UK survival - discuss and share tips.

I decided to compose this thread having read another thread by nonspecific:

Bugging out in the UK. I can't see how it's possible.

I didn't want to hijack the thread or push it in a different direction than was intended by the creator. This thread is specifically about survival techniques specific to the UK for those that are interested. I hope nonspecific and other users don't mind and that we can perhaps share, discuss and learn from one another.

Most of the stuff I've seen in recent years has been more geared towards our American friends, and though some of it can be extremely useful, some of it isn't relevant to the UK. Our terrain is different, wildlife and plant life is different - that's not to say only UK members can contribute...if anyone can contribute please do, be you American, British or otherwise.


--- Location ---

I think the most important thing is to choose a location that's isolated enough that you can hide but close enough that you can get there quickly if need be. The choice of location is important...do some research. For me, there will be a lake or river near by and it's in a rural area in the countryside. I have access to water, there are trees and fields. Places to hide if people decide to swing by...be mindful that you might have to abandon your position at any time and could lose all of your stuff...have backups, store your gear in different places...don't put all of your eggs in one basket! A secondary stash could save you if you have to flee. Also, hide weapons, tools that you can use in random areas near where you are...I even do this at home for protection. You want things concealed but to be close at hand if a situation becomes live.

Pick a location that's tactical, a good balance between resources and hiding places is the key. Pick somewhere not a lot of people go or would think to go. Personally, I think that in a real world situation most people will try and survive by staying at home, which will be fine for a while...by the time they realise that was a mistake it will probably be too late for them to reach you and they'll be weakened and panicked anyway...the real danger is probably going to be gangs of other people who will do anything to survive, including kill - preparing to fight or run is important.


--- Bugging out ---

Take the usual, water, foods high in cabs that will preserve without having to be refrigerated, etc. Personally - I recommend a fishing rod and small tackle box, easy to carry, hardly a burden but here in Scotland especially a valuable resource...especially if you're lucky enough to go where there's a river or lake with fish in it...and there are plenty of those. I'd recommend a poncho or two and ifyou can manage it a small tent, not an old fashioned thing you need to spend 30 minutes erecting, a pop-up dome tent can be bought cheap, easy to put up, pull down and carry, light and extremely useful. If you can't manage that you need shelter of some kind - something to protect you from the elements, somewhere you can rest and eat.

Take wire! Wire that you can bend and make snares with...snares are easy to make and there's an abundance of stuff online about making them. Easy to make and useful as hell - rabbits can be caught easily and make a decent meal - naturally you'll need to make fire, you can do this the traditional way but I'd still take some lighters or matches with me. I'd take a multitool (leatherman recommended) and the obligatory swiss army knife, also. Another thing I'd take is some books! Educate yourself, you'll need to keep occupied. I'd also recomment a radio....if there's gonna be news broadcasts of any kind this is likely where they'll come from. A torch and some spare batteries might also be a good idea.

How to make snares

Shows you some basic methods for making snares, there are many more. I had a little book years ago, an SAS survival guide that was amazing, very compact but absolutely packed with excellent information and well worth owning.

SAS Survival Guide

Different cover from the one I had but same book, an absolute must at that price and I'm going to order it having lost the copy I had.

I'll continue to contribute to this thread, I'd especially like to discuss combat and defense techniques at some point, be good to get some tips and maybe even give a few myself. I think this will be of key importance when the time comes for many, especially those who might find it tough to get out of major cities and populated areas.

I hope we can share some good information with one another here in this thread, thanks.

You might have more luck "bugging out" in the underpasses of the city. There have been a couple of researchers in Japan and London, who both made art projects out of avoiding contact with other people. The London researcher kept to the canals around London, avoiding the streets, people and traffic. The Japanese researcher spent time just using vending machines to obtain food, water and clothes.

You'd have to go up to the Yorkshire moors, the Lake District, and the Highlands of Scotland in order to disappear. There might be cave systems you could hide in.

