Once I started Northern Limits during the second lockdown of 2020, I never thought we would be in the position we are now. 4 instructors, a website, an online shop and part of a bushcraft/survival network full of experienced and knowledgeable people.
Then when these people I had only spoken to via WhatsApp from Tangier Wood announced they were holding a charity survival challenge for not 1, but 2 charities. A local food bank in Royal Tunbridge Wells and Helping Homeless Veterans UK.
Jordan, a serving Soldier of the Grenadier Guards and his wife Jodie explained what The Griz was and invited us to take part. 10 items from a list they give you, mandated kit, no food, no water, 5 days. Without thinking I said yes... then signed Paj up before I actually asked him. Meh, why not... not like he was going to say no right!?
As we live in different parts of the UK and we are both serving Combat Medics, we have also been very busy supporting the UKs COVID effort in different ways. Many discussions and planning sessions later on tactics and methods, then, it came to us both, like a bad dose of D&V in a communal area - Let's go head to head!
Much like Dave Canterbury, Cody Lundin, Joe Teti and Matt Graham did in Dual Survival. Each partner throughout the series always had conflicting and opposing styles of bushcraft and survival. This is Paj and I! Even making a brew is a mission for him, where it will take minutes.
The issue when you have a Second in Command with the polar opposite mind frame, it causes issues on which way is best. However, you can fill in the gaps for each other.
Personally, my foraging skills aren't the best, I can get by if I'm in an area I know has wild edibles that I know. Tangier Wood, not so much.
15 weeks and counting. Paj came up with our TRAIN HARD, SURVIVE EASY motto, and getting ready for The Griz is going to be a testament to that. Lightscale kit, short to medium term survival is where I thrive, it's 5 days static with no need to get an extraction plan together. NEED TO BEAT PAGET!
