Bugging out in the UK

[jansman]

When the bank gave way,I went in up to my chest. July ,very warm,wearing combat trousers that still fit me back then - issued when I was a Royal Marine . When I fished back then it was pre- internet- so no ‘information’ about such things about how to instantly change outdoor clothing. Anyhow, you don’t carry spare trousers mate - I would! All this prepping ‘planning’ is absolutely theoretical.

When I served in the Royal Marines,a Sergeant told us that the best planning was history when the first shot was fired. Sadly, I found myself in that position three times,and that Sergeant was right when he became …I’ll say no more. Point is that planning is good,but S hitting the fan is what happens when you ain’t looking’.

[Whitetailprepper]

The legend is -
Three minutes without air
Three hours without shelter
Three days without water
Three weeks without food

Just got back from a very wet & boggy wild camp. I think you’d be pretty miserable after day one without any of those things as well.

[Frnc]

When the bank gave way,I went in up to my chest. July ,very warm,wearing combat trousers that still fit me back then - issued when I was a Royal Marine . When I fished back then it was pre- internet- so no ‘information’ about such things about how to instantly change outdoor clothing. Anyhow, you don’t carry spare trousers mate - I would! All this prepping ‘planning’ is absolutely theoretical.

When I served in the Royal Marines,a Sergeant told us that the best planning was history when the first shot was fired. Sadly, I found myself in that position three times,and that Sergeant was right when he became …I’ll say no more. Point is that planning is good,but S hitting the fan is what happens when you ain’t looking’.

There's a big difference between wet combat trousers, which were almost certainly cotton, and modern stretch nylon hiking trousers. I think my hiking trousers might be a bit thinner material than most combat trousers. Nylon absorbs less water and dries quicker.

I did a couple of searches. Various websites claimed the following.

One said cotton take 3 hours to dry outside and nylon takes 1 hour. But I think they compared shirts. Wet jeans would take longer.

Another site says cotton absorbs 25 x (2500%) of its weight in water, polyester 0.4% and nylon "more than polyester but less than Merino". It gave a figure for merino of 33%.

Another site also said cotton 25 x, and nylon 10% of its weight. https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-imp ... ion547.htm

So cotton absorbs 250 x more water than nylon.

Also, nylon hiking trousers will probably have a DWR coating to repel water. Mine do. So that 10% will be less.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Current mpt combats are 70% / 30% cotton polyester mix ....

One bonus with a high cotton content is they are less likely to melt to your skin if you get too close to a camp fire trying to keep warm

[Frnc]

Current mpt combats are 70% / 30% cotton polyester mix ....

One bonus with a high cotton content is they are less likely to melt to your skin if you get too close to a camp fire trying to keep warm

I was thinking the army probably use a poly cotton mix. That's a good point about fires. You have to be careful. I remember camping in the 80s somewhere where you could light wood fires. We did. I'm not sure what tent I had then, maybe it was cotton or maybe I chanced it. I did have a nylon tent in the 80s, quite expensive one. But I had a heavier one before it, might have been cotton. I wouldn't fancy a wood fire near an expensive nylon tent. The modern army uniform looks fairly thin material anyway, so it would dry quicker than jeans, plus the 30% poly helps.

[jansman]

So,regarding “Bugging out in the UK”. I just had a phone call from my brother who lives in our sister’s 4.5 acre woodland. Once more ,regardless of ‘private property’ signs- and many of them,barbed wire fencing in very open places,they get trespassers. Today,about 9 am he got what he calls those f***ing Bear Gryll wannabes! Four of them today. He heard the racket they made from the other side. Long and short,he got over there and two were pI**ing in the brook- which he draws water from. He told them to ( forgive the pun) p*ss off. He was challenged to be straight. He told Stanley the Alsatian to “bark”. He did that. Bear Grylls no1 said “ is that all he does?”. Bro told him no! Then one threatens Bro. Big mistake that!

He simply told Stan, “ Attack”. As Stan ran towards them ,Bear no 1 fell in he told me! Stan grabbed another,and Bro shouted for him to stop. Apart from No1 they all legged it. Bro gave that one a punch or two. Then kicked him up the ar*e! Stan cocked his leg on him too! They won’t be back.

Several observations there. First ,Bro didn’t notice if the clothing of the ‘swimmer’ was the right stuff recommended in previous posts here. Second, don’t underestimate a man and dog .

Third: This idea of bugging out in a very often crowded idea of ‘emergency’ into private property won’t be as easy as Bear Grylls wannabes think.

I wish I’d been there though!

[Arzosah]

So,regarding “Bugging out in the UK”. I just had a phone call from my brother who lives in our sister’s 4.5 acre woodland. Once more ,regardless of ‘private property’ signs- and many of them,barbed wire fencing in very open places,they get trespassers. Today,about 9 am he got what he calls those f***ing Bear Gryll wannabes! Four of them today. He heard the racket they made from the other side. Long and short,he got over there and two were pI**ing in the brook- which he draws water from. He told them to ( forgive the pun) p*ss off. He was challenged to be straight. He told Stanley the Alsatian to “bark”. He did that. Bear Grylls no1 said “ is that all he does?”. Bro told him no! Then one threatens Bro. Big mistake that!

That's shocking that they felt so entitled to act like that, when they must have known perfectly well they were on private property. It's a thing that I think is underestimated/ignored in many of our conversations: there's crime right now, all sorts of things. And if the police and even the army were taken up with coping with whatever shtf situation had arisen, people like that would feel even more free to do what they wanted. And ordinarily law-abiding people might join them.

I wish I'd seen it too, you know

[Frnc]

The government advise us to have bugout bags. They advise us to be prepared. So do the US government.
Obviously I wouldn't be bugging out to someone's garden or privately owned woods. Hoepfully the government would tell us where to go. If not, and my house was destroyed and the area uninhabitable, I'd have to go somewhere. It would depend on all sorts of factors. If society is still functioning, hopefully I'd just go to a hotel and claim on my house insurance. But there were no hotels open in the pandemic.
One scenario is if looters take over your house. In that scenario I'd go and lay low for a few days. The local woods are publicly owned. If my area was uninhabitable and there was no evacuation point I'd have to go further. I have a few possible places. None are privately owned except some land owned by United Utilities, but it is open to the public anyway.
I do go over some farm land on my bike rides, but they are public footpaths. These are marked as such on maps. I did a thread about it. Public access land is also shown on maps.

[Trig.Point]

I think the British countryside wouldn't really offer much in the line of foraging, or cover, or even the ability to avoid other people if that was an issue.

Has anyone considered bugging out within an urban enviroment?, as in finding a location on some brownfield that wouldn't be very attractive to most of the population and lying up there untill things settled.

[Frnc]

I think the British countryside wouldn't really offer much in the line of foraging, or cover, or even the ability to avoid other people if that was an issue.

Has anyone considered bugging out within an urban enviroment?, as in finding a location on some brownfield that wouldn't be very attractive to most of the population and lying up there untill things settled.

It's a good idea if you can find somewhere. I agree that there might be other people around. But I think most undesirable types would stay in built up areas looking to mug or loot, if the situation was of that nature. Of course first choice is defend your street and make your house look like it's already been looted. I think some ply over the windows would help. Maybe chuck some junk outside.