Survival camping with my 4 & 6 year old sons in the Scottish highlands. We built primitive shelters and foraging food for our meals.
My family and I spent 21 days touring the UK and while in Scotland we signed up for a wilderness survival and bushcraft class with Wildwoodbushcraft.com. Me and my 4yr old and 6 yr old sons build survival shelters and slept in them. Foraged the loch for our breakfast and learned valuable bushcraft and foraging skills.
My family and I spent 21 days touring the UK and while in Scotland we signed up for a wilderness survival and bushcraft class with Wildwoodbushcraft.com. Me and my 4yr old and 6 yr old sons build survival shelters and slept in them. Foraged the loch for our breakfast and learned valuable bushcraft and foraging skills.
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TravelTranscript
00:00Luke, Tom and Nate here at the Outdoor Boys YouTube channel and today we're in the Highlands
00:04of Scotland and we're about to do a survival camping trip.
00:09We're going to build shelters, we're going to try to catch our own dinner, we're going
00:13to forge food.
00:14This is going to be awesome.
00:15You guys ready?
00:16Yeah!
00:17See this is a special net that protects your head from the bugs.
00:29You see these no-seams are everywhere, gnats or whatever, so the boys have got themselves
00:33hoods and I might bust one out here too in a little bit, but so far I'm doing okay.
00:37Nathan, what is that?
00:38My throwing rock.
00:39You see when I'm out and it starts a fire.
00:46This class we're doing is through WildwoodBushcraft.com and Leon here is going to be our teacher.
00:53This man has bitten off more than he can chew.
00:56He is going to see if he can survive a four-year-old and a six-year-old.
01:02There's all these big black slugs here.
01:05I thought they were deer poop honestly.
01:07Oh look it, you've got a whole fist full of slugs.
01:13Keep an eye out in the water for a sea otter.
01:14Also, you might be able to say we saw this big shoal of fish coming in today.
01:18Come on guys, keep going.
01:20Man, it's just absolutely gorgeous scenery, look at this.
01:26This is such a cool forest.
01:30Sometimes water runs down and the tree comes in.
01:33You can see it's already dry.
01:36So we know that the rain doesn't get down here very much because it's already dry even
01:40though it's been raining all day, so we wouldn't have to build as much if we built a shelter
01:44here.
01:45Could you guys fit under there you think?
01:47You fit, you totally fit under there.
01:48Is this a little clover?
01:49Yeah, it looks like clover but it isn't clover, it's actually called wood sorrel.
01:54So it's quite sour.
01:55You've got that near your bed, so that's quite good.
01:58Midnight snack.
01:59So Leon gave me some great ideas, he said first things first, lay down in it and kind
02:03of figure out where you're going to sleep and then try to level it out.
02:07A little layer of stuff here, that's pretty dry, I want to keep that dry.
02:12So Leon's suggestion to lay in my shelter was really good because it turned out right
02:17where I want to sleep, there's a big pointy rock.
02:19So I'm going to see if I can dig a little bit and get that rock out.
02:24Ah, there we go, that'll make life better.
02:33There we go.
02:42It's been raining like crazy, so in a futile effort to make it slightly drier, I'm trying
02:47to bead it off a little bit of the droplets, but we'll see if that does any good whatsoever.
02:53I'm going to jam up these holes with some logs and bracken.
02:56Use all the small sticks to fill up the holes like this.
03:13Daddy, look at that one.
03:15I did that one.
03:17That will be okay.
03:19Can I keep walking all the way?
03:22You're having a sleeping bag?
03:24Um, I wasn't going to.
03:26I would love a sleeping bag.
03:27But these boys will.
03:29Yeah, hopefully it'll be a cool night and then you won't have any problems.
03:32I got these holes shoved up pretty tight.
03:35I think I'm ready to lay down my bedding.
03:37Then we'll get a roof on this thing.
03:41Got to try to stick the stem side deep in there so I'm more on the leaves and less on
03:47the stem.
03:48How many times a week do you do these classes?
03:49Is it pretty regular?
03:50Most days of the week at the moment.
03:55You think the tree would be the big spoon?
03:57Yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:01What did he tell you?
04:19Hold on.
04:22I'm going to jump in this pile of brush here and see what it looks like inside.
04:26Oh, that is dark.
04:29Well, there we go.
04:30We used a lot of ferns, but man, that looks pretty tight in there.
04:35It is pitch black inside and it's really warm.
04:38I get in there and my big old fat body is like a space heater in there.
04:41Despite the outside appearance, there's not a lot of space on the inside.
04:45It's packed pretty thick with insulation, so that should keep the rain off.
04:49Knock on wood, we'll have a pretty good night's rest in that.
04:52We got this other shelter here made up for the boys.
