Unanticipated new skills

We’ve gained (or are gaining) various new skills as we travel. Some are to be expected, such as getting stronger on the bikes and getting more experienced at dealing with everyday challenges. Though there are some skills that we weren’t anticipating developing, which are also coming on nicely. These, for example, include:

Third Hand Knees

I’ve really taken to holding things with my knees. Sometimes you need to hold stuff off the floor whilst also having both hands free to do stuff. For example, if the floor is mucky and you need to get stuff out of a pannier. It’s not something I’ve done much in the past but it’s a real help at times and I can imagine I will do it (to odd looks) in future.

Night Vision

We have taken to operating in low light, without the use of our head torches, more than I imagined we might. This is partly due to the restrictions on wild camping we have encountered and partly due to it being more practical and pleasant than we anticipated. A bonus is that I have a somewhat wonky right eye in normal light conditions but this becomes less pronounced when it’s darker.

Sense of Touch

Related to the above but a boosted sense of touch is really helpful in determining what you are doing under low light conditions. I can ferret around in a pannier and know what I am handling pretty quickly. I try to make sure I close my panniers overnight so as not to one day handle something scary. Beck has already had a Whopper Slug In Shoe moment.

Organisation

Again, somewhat related and touched upon in a previous post, but good organisation is key. I could tell you every item in every bag from memory by this stage. Well, don’t actually test me on this but I reckon I’d get pretty close. This is quite an achievement for me, as Beck will attest.

Focused listening

We’ve got good at listening to our surroundings. I mean, this has been my raison d'etre for decades now (and I’ve converted Beck into a deep listening geek too) but it has taken on a new purpose with our camping, listening out for sounds and clues. As our ears no longer pivot, it seems our brains do. This is a skill we are using maximally.

Spacial Awareness

This only really takes one form but Beck is top class at deciding whether a spot is big enough for our tent. One day she’ll be able to tell how level it is too ;) We’ve had to laugh at various tent pitching instructional videos we’ve watched. They all begin with the phrase, “Find a level site, free from twigs and rocks”. Yeah, RIGHT!

Of course sometimes we get to just spread out…