Reports from Old Website

Sounds of Skiddaw 2004

Most people I know think I'm mad! And the question they ask is "So just what is the attraction of driving nearly 200 miles to spend two cold nights in a tent in March and take a lung-busting, leg-aching trek up a mountain into the cloud so there is no view when you get there?" And the question I ask myself is "Just why was such a trip such brilliant fun, so much so that we're already discussing the next one?"

It hadn't been a great week and by Friday evening I was tired, down in the dumps and not at all sure I had either the energy or desire to take the planned trip to Skiddaw. However it had been planned for some months and not wanting to let down my friends I loaded my kit into Titch's car, mustering up some enthusiasm. We picked up Shep and the three of us were on our way by 7:30 Friday evening.

In the dark on the M6 it wasn't long before long we resorted to singing (badly) to various CDs to pass the time. Fortunately, we all share similar tastes in music. 

I have another question... "What is it that is so exciting about the first night away in a tent, every time you do it?" Having pitched the tent in the dark and dived into our sleeping bags, we all agreed we felt more awake than we'd been all week! We talked for some time then laid quietly listening to the owls. Soon the guys were snoring gently and I decided I really did need something more comfortable to lay on for our next trip. I'm sure the owls were hooting until the cockerel started cock-a-doodle-dooing but maybe I did drop off to sleep at some point, I'm really not sure. The dawn chorus built to a crescendo then subsided again to the persistent cawing of a crow. I was glad to get up in the morning; it had been a long night!

And here's another question... "Why do sausages and bacon smell so nice when cooked in a tent?" I normally hate the smell of fried food in the morning.

Because there were only three of us we were pretty quick at getting ourselves ready for the day ahead and set off to find a suitable place to park in Dodd Wood for the start of the walk. The first bit through the wood was easy walking but the traffic on the A591 was noisy. We started our ascent from the Ravenstone Hotel where a steep track lead directly up onto the open fell. Titch was pretty fit from the Southern 50/50 but Shep and I quickly felt the impact of our winter spent in front of computer screens. With my heart pounding and the sound of my breathing filling my head I wondered why I'd ever thought this would be fun. We stopped frequently 'to admire the view'. 

Because of the steepness of the track we were soon high above Bassenthwaite Lake and had left the sound of traffic and other walkers behind. The scenery that now opened up to us as we continued the ascent to Ullock Pike and onto Longside was breathtaking and the walking became easier (not just less steep but I actually felt fitter as I walked). This is a lovely ridge walk with views on both sides. Skiddaw itself to our left was shrouded in a thick cloud.

We took it in turns leading the way and shared water from our drink containers. Several false summits later we paused at Carl Side and became aware of complete silence. It was as though we were completely alone in the world. I can't remember the last time I heard such silence; I wanted to go on listening to the nothingness but the summit of Skiddaw beckoned. A little further on we joined the more popular tourist path to the summit and suddenly there were other people on our mountain! 

The final ascent of Skiddaw was unpleasant and has little to recommend it; at least when there is a thick cloud and no view except for the person in front. Loose, dark grey shale moved beneath our feet sapping our energy and for the first time it was my legs that hurt rather than my lungs or heart which were working well by now. I was grateful when Shep and Titch decided to stop and build a snowman; the pause was welcome. Ok so the snow wasn't very sticky and it wasn't a very big snowman but it's the thought that counts.

Our route had been uphill all the way and the last bit was the steepest but we soon reached the top of the snow-covered plateau that is Skiddaw. The cloud lifted briefly to reward our efforts with a view to the west and north. We walked onwards to the Skiddaw trig point. At 931 meters (3054 feet) Skiddaw is the 4th highest mountain in the Lakes. We sat behind the snow-filled wind shelter to have some lunch... well you have to stop at the top, don't you? The fog was thick but it didn't matter... we had a snowball fight instead and laughed like children!