04:55You can see it's got a little bit more space in there and not bad at all.
05:01You can see what it looks like inside.
05:04Pretty nice.
05:06Plenty of room for two boys.
05:09I was eating.
05:12There you go.
05:13There's your sleeping bag.
05:14Got it in there.
05:15All right, we got the shelters built.
05:17Now we're going to go and try to get a fire going.
05:19Cook a little food before we put the boys to bed.
05:22All right, Tommy, you got some good kiddling there?
05:25Yeah.
05:28Tommy has been talking non-stop about fat wood that he saw on the old YouTube.
05:33I do a little bit of work with my knife to make some really fine little pieces on here called a feather stick.
05:40I'm doing this quite fine.
05:42Smell that, smell that.
05:45Mmm, piney.
05:46Where do you get your knife from?
05:48I made this knife.
05:49Yeah?
05:50We've got some bits here that they're kind of ready to go, so I can pick these up when I'm ready.
05:54What I do when I'm lighting, I rest my hand on this.
05:56I put a lot of pressure and then I shoot the sparks down.
06:00Then you don't end up smashing your kindling.
06:03I bet you'll get it first try.
06:05I'm going to get off.
06:07I knew it, I knew it.
06:09So you can put your piece in there now.
06:11Put it into the flame.
06:13Gently drop it.
06:15There you go.
06:16That's fat wood.
06:17Yeah, look how that burns.
06:19Yeah, that burns so well.
06:25All right, you want to shove your apple in that?
06:28Yeah.
06:29Just rest it on that, see that?
06:31You know what you can dip in the hot chocolate?
06:33What?
06:34Digestives.
06:36Oh!
06:38I got a sneaky feeling it's going to be awesome.
06:40My apple's not hot anymore.
06:42Well, good.
06:44No, don't put it in.
06:48Oh, this is so good.
06:50Try a little bit of steak.
06:52Is that too hot?
06:56Yum.
06:57Is that good?
06:58Mm-hmm.
06:59Cooked steak, roasted apples, and digestives.
07:02That's a pretty decent camping meal.
07:05I'm pretty happy with that.
07:07But it's way past the boys' bedtime,
07:09so we're going to tuck them into their forts here in a little bit,
07:12and then I'll see you guys in the morning.
07:15Soggy.
07:16Soggy socks.
07:19Those are the soggiest socks ever.
07:21All right, guys, you snuggled in good?
07:24Yeah.
07:25Are you warm?
07:26Yeah.
07:27Are you dry?
07:28Yeah.
07:29Good.
07:30Well, the boys fell asleep immediately,
07:31and now it's time for me to get to bed.
07:33I'm going to crawl in here, and I'm going to bring the light,
07:35show you a little bit what it looks like inside,
07:37and I'm getting to bed.
07:38All right, let's get inside here.
07:45All right.
07:48All right.
07:50All right, welcome to Home Sweet Home.
07:52Let me show you the master bedroom.
07:55Yep, that's it.
07:56I am really, really warm right now.
07:59The ground's a little cold,
08:01and if there's one thing that I could improve,
08:04it's I really need more of a layer underneath me.
08:08We're just going to kind of suck it up,
08:10and I'll see you guys in the morning,
08:12and I'll let you know how it was.
08:16Well, good morning.
08:17It's 6 a.m., and I didn't sleep half bad.
08:20The ground's a little hard, but it's warm in here.
08:25Unfortunately, I didn't quite make the shelter long enough.
08:28My feet are sticking out the door a little bit
08:30when I stretch out like this,
08:32and it's pretty cold outside,
08:34and my toes are cold,
08:37and every once in a while,
08:38I get a little bit of a cold breeze come in through the door.
08:41So if I had to do it over again,
08:44I think I would make a plug for the door
08:48and make it a little bit longer.
08:49A little more padding wouldn't go amiss either.
08:52Oh, that's not so bad.
09:03Oh, it sure is a pretty spot.
09:06Isn't this amazing?
09:09This is what I'm waking up to.
09:11The most amazing part about camping here in Scotland is the laws.
09:15Anything that's open land, you can camp on it,
09:17hike on it, build a fire on it.
09:19It doesn't matter whether it's private or not.
09:21Just clean up after yourself, use some common sense,
09:24and it's all fair game.
09:26If you're a backcountry enthusiast,
09:28this place is amazing.
09:31Look at that.
09:32There's a fish blitz going on right down there.
09:34You can see fish just erupting out of the water up there.
09:39I think we're going to do some fishing today,
09:41and that's got my blood pumping.
09:43I'm going to see if I can get some wood together
09:46and get a little fire going
09:48so the boys will have something warm to sit by when they get up.
