I’m back today from a few days camping near Bala in Wales. There were some delightful highlights but we did forget to take the tin opener. So much for the tin of baked beans we had lined up to accompany last night’s BBQ. Not so fast: we didn’t have a tin opener but we did have… a hatchet?

It turns out that the metal on top of a can of beans is easily torn with the force that is applied by gently striking with the bottom corner of a hatchet blade. With a little patience, it was possible to cut round enough to fold back the lid and carefully spoon out the beans.

Next time, I’ll try to remember the safer option of taking a tin opener but I’m glad I had my trusty hatchet along (picture from a trip three years ago but it is still going strong).