We decided to return via a different path to take in the view over Derwent Water, a favourite place of Titch's. I'm so glad we did. We were rewarded with more magnificent views. The walk down was tough on the knees and we gratefully stopped at some rocks to watch the world go by. It was fantastic to just sit in companionable silence and watch absolutely nothing happening except the changing patterns of the shadows cast by the clouds on the valley and water far below. This was a magic moment. There is something very liberating about sitting on top of the world like this. I loved this place. I wanted to wrap it up and take it home with me, along with the silent soundtrack. Since returning home I have sat there, looking at this view over and over again in my mind. 

We were all quite tired and achy by now and the walk from here back to the forest tracks seemed to go on steeply downward forever. The last bit of the walk in Dodd Wood to where we'd left the car was easy going and actually rather pleasant in some spring sunshine only spoiled by the sound of traffic and the return to civilisation. 

Following welcome hot showers back at the campsite we headed into Keswick for an evening meal. Warm, full up and well exercised we could happily have gone to bed but refused to give in as it was only 8:20pm. By 9:20pm, however, we'd agreed to put our watches forward an hour and head off to bed. I didn't hear anything that night!

The following day we did not stir particularly early and as we needed to leave by 1pm the planned walk up Cat Bells was replaced by a lovely stroll along the edge of Derwent Lake, followed by a ferry ride back in the sunshine. A perfect end to a smashing weekend. I returned to Warwick totally refreshed and ready to face the world once again.

And so back to the question, why did we do it and why will we (hopefully) do it again? The answer... personal achievement (making the top), liberation (standing on top of the world and briefly escaping from civilisation) and friendship (need I say more!). Isn't this what scouting is really all about? What more could we ask for? Thanks guys.

Sally (March 2004)

County Bear Trek 2003

After our success in the Incident hike, with two teams going through, we turned up fully prepared and excited to the Shipston-on-Stour scout hut for the County Bear trek. This was a hike through the countryside around Shipston-on-Stour with six checkpoints, four of which had activities which you earned points from.

We were driven to our first checkpoint, where we were to show how to resuscitate an unconscious person we had found by the side of the road. This was ok as two of us already had the emergency aider badge and the others had practised the method too.

We then set off back to the scout hut where we found the other team from 2nd Warwick. The task here was to move a barrel into a dustbin using three ropes but without touching the ground within about a 2m radius with anything. We succeeded with only a minute to spare!

On the next stretch we got a little lost but with some help from the other team, found the farm. It turned out that putting a sling on to the leader here was no mean feat, with lots of speculation and re-tying. In the end we managed it, just, but couldn't remember how to make the triangular bandage into a wide bandage.

 The next checkpoint was only a safety checkpoint, with no activity, so we carried on to Todenham. On the way, we spotted the other team someway behind us! After a brief stop for the whole team to climb into the phone box, we found the checkpoint where we had to disarm a rocket.

From here we walked to Mitford Bridge (getting the rugby score on the way and overtaking a Stratford team) where the task was to light a fire and boil a cup of water on it using a flint. Difficult as none of us had ever used a flint before!

However, we managed it and set off to our last but one checkpoint, on a road past Burmington. On arrival, the leader here radioed in to make sure we could carry on, and with only twenty minutes left we walked away to our last checkpoint over a lot of fields.

We finished the route at 3:10pm, now exhausted having walked just over ten miles. We shared Jaffa cakes and waited for the last team to finish. We were driven back to the scout hut where we ate and drank and again, waited for a lost team to come in.

The room was filled with tension as the results were announced, particularly as the top three teams were separated by only three points. But we cheered and clapped when we heard we had won and went to collect the trophy and certificates.

We left tired, full and very, very happy!

By Hermione 2003

PLs Exped 2006 – Ullswater

Well done to everyone who took part... there were a number of challenges along the way, lots and lots of weather, wild camping on a frozen swamp and a long walk which was very hard on the feet!

There was also some stunning scenery and lots of laughter all around.

Very many thanks to all the SPLs and PLs and Sue, Nick and Dave for making this a very special weekend.

Sally

(SL Vanguard 2006)

PL'S EXPED 2006

County Bear Trek 2004

We arrived at Hatton campsite scout hut at some unearthly time on a Sunday morning (9:00am). After our recent success in the district incident hike we were confident but unsure as to what we were to encounter in the pleasant but cold Warwickshire countryside. At least we were on home ground.