Weaponry - I have a very powerful hunting crossbow with a high quality scope with hunting bolts, .22 air rifle with a good scope and hunting ammo, good quality flexible machete, decent folding pocket knife and a decent quality hunting knife. I'd also recommend people learn and least some self defencefighting techniques. Ideally you want to avoid conflict at all costs (remember the point of survival is to SURVIVE) but if you do get into conflict then make sure you know how to defend yourself. If you can find a cheap eBay bargain (like me) then get yourself a compact night vision rig (monocle one is fine) with plenty of batteries.

I'll contribute more as I think. Cool thread BTW.

a reply to: stormcell

Fair point, but I don't think those areas would be so safe if society broke down completely.

I agree, though...the further north you go the better a chance you'd have out in the wild. London, Edinburgh or Glasgow...any major city would descend into chaos quite quickly. We're not far off it now and this is us apparently at peace.

If I'm honest, London's somewhere I wouldn't want to be even now...but if S really did HTF for real it'd be the last place I'd want to be. I live in a small community that is equidistant between Edinburgh and Glasgow so I'm not far away from isolated areas with rich, natural resources.

a reply to: Anon77

Most certainly with you on the defense/combat techniques. Keeping fit is a must, as well as physical strength it will build your internal strength, immunity and resistance to the natural elements.

I took up boxing as a teenager but lost interest as I didn't really want to fight in the ring, I just wanted to be able to defend myself because I had to in the area I grew up in. But I still trained hard right up into my late 20's. On the occasions I lapsed and stopped caring I got more illnesses, I even shivered more when it was cold. A couple of years ago I picked it back up, I work out regularly for practical reasons, not for cosmetic/egotistical reasons (like some of my friends who I shan't name :p).

Good point about avoiding conflict at all costs and I couldn't agree more, safety first - the last thing you need is to get injured when treatment is most unlikely - and I just realised I've no clue on how I could go about nursing or tending a serious injury...interesting subject.

I think of Rambo sealing up bullet wounds with red-hot steel spikes and sewing up huge gashes, etc...this tells me I'm an idiot in this regard. Anyone got any tips? What if you got injured, an infect6ion even?

a reply to: samerulesapply

A supply of multivitamins is also worth stashing somewhere. A multivitamin could save your life (I mean in terms of preventing malnutrition) in a situation where you have a poor diet and are expending a lot of energy just to stay alive. Learning field medicine is not as hard as you might imagine, Take a look at this page. It has a huge quantity of very useful survival information. Personally I'm in the process of downloading all of it onto a Kobo Aura H2O e-reader (waterproof, rugged and available at argos). If you need to stop wounds getting infected then honey is the way to go, its been in use for 1000's of years and has natural antibacterial properties.

a reply to: Anon77

Now that's what I call resourceful, you're on the ball my friend this is great.

Enough reading material to keep me occupied for a while, not even half a page long and you've contributed a wealth of information to this thread.

Sincerely grateful!

I do guerrilla camping for a few days every other month here in west yorkshire to keep my bush cradt skills honed and not twenty minutes from my house I have found a place in which I think no one has been for many years.
I have access to water fuel and plenty of evil likkle animals to eat. I always manage to snare a rabbit or two (3 in one day last time I went) and thanks to my sas survival guide I know and collect many wild edible plants.
Winter would be hard and if a shtf scenario happened I would get my dry rations I have stored and go to my secret place and try and wait it out.
It would be sure harder than living in the states but come on we are British many would survive.

I have it much easier as Im in a relatively dry sub-tropical climate but Ive been to Britain in winter and romped over a few hills and dales,sleet and wind Im sure you guys know the drum there but with all that constant moisture there is one thing people ofter overlook,FOOT HYGIENE AND GOOD FOOTWEAR,without these your stuffed in a climate like yours in short order.

best chance of survival would be get out of the UK as quick as possible

I live in the lake district (Cumbria), enough said.

I can walk 8 miles to the nearest lake...wildlife, fruits, fish in the lakes, high fells and mountains, plenty of fresh water.

I've spent a week doing a survival course out here, it's easily done.

Mine...

And these..

@ 333 FPS it can take down any animal in the UK at a considerable distance...It's all about the Shot placement.
Added Bonus is Silence.

