Scenario 8 The Journey

[NorthernRaider]

Scenario 8
The Journey

For the third day in a row they followed the river as best they could moving steadily inland from the coast. Far too many survivors and scavengers were gathered along the coast in groups of various sizes. They appeared to be living of what they could scavenge from the ruins of society or catch from the sea. But most of them were not looking any further forward than their next meal, and far too many were still waiting for the government to send help. Four months on from the collapse and they still could not accept that there was no more government, they could not face the thought that either the EU or US would not send help, indeed most refused to believe that the EU and Americas had also fallen.

So this group of survivors decided to move inland hoping for calmer weather, fewer people, more sustainable sources of food and fuel. By lunchtime on the third day they had cleared the rivers delta and moving up into the low level hilly country that the river gained its water from. The SOLAR PANEL snaffled from a Maplins store and fastened to the back of one of the groups rucksacks provided the group with a steady supply of recharged Nicad and Lithium Ion rechargeable batteries, these were used in flashlights, walkie talkies, and a SW scanning receiver used to listen for other groups broadcasting.

All along the bug out route the group had made careful notes about items they could salvage at a later date and the top item was clearly the combined Solar Panel / Wind turbine devices they frequently came across used to power road signs and hazard warning signs along the roads. These devices would be ideal in multiples to provide clean green self sufficient supplies of energy for where ever they finally settled. One of the group had notice a small but well managed woodland where they chose to laager up one night, in the wood they found rows and rows of cut timber and huge piles of hardwood logs they could use to provide heat with. On the edge of the last large town they found a MACHINE MART, it had already been heavily scavenged by other survivors, but it did still have two very useful finds, one being a very nice selection of wood / multi fuel stoves and ranges, the second was a manually operated log splitter. They took time to disguise the stoves and wood splitter from prying eyes before they went on their way.

Another discovery behind a brick wall not far out of town was a FUEL DEPOT with healthy stocks or red and white diesel, heating oil and kerosene. The main tanks had been drained but there was still a total of over thirty 55 gallon drums full of stuff that a diesel engine could use.

Their walking pace was much slower than they hoped they frequently only managed 5 miles in a day as they stopped frequently to rest or check out places that may be suitable to live on or to salvage stuff from, but by day 5 mid-afternoon they were at last well inland and away from major conurbations. The Ordnance Survey Land Ranger maps from the bug out bags had proven priceless. Examples such as listing little used bridges or even simple pipe bridges across rivers helped them cross flowing water without having to go back into hazardous towns seeking crossings. All the discoveries of materials found were marked in notebooks and marked on the maps for future reference.

More places were added as the journey progressed, BUILDERS YARDS for materials to repair and rebuild with, PLUMBERS MERCHANTS to salvage tanks and pipes to make DIY water filter systems, water storage tanks and waste water recycling systems. TIMBER YARDS.

MARINAS & BOATYARDS were given special attention as at some point in time most roads would become impassable and the rivers and canals will be the only viable method of shifting bulky materials. Boats and railways if they can find a place served by a PRESERVED STEAM RAILWAY will be paramount if they are to build a sustainable community. Plus many of the items found on boats were ideal for off grid living. FARM SUPPLIES depots were a treasure trove of tools both mechanical and powered plus they also held stuff as varied as fertiliser and animal antibiotics as well as small diesel powered utility vehicles like agricultural quad bikes and trailers.


One step they carried out at every possible opportunity was to open gates and sheds containing animals and livestock, sadly most of the shed housed animals had long since died, but the odd shed still housed a few live rabbits and chickens which were set free along with cattle, sheep, goats, and oddly enough 27 Alpacas, 16 bison and 50 plus wild boar all duly freed in the hope of re-establishing healthy wild stocks the survivors could call on in years to come. In two neighbouring farms they found huge ponds of well stocked trout type fishes, all the sluices were opened over a period of 24 hours freeing the fish into the local river system. It was staged over 24 hours because different ponds held different sized fish and the fear was if all were released at once the big fish would just feast on the small ones, so many hours were used to separate the releases.
Hunters, scavengers and the coming winter would probably see the end of 99% of the freed creatures, but there was a chance however small that enough would survive until people could start to rebuild.

A couple of sporting goods shops were checked but had been cleared out of all fire arms and ammunition but a couple of new air rifles were found plus ammo for them, they provided 5 fat wood pigeon for tea that night, and two portable fishing rod kits were also salvaged. A quick stop off at a CALOR GAS DEPOT saw the group’s members who used micro butane cookers find some refill gas canisters and notes were made that the yard still held plenty of filled butane and propane bottle both 7 and 15 kg types.

By day 7 they survivors were now caching salvaged materials in safe spots they chose because they did not want to carry so much material with them at this time and equally they did not want to have all their salvaged goods taken off them by another group who may have been better armed.

One final place was checked out before the journey moved further towards the uplands and this was one of the big Discount Camping and Outdoor stores where everyone managed to find themselves more suitable and comfortable walking shoes and boots to replace the mishmash of often unsuitable footwear they currently had, and they also found a nice supply of multi tools, compasses, maps, nicer, bigger rucksacks and better quality water proofs. And luck or good fortune shone on them when they found a ½ pallet of Mountain House freeze dried foods completely untouched in the stores goods in area. These assorted long life freeze dried foods could mean the difference between life and death for the group, they packed as many meals as they could into their new larger rucksacks then they manhandled the remaining packs of food and hid them in the back of one of the abandoned vehicles in the rear yard of the van hire depot next door.

They may be walking into the unknown but they had at least re-equipped themselves and laid the foundations for rebuilding a self-sufficient society at some future date.