We were driven to our first checkpoint where we were to start at half past nine. Our team started walking and we soon got to the first incident, which was first aid. Thankfully, most of us had our emergency aid badges and we sorted out the unconscious child with no problem. After ignoring the shouting man with the broken arm for way too long, we eventually tied his arm in a sling. The leaders gave us some advice and then we were off again.

I will add at this point that we were given a quiz that had questions to answer as we were walking between checkpoints. We missed out a question and had to run all the way back to the previous checkpoint to answer it. Great.

The next checkpoint was to memorize all the counties in England and then write them on a map with a pen that didn't work in the rain. It was raining by the way. We eventually did it and then walked to the next checkpoint, which was to build a fire to boil enough water for a cup of tea. Considering it had just been raining we did pretty well. Dry brambles and silver birch lit well with the help of a smarties packet.

The next incident was pitching a hike tent on the groundsheet without any of the equipment touching the surrounding ground. We did it in two minutes and something. Striking it and packing it wasn't so easy, but we still managed it. And so on we walked until we came to the next incident. Yippee, knot tying. I still don't know how to tie a fisherman's bend or a one-handed bowline but some people in our group did. We completed the challenge with flying colours.

The last incident was the one we failed miserably at even though we'd done the same one on the incident hike. You had to make a sort of crane to retrieve a billycan of sweets on the other side of a couple of ropes. Last time we used a rock but we weren't allowed to this time. We spent about five minutes trying to hook the billycan but we couldn't and we had to stop. Oh well.

We were driven back to Hatton scout hut where we had a cup of soup or hot dogs and warmed up. The points were added up and the top three teams were read out. Yes, we'd come first for the third year in a row! It had been a great hike and we had even managed to squash into two red phone boxes during it. Even better, the trophy would stay in our cabinet for another year. 

Heather (SPL Nov 2004)

Scout Camp 2004

The Friday (16th) before camp was spent trying to fit the contents of the Scout hut into the lorries which seemed a little on the small side. However using much skill, calculation and mostly brute force we managed to get everything in (including the kitchen sink).

The following Saturday morning (17th) was spent pretty much the same as Friday, just with nearly 80 Scouts, their large amount of kit and a coach instead.

By the time they all arrived on the site, the leader team had already managed to bury one truck and get another stuck in the muddy field. However, with some organisation, the Scouts were soon starting to set up their sites.

 Over 55 tents were erected in the space of a few hours which would all become our home for the following two weeks...

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Sunday (18th) consisted of mostly chaos as we finished setting up camp and then prepared all the boats for general boating, with this being the first opportunity for the Scouts to do what they came to camp to do and get on the water.

 Traditionally, the first proper night's activity at camp is a local walk organised by the SPLs, and as tradition dictates a couple of the groups were late getting back, whether this was due to an error in navigation or just slow walking, we are still not sure.

Monday (19th) is the first proper day of activities, which consisted of Scouts doing one of a number of activities, including sailing, canoeing, kayaking, power boating or backwoods cooking. During camp, all patrols also undertake a two-day expedition either hiking, sailing or canoeing and this time it was the turn of Seagull and Hawk (hiking), Wolf (canoeing) and Cobra (sailing).

Tuesday (20th) was similar as Monday with patrols moving on to do some of the other activities. The four patrols on the expedition all successfully completed what they had set out to do. Some pictures of the hiking expeditions are in the gallery.

The evening's activity was The Loopy Ladle Lift, where the aim of the game was to collect objects that began with all the letters of "The Loopy Ladle Lift". They received points for the originality of the objects they found. Once they had done that, the scouts had to make a device that would lift a ladle as high as possible.

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The grand troop hike was on Wednesday (21st) that saw most of the scouts attempting to navigate around the countryside between a number of checkpoints in their patrols. This tested leadership, teamwork and navigation skills. Well done to Lion, Otter, Cobra, Merlin and Eagle who all successfully managed to complete the whole course. The evening activity was an informal campfire.