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

I agree,

You are on an island... not good.

And some believe NWO HQ is in your back yard...

just sayin...

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
best chance of survival would be get out of the UK as quick as possible

Yip, A Yacht would be ideal. hundreds of secluded inlets up the north west coast of Scotland you could shelter/hide in. Sea food a plenty, Just remember and take some limes or vitamin C with you.

originally posted by: Soloprotocol

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
best chance of survival would be get out of the UK as quick as possible

Yip, A Yacht would be ideal. hundreds of secluded inlets up the north west coast of Scotland you could shelter/hide in. Sea food a plenty, Just remember and take some limes or vitamin C with you.

yes a yacht would be ideal......i live on a really big island on the other side of the globe so i like the chances here much more than that little island you are on....nice bow btw

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

originally posted by: Soloprotocol

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
best chance of survival would be get out of the UK as quick as possible

Yip, A Yacht would be ideal. hundreds of secluded inlets up the north west coast of Scotland you could shelter/hide in. Sea food a plenty, Just remember and take some limes or vitamin C with you.

yes a yacht would be ideal......i live on a really big island on the other side of the globe so i like the chances here much more than that little island you are on....nice bow btw

I wonder if anyone has actually considered a Yachting and Navigation courses + a Lesson or two in Hot Wiring. lets face it, most of us dont have access to a yacht for financial reason. I do know a few Marinas with some high end yachts just sitting there idle for the best part. rich boys summer toys.

originally posted by: Soloprotocol

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

originally posted by: Soloprotocol

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
best chance of survival would be get out of the UK as quick as possible

Yip, A Yacht would be ideal. hundreds of secluded inlets up the north west coast of Scotland you could shelter/hide in. Sea food a plenty, Just remember and take some limes or vitamin C with you.

yes a yacht would be ideal......i live on a really big island on the other side of the globe so i like the chances here much more than that little island you are on....nice bow btw

I wonder if anyone has actually considered a Yachting and Navigation courses + a Lesson or two in Hot Wiring. lets face it, most of us dont have access to a yacht for financial reason. I do know a few Marinas with some high end yachts just sitting there idle for the best part. rich boys summer toys.

now why did joy riding instantly spring to mind ......a few basic skills like hot wiring will be essential for survival in a SHTF situation....and if you can access a yacht your chances of survival increase...well and know how to sail it

a reply to: samerulesapply

I still think that the ideal tactic would be to find a Second World War era pill box fortification, and commandeer it. Many of them, although having line of sight to main roads, and or the River Thames, in my area at least, are in densely over grown, or in nearly rural areas.

I would go for one of the boxes near me which appears to have had a thicket of bramble grow up around it. It looks like a massive bramble, but beneath is hardened concrete shelter!

There is plenty of good hunting in locations like that, access to fresh water could be gained by way of creating a passive condensing system, using very simple components and no power systems, and heat can be achieved in the normal way. A filtered chimney could be crafted, ported to the outside through a gun port, taking the smoke out of the building, before filtering it through a series of cannibalised car exhaust systems, utilising the catalytic conversion on the exhaust systems to strip as much of the visible components from the smoke as possible, as well as allowing the gas to cool in the pipes a little before being released which would reduce ones visibility in the winter. Hot chimney smoke, no matter how clear, always looks more obvious on a cold day, than a hot one, for obvious reasons.

i do mean to be rude - but gorilla camping for a week cannot be compared to attempting to survive while 60 million sillivilians loose their heads around you

originally posted by: ignorant_ape
i do mean to be rude - but gorilla camping for a week cannot be compared to attempting to survive while 60 million sillivilians loose their heads around you

Sillivilians, i like that.

I think it's quite true that if SHTF, unless most of the UK gets wiped out there cant be many places one could bug out to and not encounter others doing the same.

The solution to me is what humans usually do, band together and organise.

Now in some situations that may mean you move somewhere. I've kinda always fancied running a fortified hill farm in some post apocalyptic future. Obviously there is more detail involving only letting hot women in as well as some interesting horticultural ideas but you don't need to hear all that.