The Stang forest wild camp

A long time ago stood a great 526-hectare forest of Sitka spruce trees on hope edge in County Durham. People from all walks of life used this forest to walk their dogs, go running or just to enjoy the nature of the place. It was sold by the forestry commission to a consultancy company for £3.25m. The company promised that the public would still have access to the woods but since the sale, there have been recent private shoots happening and most of the forest has been destroyed through logging. Rock art and neolithic carvings have been found recently in the forest and I bet there is a lot more to be discovered.

I and My good friend Jeff decided to do a wild camp in the forest before it disappeared for good. It was a Saturday, January 2017 and forecast to be in the minus temperatures. As we made our way through the forest tracks several trucks with people sitting in a trailer passed us and knew straight away there was a shoot going on…..the gentleman in the trailers were beaters. We carried on up the track and came across a fence with all the game hanging up…..mainly pheasant and the odd partridge.

We managed to get to the highest point of the forest where we found some great places to camp. One place was in a bowl with the odd tree here and there, the perfect place to hammock camp but unfortunately, we did not bring them so we stayed at the top where we got better shelter from the wind.

Watch this adventure in the video below on my youtube channel………..hope you enjoy.

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