By: Blonde Two
Last week, when the Two Blondes were walking up to Hartland Tor, I noticed a large clump of bamboo growing somewhat incongruously behind a traditional Dartmoor stone wall. This sighting worried me for a while until I remembered that we live in the damp and cold UK. Let me explain.
I am in the lucky position of being able to spend a proportion of my Augusts in New Zealand. In New Zealand, some plants that we treasure and nurture in our chilly UK gardens take on a whole different aggressive persona. Bamboo is a good example, it grows and spreads like wild fire wherever it is planted and one of my favourite NZ jobs is to cut down great loads of it to build big bonfires with – it has always come back the next year so I always have a bonfire to build (bamboo pops loudly when you burn it).
After a bit of consideration, it seemed clear to me that, unlike the gorse (also a problem in NZ), the bamboo that I saw at Hartland Tor was unlikely to find anywhere nearby that was warm enough to spread to. So I stopped worrying about that. Bamboo does, however, keep popping up in my outdoor life.
For example, I was given a bamboo top for my birthday. This doesn’t sound very comfortable but it is, in fact a lovely soft top. Someone must have been very pleased with herself (obviously it was a woman) the day she came up with the method of converting spiky plants into wearable fabric. I have read mixed reports about bamboo’s sustainability and eco-warrior-plant status so I am not sure about that. I can, however, agree with the hype that bamboo clothes are warm, breathable, non-smelly and attractive. I shall be buying some more.
The second odd bamboo event that has happened recently was while Mr Blonde Two and I were waiting for my WGL assessment the other evening (he was waiting and I was gibbering), a lady on a bamboo bike pulled into the Postbridge car park. I didn’t believe Mr B2 at first and thought “Bamboo” must be a make of bike that I haven’t heard him talk about (he cycles, I don’t). Sure enough, however, there was a bike and the frame was made of bamboo and it did look rather cool.
So I have a plan – I am going to buy that field near Hartland Tor, grow the bamboo for a few years and then make myself a bike and some rather snazzy cycling gear. Or, if the mood takes me, I could just have a very big bonfire!
So true, the strength and versatility of bamboo.
As a young teenager in Singapore back in the 1960’s I was amazed to see bamboo lengths being used as scaffolding and extending to three stories.
So, from structural support, to clothing, to bicycles to drinking vessels there is a very useful plant. Oh, and don’t forget a sustainable food for the Panda (bamboo shoots).
It is incredible stuff and it grows very quickly too. I do have some in my garden but keep it carefully in check.
Bamboo bikes? Ouch! Just imagine where those nasty slender slivers would go if you had an accident! Bamboo is fairly common along the cliffs, so it may well have come inland on someone’s boots – which reminds me dear walkers all, we have been asked to scrub our boots after country rambles so that we do not carry Ash Die-Away on our tender tootsies from place to place. We can do this – after all, canoeists have being washing their boats down for years to prevent water-borne pests being transferred from one river to another.
P.S. Just reminded me of something else – Napoleon’s army marched in clothing made from Stinging Nettle fibres – now there’s a useful plant – dye, shampoo, green veg., fertiliser for roses, soup, you name it, the good old nettles do it!
All that and they can sting too – very clever indeed!
It is possible to persuade some people that Belted Galloway cattle grazing the moors, and seen from a distance, are in fact part of a secret panda breeding programme…
Bamboo clothing isn’t all that it seems, and there is a bit of controversy about its labeling. The fibre is in fact viscose, the only difference being is that the cellulose it’s made from, is from bamboo instead of wood pulp, The industrial process, with all of its associated chemicals and potential pollution is the same what ever the source of the cellulose.
‘Coconut’ fabrics are similarly a bit misleading. It’s essentially polyester, but coated with activated carbon (made from charcoaled coconut husks) that absorbs odours and inhibits bacteria. As with viscose, it’s the product of quite a long industrial process. In addition it requires frequent laundering and heat (e.g. tumble drying or ironing) to reactivate the charcoal after it has been used.
Neither fabric is really much more ‘green’ than other synthetics used in outdoor clothing.
I’ve heard good things about how well bamboo bikes ride, but I’d imagine that when the frame fails it does so fairly catastrophically. However, so would carbon fibre…
Note to Blonde Selves – must get some photos of red pandas …