Thursday (22nd) and Friday (23rd) were split days like Monday and Tuesday. Thursday's evening activity was a number of fun and exciting challenges like pole climbing, limbo and spiders web among others.

Wicked winter weekend – 2006

On Friday thirteenth of January, 50 scouts, and a few of us explorers, turned up at the scout hut complete with a ton of kit. (Some of which is still there) It was the start of a long, tiring weekend that turned out to be a lot of fun.

Friday was simple, get everyone settled down watching Pirates of the Caribbean and then go to bed? or not as it turned out. Thump thump thump was the noise that was heard downstairs where we were 'sleeping'. We played cards all through the night and all through to the morning after deciding it wasn't worth going to sleep in the end.

Everyone woke refreshed and enthusiastically in the morning, yeah right? Breakfast was handed out and they set to cooking it in their groups and then eating it. After everything was cleared away, those that wanted to kayak went kayaking and those that didn't did fire lighting or pioneering.

Those that went pioneering built an amazing assault course consisting of a swinging bridge, rope bridge, a ladder up a tree and other things. The firelighters built fires from wood they collected nearby and made dampers. I tasted one of these things, I was handed a stick with damper mixture on it (flour, water and salt) that had been charred on the outside. Apparently, it was cooked. The kayakers tested some kayaks from Leam Boat Center and generally paddled around. What was even more fun was that everyone did the activities in the rain! I was soaked.

After lunch the highland games began with chase the haggis or in other words, chasing the explorers around the park in a relay with a rather fetching hat as a 'baton'. Next was the three-legged race in which we put an explorers team in only we had four people so it was more six-legged. No one fell over but loads of people tried to cheat. I shall say no names.

To finish the highland games there were four more activities- welly wanging, tossing balloons filled with porridge, the assault course and the earth ball. A lot of people got very muddy but there were smiles all around, especially at the end of the assault course. The equipment was speedily put away and then everyone walked the incredibly long way to the swimming pool where we splashed around on the Viking boat thing and the floats.

To finish the day off, everyone watched Oceans Eleven whilst eating popcorn and then went to sleep eventually.

Heather (2006)

Merlin's Patrol Camp - September 2007

By Catherine (PL Merlin)

The first weekend in September Merlin patrol went on a camp together at Horley Scout Campsite, near Banbury. While we were there we did some conservation work. This involved making more pathways for the nature trail which had been started by Snowy, the camp warden. (Anyone who went on Frosty Camp in January 2007 will remember that we started the first section of the path and put up bird boxes).

We arrived at Horley on a bright and dry morning. After setting up camp, Snowy brought all the materials down to the nature trail and we started work about 10am. We started on a particularly boggy part of the path down by the stream. This involved building up the path, making it level and removing all the big rocks which might make people trip up. We hammered in short posts and edged the path with wood before filling in between the edging with bark chips.

Martin Crossley came for the morning and helped us understand what we needed to do.

Going backwards and forwards to get the bark chippings we had wheelbarrow races.

Once we had finished the path by the stream, we started to extend the path back up the hill towards the path we made at Frosty Camp.

We were all very tired by 5 o'clock so we stopped and cooked a huge pasta meal and did some acrobatics!

1st Kineton and 2nd Banbury were also camping at Horley and they invited our patrol to a campfire which finished of the day very nicely. We did two sketches at the campfire and had to sing loudly, especially when each group took a turn with the songs as there were only seven of us.

Next morning the sun was shining again. After breakfast, we carried on with the path, but by lunchtime, we ran out of materials, so we made some repairs to the path we made at Frosty Camp.

In the afternoon Snowy took us back down to the path with more wood on the back of his tractor.

We had a visit from the District Commissioner, who came down and said how well we were doing.

At the end of the camp we all felt really good for helping improve the environment at Horley. Snowy was very pleased and we were awarded a Camp Service Team badge.

We all enjoyed the weekend!!!!!

Boys Gorge Scrambling

PL Gorge Scrambling (Vigilant)

On the 1st Thursday of camp, while the girls were on their expeds, the vigilant PLs & SPLs went on their own exciting activity.

