Bugout Dilemma

[Perry]

Hello everyone, sorry that i haven't contributed anything in a while (until now) but because of recent events i have a dilemma me and my brother have been talking about for a while.

Basically i have been offered a "combustion apprenticeship" by British sugar which involves me working with coal,gas steam boilers and power turbines etc, however in the first year of this course this involves me going 217 ish miles from home to a training center for a year in middlesbrough, and me and my brother have been thinking about what to do if i had to bug out and make the 217 miles home.

This journey would only happen after i had stayed 90 days indoors to allow the majority of the horrific raiding looting and rioting to die down. I cant really travel by car, bike or even push bike because the from middlesbrough to Norfolk there are several big city's and choke points ( Humber bridge ) so traveling by these methods is a no.

We have talked about simply walking that distance which would cut down the risk of being attacked because you would less obvious and a less of a target of say you where on bike and car etc, but there would still be the risk of being killed not by people but simply from starvation, harsh weather ect.

Also we have thought about using a sea canoe because i could bypass the city's and bridges by sea but obviously that comes with its problems such as bad weather and dangerous currents ect.

So yea if anyone else could think of any ideas that would be great.

[bigpaul]

is the cities in the way a general opinion or have you actually looked at an OS map and planned several routes? can you go around the cities? if the power is off you could walk alongside railway lines but you would have to avoid the stations, any cycle paths you could use? if none of this is possible you would have to travel across country using power lines and other landmarks as navigation aids. stay away from motorways and major A roads as these would be an obvious target...probably be blocked with abandoned and crashed vehicles anyway.

[Perry]

Using rail and pilon lines is a good idea, but the biggest problem is after the first easy pit which goes through a huge nature reserve, there is several city's close together which create blockade around the humber bridge so either i would have to make a huge detour around city's and the humber bridge or risk crossing it and after that the towns/city's are more dense.

[Devonian]

I don't really understand the logic of not being able to travel by bike? I would have though this would be a good stealthy method of getting around whilst using less energy and effort. There are many alternative routes that enable you to avoid the major choke points, ok they add miles, but they are there.

Have you thought about trying to cross bridges in the dead of night, when you are far less likely to be spotted? But I guess major crossings could have manned blockades?? You may even decide it is better to do all travelling at night.

Also taking your canoe idea, what about using the national canal network:

[bigpaul]

travel early morning and late evening, hide and rest up during the day, less chance of being spotted that way. if you can walk 20 miles a day you'll be doing good, probably in reality you'll be doing less than that especially over rough ground, bicycle is a good idea when you cant ride it it can still carry a lot of gear and all you've got to do is push it along.

[Devonian]

Also do you (and your brother) have 90+ days worth of food and water at each location?

[Midnitemo]

217 miles on foot being covert could well turn into 300+ and you would be doing well to cover 8-10 miles(you may cover 20 to get those 8-10 closer to home) a day so you could be looking at 5 weeks on the move , obviously you can't carry 5 weeks of food so I reckon a couple of small cache's would be needed maybe more as back up as you may need to vary your route on the fly, you need to do a current risk analysis on how likely or possible an event is that's going to strand you without warning(I think if you're about to start this training soon then I would risk it as I don't see a societal collapse to be imminent)but you must be upto speed on all threats at all time to make you're move asap.

[Perry]

Wow this map is really useful! When talking to my brother i did suggest this but he made the good point that yes it would be much quicker and quieter to use a push bike, but there would be far more hazards like broken glass for example on the road meaning that repairs could be a frequent problem, also he said that when you are on a push bike you cant really take in your surroundings meaning you could miss seeing a on coming hidden road block or ambush ect.

The canoeing/cach idea sounds like a great idea, if the rivers are clear from thick under growth and the rivers don't go through citys.

[Mortblanc]

Find a couple of places where you can cache a weeks worth of Ramin noodles, a tin billy and a couple of lighters in a hollow tree along the route and pray you never have to use them.

I would begin with the bike option and work from there. Abandoning the bike while in the planning stage is not valid. You may have to abandon the bike, but hopefully it would be after you had 50-100 miles of fast travel behind you.

Prep the bike properly with goop in the tyres, a tool kit and extra tubes and you might make it the whole trip. A bike would cut the travel time to one week rather than 5 weeks.

Rivers and choke points???

Plan your trip around them, not through them. Ignore the main arteries. Cut out across country using the back roads. Plan on crossing the rivers on rafts or whatever boat you can find along the shore.

The one most essential piece of gear for this kind of travel is a good set of field glasses for studying what you are about to go through. Stop and scan for problems at every rise.

[CharlesHarris]

Good maps of the area surrounding your primary, alternate and contingency routes. Pre-scouted and tested routes with hide sites and caches along the way. Potential drop sites for covcon, basic E&E fieldcraft. Mortblanc described basics.