It was fairly warm and more or less sunny, and faced with the knowledge that as we head into the Autumn and the back end of the year days like this are going to come along increasingly less frequently, we decided that we’d head off for a drive into the country for an hour or two.

Our destination was Bokskogen, a large forested area about 17 kilometres out of town.

Naturally I took along some tea making kit. Now that the red hot and dry season is well behind us, the earlier ban on al fresco naked flames has been lifted, and so my Trangia alcohol stove was first into my rucksack, along with a 400 ml Ikea Upphetta pot, a small half-litre Trangia friendly kettle, and 4 heaped teaspoons of loose leaf shou Pu-erh in a tea filter bag.

After a bit of searching we found a nice spot away from the road, under the shade of a big old oak tree.

I topped up the alcohol level in the Trangia, and filled the kettle with mineral water. I lit the alcohol, waited for the stove to bloom, and then dropped the kettle into place. It’s at times like this when the Trangia really comes into its own. Like all alcohol stoves it is completely silent, and without the noisy roar of a butane burner you can fully appreciate the singing of the birds, and the sighing of the wind in the trees.

10 minutes later the kettle was at a rolling boil, and a further four minutes saw the pu-erh steeped to perfection.

After a thoroughly relaxing, chilled out 20 minute session I rinsed out the cup and pot with a little water, and gave them a quick towelling off. Once I’d checked that the Trangia had cooled sufficiently, I dis-assembled it, and packed it away, along with all my other bits and pieces. The spent leaves and filter bag were dropped in a nearby bin – “leave no trace“, and all that.

It’s amazing how even a short time spent in the great outdoors can put you back on an even keel, no matter how much silliness is going on in the background of your workaday existence. It’s like a reboot button for the soul. Simply looking at the pictures days or even weeks later can put a smile on your face.

Hopefully I’ll still be able to persuade my womenfolk to accompany me on similar jaunts once grey skies, lower temperatures, and Autumnal mists become the norm.

Hmmm…outdoors + fog + cold = Lapsang Souchong – then you get to experience the thrills of a campfire without actually having to build one!

This is going to be fun…