch I know of here because the barriers are too narrow to get a trike through and I can't travel by car (can't sit) and can't walk that far, so we are having to do without this year. No wild garlic pesto
Ganymede
Veteran
- Location
- Rural Kent
Oh that's bad! Do you think it's postable? I guess first class it shouldn't be too horrible by the time it gets to you?can you get me some please? I can't get my trike to the only patch I know of here because the barriers are too narrow to get a trike through and I can't travel by car (can't sit) and can't walk that far, so we are having to do without this year. No wild garlic pesto
SatNavSaysStraightOn
Changed hemispheres!
- Location
- ɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ 'ɐɹɹǝquɐƆ
they wilt something chronic unfortunately so I'm not certain they would survive postage. they are such fragile leaves sadly. I guess I will have to try nettle pesto instead. Never tried it before, so that will be some consolation. I can easily get at nettles that are well out of the way of even a certain Irish Wolf Hound. thank you for the offer! SNSSO
Ganymede
Veteran
- Location
- Rural Kent
Nettles are really delicious too, aren't they. I am looking forward to my first nettle flan - they are still a bit small round here for picking.
SatNavSaysStraightOn
Changed hemispheres!
- Location
- ɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ 'ɐɹɹǝquɐƆ
Nettles are much tastier than spinach and far more nutritious. I much prefer them. Some are now around 1 foot high here, but the growth is not vigorous yet, it is still quite spindly... so they will need a little longer - but today is quite warm now and a few days like this will get them growing really well.
over on Shaun's CookingBites forum I have posted up some nettle soup, nettle bread and nettle cordial recipes. I have yet to post up my favourite which is nettle gnocchi!
must post up the nettle pesto recipe as well...
OP
OP
smith4188
Veteran
- Location
- Spain / Isle of Man
:-) I like the term 'paleopadalling' but the paleo diet bans grains, doesn't it? And flour and pasta are two of the cheapest ways of getting calories into your body. So it definitely won't be paleo, maybe more 17th century.
steveindenmark
Legendary Member
I think its a great idea but also think £1 a day is a big ask. £5 would be an achievement. If the other riders cheat and use more than a quid, do they get sent home in disgrace. Or you just glower at them over the campfire while they eat their chocolate?
Here is my cooking tip.
Banana pancake......can also be eaten cold the next day.
Mash a banana really well with a fork. Add 2 eggs and whisk it all together. Cook like a pancake. I like mine with honey. Full of protein and cheap. I make small pancakes and take them on rides for lunch.
Here is my cooking tip.
Banana pancake......can also be eaten cold the next day.
Mash a banana really well with a fork. Add 2 eggs and whisk it all together. Cook like a pancake. I like mine with honey. Full of protein and cheap. I make small pancakes and take them on rides for lunch.
OP
OP
smith4188
Veteran
- Location
- Spain / Isle of Man
Cheers! The banana pancake sounds good.
If the budget constraints break anyone I think they'd be off to the pub rather than sat around the camp fire.
If the budget constraints break anyone I think they'd be off to the pub rather than sat around the camp fire.
w00hoo_kent
One of the 64K
- Location
- Maidstone or Greenwich
I want my survivalists a bit podgy, I don't trust the skinny ones to know what they are doing :-)
I know someone involved with Bushcraft magazine, I don't know whether they would be interested in the idea.
Ganymede
Veteran
- Location
- Rural Kent
Re paleo: just thought I'd share. Do not read if you are a paleo devotee. Otherwise read and crack up. @SatNavSaysStraightOn, in your case read the whole website. I'm in bed ill at present and it's kept me going...
http://the-toast.net/2014/12/03/day-life-cavemen-ancestors/
EDIT: NOT SAFE FOR WORK, LANGUAGE!!! DO NOT CLICK IF YOU HATE SWEARING!
http://the-toast.net/2014/12/03/day-life-cavemen-ancestors/
EDIT: NOT SAFE FOR WORK, LANGUAGE!!! DO NOT CLICK IF YOU HATE SWEARING!
Bodhbh
Guru
Well you have plenty of opportunity to notice it on a bike. Wrong time of year, but the commute takes in plenty of blackberries, elderberries, wild hops, some sloes, and....roadkill. There's generally a dead pheasant on the road every couple of months. I've never collected them, but I've been close. You know they're fresh if you do the route twice aday, tho I guess someone who know's their stuff would be able to tell. A fresh badger appeared this week!
The blackberries, the couple of times I bothered to stop last September, I was picking a 1-2 kg per hour. Hardly made a dent in what was out there. Inexustable suppy, at least for my uses.
I dunno if you could eat well from foraging, but it can't be any worse than a couple people I've seen on tour - just chomping bowls of cheap museli to keep going and no eating out or cooking. It sounds like a step up from that. Then again, some people have zero interest in food.
