King Alfred's Cakes - nature's hand warmer

King Alfred’s Cakes or Cramp Balls make an excellent portable handwarmer when out and about in the woods and are also a handy way to start a camp fire. They are abundant in woodland all across the UK mainly growing on ash trees and sometimes sycamore. Not hard to identify, learn how to spot them and how to ignite them to use as ‘nature’s hand warmers’.
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DJI Mavic Air
Canon EOSR with Canon 50mm & 24mm lens
Canon EOS760D with sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens.
Zhiyun Crane gimbal
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Voiceover recording by David Oliver. Davidolivermusic.com
Music: epidemicsound.com

[@LoneWolfExplorer]

What a great idea for a hand warmer, I have used them to start a fire but never to warm my hands. Thanks for the tip :)

[@MrAndyballard]

I guess with enough of them you could warm up a lot of your body?! Nature provides !

[@LoneWolfExplorer]

@@MrAndyballard I’d be careful where to place them though 😂

[@richie6329]

Found a couple today, great little things

[@MrAndyballard]

they need drying before ya spark em up.

[@Taffwildmanofthewoods]

Nice one Andy, I was out collecting them yesterday on my woodland camp 👍

[@MrAndyballard]

Yes, I saw loads about today on fallen ash trees from the recent storms, but red and very hard, so not great for harvesting for fire lighters.

[@mik222222222]

Just found some of these in my yard. Cool stuff

[@MrAndyballard]

Nice! The drier the easier they are to light 👍

[@billygoatfilms7531]

Nice short informative film Andy. 👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@MrAndyballard]

Nice one, cheers Mountain Mike 👌

[@denzilhamm331]

Imagine being alive in the time when this type of technology was necessary for every day life

[@MrAndyballard]

I do imagine it from time to time, and it would probably be a whole lot simpler (and less stressful) than living in today's world

[@WalksWithOlly]

Thanks, Andy. I certainly had no idea about these. :-)

[@MrAndyballard]

Good on ya Olly, keep an eye out for em, always good to have in your pocket at this time of year 👍

[@billybud8178]

It's all out there in nature if we look, very informative, thanks 👌

[@MrAndyballard]

It most certainly is Billy ! Ta

[@My24hradventure]

Great tip! I'll try this next time I'm out 😊👍

[@MrAndyballard]

They need to be pretty dry, if it's been wet, then give them a few days in a dry warm place, the drier the better!

[@My24hradventure]

@@MrAndyballard will do, thanks

[@WyeExplorer]

Great little short Andy - plenty in there to ignite our interest. Excuse the pun. Good to see you out. Mark

[@MrAndyballard]

Good to hear from you Mark, first little creative project I've done for ages, just haven't felt the inspiration lately under this latest house arrest scheme. Hope all's well with you, let's hope I can get across to the Wye valley this spring, I sincerely hope so.

[@WyeExplorer]

@@MrAndyballard Hey yeah I know that energy Andy - it's been tough mate. Hopefully be out there soon the both of us. I did manage to do the Wye Valley Walk before the proper lockdown through Wales. There are 6 parts. I've uploaded 4-5 this Wednesday. I think you may enjoy the 136 miles. In your own time but here is a link to part 1 kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZCulJukaL1qirM would love to hear from you-they are long but good. Take care out there - I look forward to your films. They're always quality. Peace!

[@mandycampbell329]

Nice one Andy didn't know you could do that! Will try it next time I'm in the woods 😁👍

[@MrAndyballard]

I found a whopper this morning... big as an apple, more like a lump of coal really. If ya find some, dry em out first 👌

[@AxletreeMusic]

Fascinating! I've seen these growing out on the hurst near us and had no idea they could be used for starting fires. Also, very nice production on this Andy, could have been straight out of Countryfile :)

[@MrAndyballard]

Grab a few when you're out n about and take them home to dry. In a few days they'll be ready to ignite as a hand warmer. The little metal fire strike is also a good bit of kit to stash in your pocket on these cold winter days too, today being a case in point! Cheers for watching. Do you still put material on Free Music Archive?

[@AxletreeMusic]

@@MrAndyballard I think you mentioned they work as good fire lighters too? That would be very handy as I always spend forever getting our fire box going, and usually end up using firelighters which aren't exactly great for the environment...

[@AxletreeMusic]

Also, thanks for asking, I haven't for a while - the site was actually frozen for a couple years - but thinking of putting out something soon... I'll also promote that on here when it happens.

[@stephentree3466]

Cramp Balls Andy......? you need Sloggis

[@MrAndyballard]

Ha! I had to think about that one, most amusing. Google brought up some odd images when I searched!?