09:51See if I can get some dry wood shavings.
10:02Got a little fire started.
10:03Now we're going to try to make some breakfast here.
10:06I heard something about seaweed and flatbread,
10:09so this is going to be interesting.
10:11The fire was actually made by me.
10:13Yeah, I used the flint and steel
10:15and a little cobble to get some practice,
10:19but I got the cobble on.
10:21I'm going to make some breakfast.
10:23I'm going to make some breakfast.
10:25I'm going to make some breakfast.
10:27I'm going to make some breakfast.
10:29But I got the cobble on fire.
10:31Cool stuff, buddy.
10:35Chase, do you want to eat a limpet?
10:37This little thing is a limpet.
10:39We're going to catch and eat one.
10:41It's a surprise that we have to come up quietly
10:43and then just give them a kick and they'll come off the rock.
10:45So nearly all the brown seaweeds are racks of some kind.
10:47This is sometimes known as gut weed.
10:49It's supposed to resemble intestines
10:51when it's in the water.
10:53We call it sea grass as well.
10:55Yes, that's an edible periwinkle.
10:57You could eat it raw,
10:59although it's more safe to cook it.
11:01Is that a big limpet
11:03or is that just a shell?
11:05You can see he's just bunking over the rock.
11:15The first thing you have to do
11:17is take the gut off.
11:19There you go, a little bit of raw libbet.
11:23It's a lot crunchier than I thought.
11:25Teeth kind of sink into it.
11:27An irony to it.
11:29A little bit like a nosebleed.
11:31In a good way.
11:33Some people really like them raw.
11:35Some people are not keen.
11:37It wasn't my favorite raw thing I put in my mouth
11:39but it wasn't bad.
11:41Definitely a little bit of nosebleed in there.
11:45Pick some of the seaweed.
11:47I really want to eat a ton of seaweed.
11:51Sea grass.
11:53Put it in there.
11:57Mix it all up really well.
11:59Like mixing cement.
12:01I'm doing it the old-fashioned way.
12:03You're doing it the old-fashioned way?
12:05Yeah.
12:11That looks yummy.
12:13Ready to dump it in?
12:15Put it in there, buddy.
12:19None of these things are exact.
12:24Like that?
12:26Yeah, about half of it.
12:28Yeah, that's fine.
12:34Right there, isn't it?
12:36All right.
12:40No, it's not bad.
12:42It's the kind of thing.
12:47Take away my dada.
12:49Dada.
12:55I'll throw a little salt and pepper in it
12:57but that's good.
12:59There's our little seaweed cake.
13:03I would put it limpets,
13:05bannock.
13:07That's my ranking right now
13:09for things I put in my mouth this morning.
13:11All right, just finished up breakfast
13:13so now we're going to do some fishing
13:15which I'm super excited about.
13:17I've got my fishing gear
13:19and I'm cheating a little bit
13:21and grabbed my Daiwa surf rod real quick.
13:23We're going to go around the coast here
13:25and see if we can't catch any fish.
13:29Yeah, look, there are fish in there.
13:33Look at this.
13:37I caught them.
13:39I caught a fish.
13:47I don't know where I threw them.
13:51We're going to try some fishing here.
13:53We saw some baitfish.
13:55Oh, look right there.
13:57Just popping right there all over the place.
13:59You can see all these little baitfish
14:01dead in the seaweed here.
14:03What happened is that high tide
14:05they jumped out of the water
14:07to get away from the pollock
14:09or whatever's eating them.
14:11Got this little pot here.
14:13Got a little spinner on it.
14:15We're going to see if we can catch
14:17a pollock or something
14:19with this.
14:21Survival surf fishing.
14:37Yeah, there we go. A little pollock, man.
14:39There's a little fish and chip right there.
14:41What did you catch, Tom?
14:43I caught this.
14:45Why don't you check him in the water since he's still alive.
14:47Maybe he'll attract more pollock.
14:51Good job. Oh yeah, he just swam off.
14:53All right, Nate, you want to catch a fish?
14:55Yeah.
14:59It's a pollock.
15:01It's a pollock.
15:07Put him in there.
15:09Keep him fresh.
15:13Oh, you got him.
15:15Yeah, that's you.
15:23Another pollock.
15:37Oh, he's big.
15:39Look at this, Tom.
15:43That was so much fun.
15:45But the rain's getting serious on us
15:47so we're going to head back to camp to get a little dry.
15:53Yeah, let's see what this guy's been eating.
15:55Lots and lots of little fish.
16:03There we go.
16:05There we go.
16:11Buddy, are you loving munching that wood sirloin?
16:13See, Nathan, look.
16:15That's how we're going to get some clean water.
16:19We're going to drink tent pee.
