By: Vague

A selection of photographs from Vague’s new tumblr blog. Read more online here.

Frame from the top.

Another shot of the frame.

I was worried I had built it too tall, which would make thatching difficult.

The frame of the shelter was taking shape.

In the bottom right hand corner of the photo is my little solar charger.

This was another blog for Shiverwriggle, photographed on my phone and then texted through when I could get some signal (although the blog was written on the 4th, it wasn’t until the following day that I got it sent).

By: Vague

A selection of photographs from Vague’s new tumblr blog. Read more online here.

Hand after digging post holes for shelter uprights.

I carved and fire hardened a digging stick – a rounded point on one end and a blunt chisel on the other.  A very useful and effective tool.

View from my hammock, under the tarp, looking towards my new shelter site (in the centre of the photo).

Starting to level the uprights in my shelter.

A view of the uprights from above, also showing how much I had cleared from the internal area.

Scale is difficult in these photos.

There are three uprights to the left as the door will be here.

The vertical poles are nearly all in position here.  The door will be to the left.

Laying the horizontal poles.

There was no cordage, natural or otherwise, used in the construction of this shelter.

A closer view – this shot allows the scale to be appreciated a little more.

As mentioned, there was no rope used in this shelter – everything holds together through clever engineering and the laws of physics.

By: Vague

A selection of photographs from Vague’s new tumblr blog. Read more online here.

The first photo of my shelter site.

Starting to clear the ground where the shelter will be, collecting solid uprights.

Testing the depth for an upright.

For scale, my axe handle, resting on the mossy rock, lower centre left, is 20” long.

By: Vague

A selection of photographs from Vague’s new tumblr blog. Read more online here.

Knife, smoke, sunlight and sunbeams.

My third camp.  Billy can heating above the honey stove.

The yellow box is an egg carrier, the black and red tube holds my fishing rods.  My collapsible creels (lobster/crab pots) can be seen below the tube.  I am drying out my knife, as the leather got a thorough soaking on the walk to resupply.  I am also drying my clothes.

Scottish rain.

Surprised hind.

(I’m not sure who startled who the most.)

By: Vague

A selection of photographs from Vague’s new tumblr blog. Read more online here.

Wood sorrel (Oxalis).  Tasty.

Spider’s web tunnel catching the sun.

Many anemones.

Tentacles…

Prawn in a rock pool.

Sea anemones in a rock pool.

Billy can on honey stove.  Tea!

Rock pool with sea anemones.

Crabs cooking for dinner.  This day I made crab cakes, very tasty, but it takes time to prepare the crabs.

The tip of Ardnish, the abandoned village of Polnish is to the south and east of this.  Ardnamurchan beyond.

The hills across the loch are those of Ardnish, an abandoned peninsula.  Beyond is Ardnamurchan.

From my signal spot.  Not a bad view.

Eigg and Rhum in the distance.

The Road to the Isles can just be made out below the mountains.

South across the abandoned peninsula of Ardnish towards Ardnamurchan.

Fallen oaks.

The woods were full of toppled, toppling and soon to be toppled trees.

Close-up of a wind snapped oak tree.

Wind snapped oak tree, with a 2’ diameter.

By: Vague

A selection of photographs from Vague’s new tumblr blog. Read more online here.

These two photographs relate to the journal entry ‘And Done It I Had‘.

View from Hammock.

Oak Bough, from Hammock.

By: Vague

A selection of photographs from Vague’s new tumblr blog. Read more online here.

This would be a much better shot without the pylons to the middle left, grr.

This landscape grows from the bones of the mountains, worn by ice and rain, shattered by frost and fall. The trees that spring from cracks between boulders merge with the rocks themselves, like this oak. Covered in lichen and moss they are almost indistinguishable from one another, overlapping and entwining. I spent many hours studying the minutiae of their covering, each tree or rock a tiny ecosystem. There are traces of ancient woodland management all over these hills, it is my guess this oak was pollarded many years ago.

By: Vague

A selection of photographs from Vague’s new tumblr blog. Read more online here.

Following his 2010 adventures in the wilderness, Vague has returned to the backwoods. And it’s never a dull moment…

For three months at the end of 2010, Vague disappeared into the wilderness. Luckily for ShiverWriggle readers, he kept everyone updated of his exploits in his blog Vague Wanderings. This is the first of several albums of photographs of his exploits. Expect more in the coming weeks.