40 bags!

Tuesday 15th June 2021

We unloaded the kiln. We had all the protective gear on but I was still covered in charcoal dust from head to foot. Luckily we had the proper masks on! We bagged up 40 bags of good quality charcoal. This is sold at £3 per bag. Given the amount of effort it took by the volunteers it seems a small return, but it is very useful to get some of the cut wood out of the woodland and charcoal is much easier to transport than the wood itself. If you are managing a coppiced woodland of any size it is definitely something to think about - Ed will show me an oil drum sized kiln on Thursday which is interesting as it would be transportable as well.

On the way to Ullenwood I overshot one of the turnings and had to go on to a garage and turn round - it slowed me down by about 2 minutes. The entrance to the wood is on a really nasty blind bend and when I got about 60 foot from the bend the traffic had stopped. There had been a terrible accident two minutes earlier. A fuel tanker and two cars - one of the cars had flown through the air and was practically flat. I saw it later on with the fire crew trying to cut someone out and the air ambulance landing. It made me feel rather sick.