Hi from France!

[FrenchBen]

Hi everybody!

Maybe I'm the first French bushcraft enthusiast to be registered here.

Anyway my name's Benjamin and I'm glad to join your community.
I discovered naturalbushcraft.co.uk thanks to Youtube vids of Ashley and Justin. This led me right here, and the quality of this website's content prompted me to register.

Maybe I won't write extremely long posts, since english isn't my mother language, so please forgive my mistakes. Swear I'll do my best ;)

As for my interests in bushcraft, they range from making fire, cordage, shelter, all sorts of technical skills (all of which I'm far from mastering yet) to roaming in the woods and in the countryside, looking for wildlife in all its forms.
Unfortunately, there are no large wild places left in my area (just like in the rest of France), and any piece of woodland is a treasure to me.

I'm also an angler, well say I was, cause I didn't take my license this year. Maybe I will, maybe I won't, don't know yet... It occurred to me I took no pleasure in fishing in town.

One reason that makes me like bushcraft is that it has no literal translation in french. That's an interesting word really and when talking with other people about what we do, we usually talk about 'bushcraft' without translating. We have no word that expresses so well what we love to do. And I think that may explain why bushcraft is not something the French usually practice. We have hikers, backpackers, survivalists etc. but no bushcrafters.

Well I hope this introduction wasn't too long and dull.
Since I'm about to carve myself a kuksa, I'm right now gonna post my first message in the related thread.

Wish you all the best!

Benjamin.

[Fletching]

Bonjour Benjamin! Welcome to the forum and don't worry, you'll find most of us have difficulty speaking English too. :)

[comanighttrain]

bonjour mon amis, ca va?

Welcome to the forum.

[Martin]

Hi Benjamin. A very warm welcome to the NaturalBushcraft forum. We do have another member from France who's name escapes me for the moment. :ashamed:

Oh, and I don't think there's a translation for 'bushcraft' in english either. If you ask 10 englishmen what bushcraft is, you'll get 10 different answers.

Martin

[Tony1948]

Tray Bon,,Tray bon,Ben, Welcome from the Essex country side and all the guys inside & outside the M25. WELCOME..........DONT GET EATEN BY THE BEARS......

[FrenchBen]

Thank you guys! Can already feel a warm friendly spirit in here. See you soon!

[Bambii]

Welcome! Hope you enjoy it here :D

[Fletching]

I don't think there's a translation for 'bushcraft' in english either. If you ask 10 englishmen what bushcraft is, you'll get 10 different answers.

Martin

...I'll start with No. 1:

Bushcraft = topiary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topiary).

No, seriously, learning to live/survive/enjoy being outdoors by finding and adapting your needs and resources from the minimum amount of equipment to do so and such equipment should be sourced from the natural environment in such a way to be renewable and leaving the minimum amount of impact in the process.

...that a good start?

[Ben Casey]

Hi from me to:)

[garethw]

Hi Ben,
Bienvenu... Where in France do you live? I'm out in the Aisne region, north or Reims. Loads of forests and woods, as I go out towards the Ardennes I have a huge playground. Hope you enjoy the forum, loads of interesting discussions...
Cordialement
Gareth

[Martin]

Hi Ben,
Bienvenu... Where in France do you live? I'm out in the Aisne region, north or Reims. Loads of forests and woods, as I go out towards the Ardennes I have a huge playground. Hope you enjoy the forum, loads of interesting discussions...
Cordialement
Gareth

That's the chap, I knew he had French name. :)

Martin

[FrenchBen]

Hi Gareth,

I used to live for one year in Reims. I wasn't fond of the city, but the remaining surrounding forests were just excellent. I say "remaining" cause most of the region has for centuries been planted with champagne vineyards. It's almost everywhere.

Whatever... I now live in Western France, in Anjou, about a hundred kilometers inland from the Ocean right next to the Loire river. It's a monster river by my place, sometimes a couple of kilometers wide (and much much more when flooding).

Maybe we'll have the opportunity to meet each other one day...

Merci de ton accueil, et à plus ;)

Benjamin

[FrenchBen]

That's the chap, I knew he had French name. :)

Martin

You were right Martin! :D

[garethw]

That's the chap, I knew he had French name. :)

Martin

Yeah French name from Cardiff... well I've been here 25 years so I guess that's French enough.
cheers
Gareth

[garethw]

Hi Gareth,

I used to live for one year in Reims. I wasn't fond of the city, but the remaining surrounding forests were just excellent. I say "remaining" cause most of the region has for centuries been planted with champagne vineyards. It's almost everywhere.

Whatever... I now live in Western France, in Anjou, about a hundred kilometers inland from the Ocean right next to the Loire river. It's a monster river by my place, sometimes a couple of kilometers wide (and much much more when flooding).

Maybe we'll have the opportunity to meet each other one day...

Merci de ton accueil, et à plus ;)

Benjamin

Hi Ben
I live north of Reims and just outside of the official Champagne 'appellation' (they do make it near me 'Méthode Champenois but not many vinyards here).
Loads of forests here .... many planted after the first world war when most of the land around me was bombed. (I'm near the Chemin des Dames).

I know the Anjou region or nearby I used to go to university in Le Mans and had friends in Tours.

A bientôt
Gareth

[Tony1948]

I now that Le Mans they race cars there,and that Tours thats were they race push bikes (Tours de France) us Essex boys now them things like wot our girlfrends do......LOL........

[FrenchBen]

Ha that's funny! I currently live in Angers and I made my studies there as well.

May I know what you were studying? I know people in Tours too.
For my part, I have a Master in History (especially Ancient History : Egyptians, Greeks and the like). Love this subject :)

See ya! ;)

[garethw]

That's a coincidence... Small world eh! I was there circa 1982 I studied French.
Cheers
Gareth

[therealmow]

Nice to see some french faces around, im currently living in France too (im not french but my GF is), near Rambouillet (78).
Welcome and hope to see you around.
Cheers
Mauricio

[FrenchBen]

The world is so definitely small guys! therealmow, I was born in Yvelines, and spent my young years something like ten kilometers far from Rambouillet and still have good friends there.

Did you know Rambouillet's forest contains the very last remainings of primitive forest in France? Some small parts of it (something like 50 hectares) are said to have remained untouched by man until now...

Anyway, good, very good bushcraft spot!

Cheers! ;)

[therealmow]

yeah its a beautiful forest, I work with horses and go at least twice a week while riding into the forest its really nice ;)

[Matt]

Hey Ben, a very warm:welcome: to NaturalBushcraft.

Matt.

[jbrown14]

Ben, welcome to the forum. It's a great bunch of people on here.

I'm an American, and I was just thinking about France the other day when admiring the beauty of the gift that Monsieur Frédéric Bartholdi gave to our country. We have a rich history together; from Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette aiding us in winning our independence from the Mother Country (no offence meant to my UK brethren); to the troops joining in the liberation of Paris and shouting "Lafayette, we are here!" I even share the birthday of your country and love to confuse people by telling them that I was born on Bastille Day. Ha! It's the Marleau side of my heritage coming out in me...

I guess that's my long-winded (and late at night) way of saying, welcome to you as a fellow bushcrafter and as a distant brother.

[garethw]

Hi
Yes Rambouillet is a nice forest.. I used to hike their often when I lived in the Paris. I find it so much more natural and unspoiled, when compared to forests such as Fontainbleau. The whole vallée de la Chevreuse is beautiful.
Cheers
Gareth