Bear Grylls’ survival guide to the English countryside from wasp attacks to landslides
MILLIONS of us are planning staycations right here in the UK this year – but we could be risking more than a family fall-out or dodgy tan lines.
This week we told how brave ten-year-old Raviraj Saini saved himself from drowning off the coast at Scarborough by following tips he learned on TV.
And telly hardman Ross Kemp was left with a swollen trout pout after being stung in the face by wasps after he disturbed a nest.
Survivalist and TV star Bear Grylls is now urging urban-dwelling Brits to brace themselves for the unexpected dangers of the countryside.
He said: “Failing to plan is planning to fail, so spend time selecting your location, planning your route and gathering all your resources.”
From accidentally eating a poisonous plant to facing a herd of stampeding cows, here Bear tells Katy Docherty how to survive the holiday hazards in the perilous wilds of Britain.
- How To Stay Alive, by Bear Grylls, is published by Corgi, priced £8.99. See beargrylls.com/pages/books-life-lessons.
Wasp attack
Wasps are a particular nuisance at this time of year but it’s a simple task to deal with them.
You have lots of options but if you get it wrong, the consequences can be nasty. Speaking as someone who was badly stung on location while filming Man Vs Wild a few years ago, I know how serious an attack can be.
WHAT TO DO
If you stumble upon a nest and the bees or wasps start to swarm, my first piece of advice is: Run.
My second piece of advice is: Keep running. Run until you are out of the immediate area.
While running, hold your breath so you don’t breathe any of them in.
Try to cover your head and face with your hands, or ideally, a towel. If you are stung, try to remove the sting if it is visible, wash the area, use ice to cool it and consider an antihistamine.
If you are allergic to wasp and bee stings like I am, seek medical attention immediately.
You are best off avoiding the nest if at all possible. Change your route, give it a wide berth and move away.
Cut by barbed wire or sharp object
If you play outdoors, climb, hike, ride or ramble, at some point you will pick up bumps, grazes and cuts.
In the outdoors, and particularly in the UK when walking and hiking, you will no doubt at some point veer off the path and have to climb a barbed wire fence. Avoid this at all costs if possible but if you have no other option, try the tips below.
WHAT TO DO
If the worst has happened and you do suffer a bad cut, reach for the first aid bag and treat a bleeding wound.
You must always remember the catchword “PEEPS”. It stands for . . .
P – Position: Check where the injury is and ask your casualty to sit down.
E – Expose and examine: See if it is clean and free of foreign bodies.
E – Elevate your limb if that’s where you are injured.
P – Pressure: Apply it directly over the injury. Use a bandage, a hanky or even just your hand.
Clean the wound if possible and bandage it.
As soon as you can, seek medical attention for the casualty, as they may need stitches or a tetanus injection.
Lost in wilderness with no signal
Getting lost can happen so easily, even for experienced or trained walkers and mountaineers.
The weather closes in, you lose track of the path or the features around you and suddenly you realise you are lost. You go for your GPS unit or even your phone, but guess what – there is no signal.
WHAT TO DO
Stop, don’t panic and take time to think what to do.
Look around you. Are there big features to recognise, such as rivers, mountains, lakes or a forest?
If you can, retrace your steps to a place where you know where you are.
Follow a river downstream. They usually lead to civilisation.
If it’s getting dark, stay put. Don’t drink from rivers or streams as the water may be contaminated. If you are desperately thirsty find moving water, filter it through a sock and boil it.
Pee is your last resort – it’s not nice and will likely adversely affect your overall hydration levels.
Find overhead cover – a cave or tree – to protect you from winds. Stay warm and dry, using layers of clothing or stuff clothing with grass as insulation.
Check food and water – and plan to be out all night.
Caught in a riptide
After watching BBC2 documentary Saving Lives At Sea, schoolboy Raviraj Saini, knew what to do when he was torn from his family by a riptide in the sea off the North Yorkshire coast this week.
The ten-year-old followed the RNLI’s Float To Live advice – to float calmly until he was rescued – rather than thrashing about in the water.
WHAT TO DO
As Raviraj knew, the RNLI’s guidance says that if you are drowning, fight your instinct to thrash around.
Lean back, extend your arms and legs and gently move them to help you float. Stay bobbing on the water on your back until your breathing recovers.
Rip currents can flow faster than an Olympic swimmer at 4mph and can drag unsuspecting swimmers out to sea. They are hard to spot but choppy water could be a sign.
