A night out with the old man on the Isle of Wight.

[MikeWilkinson]

During my summer break down to visit my parents, managed to squeeze in some quality hanging time with the old man one evening.

2305

Enjoying the peace of the morning and waiting for a brew.

2306

A watched pot never boils!

2309

Campsite from the path.

2308

Tidy and packed to go.

2307

Me and the Old fella.

[MikeWilkinson]

The old mans bed for the night.

2310

My hotel accomodation

2312

Shiny kit in the wods

2311

One end of the assisted truckers hitch

2314

The view from camp.

2313

[Martin]

Nice pics Mike. Great that you can share with your Dad. :)

Martin

[MikeWilkinson]

Cheers Martin, It is just a shame we don't get to do it as often as we would like.

[Proventurer]

Hey Mike,
You're making me home sick, with views of the isle de widget, I'm origionally from Gosport just across the Solent, the island was the one and only place we could go south!
Nigel.
PS, waiting for the sunshine to return to SA, then I'll try and get a pic of the shirt with, Table mountain in the back ground.

[LandRoverMatt]

great pictures mate looks like a nice area

[Ashley Cawley]

Mike, great photos bud, I love the T-shirt & bark-sheath your sporting in the first one ;)

I was out camping just last night using my birch-bark sheath that you made me, thanks again for that, I truly love it.

Really great to see father & son out enjoying nature. Looks like your pack sizes are down pretty tight :) does your Dad enjoy the woods as much as you Mike? Did he influence you on your love for camping and making absolutely everything out of Birch bark?*

(*Just wondering who to blame :p)

[comanighttrain]

Looks great man... hope to share some times with my old man soon!

side note, your old boy has some epic moustaschage going on....

[MikeWilkinson]

Cheers ash. I'm actually wearing the sweatshirt and not the - Tee. It has become my new favourite mid-layer.
Very warm, fairly good at wind stopping too.

The old man has always been an outdoor person. Which has been further enhanced by 28 years in the army.
Nowadays he does loads of over night fishing on the beaches on the island.
I got him into hammocks a few years back whilst out on a fishing comp one evening.

As for bag size, yeah we have it down pretty small now, very much back to basics. Those packs are our typical one night to one week packs. More Food being the only thing that means going to a bigger pack.

Glad the sheath is still working out for you.

[andy202wr]

Great photos mike.

[fish]

great pics,your a lucky chap.

[MikeWilkinson]

Just ran across this, whilst flicking through some of my early posts. Sadly the Old man passed away in July - he will be a much missed influence and mentor in my life.

[ammo]

Hey Mike.
Great post, and some wonderful pictures. Especially like the one of you and your Dad. That's a great photo. Very sorry to hear that he has passed.
Now you must continue the chain, pass on the guidance and knowledge learned from your Father, to your own children.
Look forward to your future, trip reports.