16:23Oh, chocolate caramel digestive
16:25in hot chocolate, man.
16:27That's match made in heaven.
16:29Time to cook up our haggis here
16:31because we are in Scotland
16:33and so you've got to have
16:35campfire haggis.
16:37Nathan, you want to try some haggis?
16:39No.
16:41You know this is made with like sheep lungs
16:43and sheep hearts and sheep stomachs?
16:49It actually smells quite nice.
16:51It smells like a sausage.
16:53Yeah, mine smells mad raggy.
16:59Alright, this fish is looking pretty done.
17:01The eyes turned all white and cloudy
17:03and he's got a little grease
17:05coming out of his nose.
17:07There we go.
17:09There you go.
17:11That's perfect.
17:13Do you want to try that?
17:19Do you want to try some haggis?
17:21Here, try that.
17:23I would call it like
17:25meaty sausage.
17:27It's kind of like this crunchy texture
17:29that reminds me of warm granola.
17:31Smells like sausage and kind of tastes like sausage.
17:39What do you got there?
17:41What are you eating?
17:43You're eating more haggis?
17:45You are turning into a Scotsman.
17:47We finished our haggis and pollock lunch
17:49and we're going to go explore
17:51our little cove down the way
17:53and we're going to cut through the woods
17:55and do a little foraging
17:57along the way
17:59and just do a little exploring.
18:07It's chanterelle.
18:09It's a nice mushroom.
18:11It's a good edible mushroom
18:13and it's got sometimes a bit of a smell of fruit.
18:15It smells like apricots.
18:17Kind of.
18:19Yeah, kind of.
18:21Typical mushroom smell.
18:23It definitely doesn't smell like a button mushroom.
18:25Do you want to see it?
18:27It's a wee Scottish frog.
18:35Wood sorrel is here.
18:37That's clover.
18:39Clover and wood sorrel.
18:41Wood sorrel with a heart-shaped leaf.
18:43A heart shape, see?
18:45This is kind of fairly round.
18:47Now, this is mountain ash.
18:49It's got to be cooked like a jelly.
18:51Rum and jelly, they call it.
18:53Oh, OK, I got you.
18:55You can eat it and try it if you want.
18:57It's a sour sort of tasting.
18:59It's called common sorrel.
19:01Oh yeah, I'm getting that rhubarb taste.
19:05It's in the brittle cat family.
19:07They're like brittle
19:09and you can often see
19:11little teeth sticking out of here.
19:13Some of the ones with the red tops like this
19:15are called sickeners, so they make you feel sick.
19:17The ones that are sickeners
19:19have a hot, fiery taste.
19:21It's called skullcap.
19:23The reason it's called skullcap
19:25is because it's a sleep-inducing plant.
19:27You have a little tea with it
19:29and it makes you sleepy.
19:31There you go.
19:39That's a beautiful plant.
19:41There's always water in Nathan's boots.
19:43Look at all those limpets.
19:45You knocked off a limpet?
19:47I knocked off a limpet!
19:49I'm going to eat this guy.
19:51You're going to eat this guy?
19:53Oh, here we go.
19:55Come here, Nate.
19:57I'm definitely going to eat that.
19:59Mom's going to see this video and be like
20:01you guys are eating haggis and raw limpets
20:03and you won't eat
20:05what I make for you.
20:07You're going to have some explaining to do.
20:09You ready to eat your limpet?
20:11Yeah.
20:13Eat him.
20:15You like that?
20:17Good.
20:19You going to the tidal pool?
20:21Tommy, Tommy.
20:23I ate the limpet.
20:25I ate the limpet, Tommy.
20:33Make sure you put them
20:35all back, buddy. We're not going to eat those.
20:39Look at this view.
20:41Isn't this awesome? This coast is just beautiful.
20:43I'm washing my stuff
20:45with water.
20:47Bog myrtle or gale.
20:49Daddy, daddy.
20:51Very pleasant aroma to it.
20:53I'm going to the tidal pool.
20:55It's beautiful.
20:57A ninja roll.
20:59Well, guys, we taught you how to survive
21:01on your own. See you later.
21:07Try to step on the rocks and logs.
21:13Red deer right there.
21:21That was so cool.
21:23Well, guys, we have had
21:25an absolute blast on this
21:27camping trip, haven't we, guys?
21:29Now, listen, if you would like to do
21:31a trip like this, contact
21:33Liam Durbin with
21:35wildwoodbushcraft.com.
21:37I'll put a link in the description.
21:39Also, if you guys want to see more video
21:41from our three-week trip to the UK,
21:43check out those videos.
21:45I'll put a link in the description to that as well.
21:47Anyway, thanks for watching. We hope you guys
21:49had a great time. If you want to see more videos like this,
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