If you get pulled away by a rip current, the RNLI advises you don’t try to swim against the tide as you’ll exhaust yourself and could drown.
Don’t swim towards the shore. First swim parallel to the current before heading for the beach.
Injured in a climbing accident
Some UK areas are remote and hard to reach for rescuers. So as we say in the Scouts: “Be prepared.”
Always let someone know where you are heading. Perhaps make a route plan and leave it with someone. Take the correct equipment, such as spare clothes, food, water, an up-to-date first aid kit, map and compass, and know how to use them all.
WHAT TO DO
If you are injured, don’t panic, stay calm and don’t move unless you have to.
Treat the injury, look at your resources and apply first aid if you can.
If you don’t have a phone signal, you will have to wait to be rescued.
While you wait, there are things you can do to attract help. Make an SOS sign out of clothing on the ground.
Use a whistle and give a distinctive call. Wave both arms in the air to attract attention.
Call or shout for help and use a mirror or shiny object to attract attention.
Jellyfish sting
Hot summers and warm water temperatures can attract jellyfish to Britain’s coasts – and with them comes the risk of a nasty sting. You might have heard that peeing on a jellyfish sting will help to soothe the pain.
But I would try other options first, as stinking of wee doesn’t make for the best mini-break . . .
WHAT TO DO
I have been stung many times by jellyfish over the years, and mostly it is just irritating – a bit like a bee or wasp sting.
Even so, do beware – some jellyfish that can be found on British beaches, such as the fearsome Portuguese man of war, can inflict some super- serious stings on unsuspecting holidaymakers. To treat a jellyfish sting, rinse the area in water or vinegar.
Then remove any obvious tentacles with a pair of tweezers.
Next, soak the site where you were stung in hot water for at least 20 minutes.
And finally, apply a mild hydrocortisone cream to help with the pain and ease the swelling.
Eating a poisonous plant
Over the years I’ve eaten all kinds of wild food – from all sorts of plants to nasty looking and tasting bugs and worms.
But it’s easy to get it wrong in a survival situation – and easy to make a mistake at home. If in doubt, never be tempted to try “foods” you might find in the wild, such as mushrooms or berries.
WHAT TO DO
If you’re not somewhere where you can call the emergency services, try to make yourself or your patient vomit by putting your fingers down the back of the throat.
Swallowing a small quantity of cold charcoal from a camp fire can also act as an emetic – or vomit-inducer – and may prevent your blood from absorbing certain poisons.
Crush the charcoal and mix it with some fresh water. Likewise, white ash mixed with fresh water can ease stomach cramps and is sometimes an antidote to hydrocyanic acid poisoning.
Get any remaining part of the poisonous article out of your mouth or that of a child.
Take the poison/plant or berries with you to a hospital Accident and Emergency department.
Wild animal attack / stampede
People get injured by cows every year in the UK, even though they are quiet and timid animals.
We do a lot of filming around large game and the principles are basically the same for our home-grown cattle. Any time you present a threat to almost any animal, get ready for action in return.
WHAT TO DO
A single cow is likely to be more scared of you than you are of it.
Just stand your ground, make a lot of noise and it will likely run away.
If the herd is running directly for you, you need to get to the edge of the field and out of there ASAP.
Try to get something between you and the cows.
You’re unlikely to be able to run faster than a cow, as they move at 20 to 30mph, so if walking through a field of cows, be respectful. You are in their domain, so remain calm, quiet and quickly try to pass by them.
If you can avoid the field, do so. But if you have to go through, don’t get between cows and their calves and avoid moving directly through the herd.
This will only agitate them.
Finally, keep your dog on a lead, close by you and under control.
Flash floods
Even small rivers in non-extreme environments are prone to sudden and dangerous flooding.
There is a river in Brecon where we do the Bear Grylls Survival Academy course, called the Lightning River – and for good reason. One minute it’s perfectly safe to cross, the next it’s fast-flowing white water.
WHAT TO DO
Wherever possible, you should avoid trying to cross flood waters.
They move fast and are always much more powerful than you might have imagined.
Even in knee-deep water you run a high risk of being swept away.
Moreover, flood water often contains fast-moving debris – cars, boulders, even trees.
Sometimes these are hidden below the surface, so you won’t even see them before they hit you.
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If you have to cross a flooded road, use a long stick to probe the ground ahead of you for hidden deep patches.
Be particularly wary of downed power lines that could still be live and lethal.
In general, your priority must be to head for high ground.
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