With Sally, Titch & Deebs we drove in the minibus to a random layby near a random stream in the middle of nowhere, in a part of the Lake District populated mainly by sheep.

We were already partly wearing wetsuits (it was a hot day!), but finished getting kitted up on the roadside, by adding spraytops & buoyancy aids. It was then a short walk down the road to where a path went down to the stream.

Our first activity was to get accustomed to the water. This involved sitting and standing down in knee-high water & drenching each other. We then made our way up the stream, climbing over large rocks & up small waterfalls. The gradient varied from easygoing to nearly vertical. As we went up it got darker & darker as the gully walls grew higher & steeper.

Eventually we reached the top where we rested & took photos, before having a go at the mysterious 'washing machine'. This entailed being dunked by Titch into a plunge pool at the bottom of a noisy cascade.

The way down would have been better if there had been more rain - dry rapids are not so good for sliding down!

We all really enjoyed this trip, including our leaders.

It was a great idea, & would be a good activity to do again on future camps.

Thanks for taking us.

Sam T, Swift PL

Patrol Leader's Training Course 2004

After a long and tiring wide game, we got ready for a night on board, but being as there was trouble in the park and JV was somewhere else we had to walk to the Shacklock's house with Rich to stay there. After 6 hours of sleep, we set off again back to the Scout Hut with our sleeping bags round our necks. We arrived at the Hut at 8:40 am, had breakfast then we had colours. Some other Scouts from Sutton came. In total there were 5 scouts from Warwick and 3 from Sutton.

In the morning we did stuff like drill and different types of flags. Lunch was burnt hamburgers, but we enjoyed it all the same. We also had a bit of a PLC over lunch. In the afternoon we went pulling in the rovers and learnt all the commands. A talk on how to run a patrol helped me a lot. Then we all put up a campsite, the Niger went up, then the Patrol Box, we couldn't find the right legs for eagle's patrol box. We tried Cobra's legs, Panther's legs, Otter's legs and finally we got Eagle's legs. So we put them on and then took them off, bit pointless.

We had a talk on the care of ropes and types of ropes. After, a bit of football then we tucked into Fish and Chips, which was the best meal of the day. We watched the Great Escape in the evening and at 11.30 pm we got to sleep. Woke up at 7:00 am, but it was really 6:00 am to me, because of Daylight Saving Hours. Breakfast was a fry-up, by Ken. Colours was at 8.40am, we did some more pulling in the rover in the morning. Just before Lunch, we had a talk on Rigs and how to take care of them.

Lunch came at long last. It was Hamburgers again, but they were not burnt. Sunday went quite quickly to me. In the afternoon we went rowing in the pioneers, we did skills like the man overboard drill. My fifth time in the rover on that particular weekend was much more fun. We learnt skills like how to tie onto a buoy and coming along side to the jetty.

After a tired day everyone went home at 2:30 pm, but not us, we stayed with Pete to clean the Galley up a bit because we did not know that it finished early. So at 5.00 pm I went home tired, but the felt I had achieved something. Even I had been to Camp as a PL I had definitely learnt about how to make sure my patrol enjoy camp more, but also make them work fairly. Thanks to JV, Ken, Pete for running and to Vic the leader of Sutton who came along. I enjoyed it, I hope everyone else did? 

By Dan

Peek District Walkies - December 03

Our Epic journey began at 0800, yes 0800 in the morning, when I picked tom up then headed around to Dave's house. after a swift kit check we doubled back to pick DW up a pair of gloves. We headed up the M69 to the M1, and I drove (keeping to all speed limits officer) up the M1, when I saw the 1mile to Sheffield sign I questioned Tom's navigational abilities, and yes he hadn't been keeping tabs on where we were because

a) he thought I knew where we were going.

b) we had got there quicker than he had expected.

So a nice trip through Sheffield, then up into the National Park, and over a couple of high passes covered in some magical slippery white stuff (I believe they call it snow).

We eventually arrived at Edale and parked outside the School, we followed the path up to the bottom of the waterfall, where we started to climb up the side of the waterfall, occasionally playing in the stream, as the stream wasn't icy, and the rocks around were. It was hard work climbing up the side of the waterfall, when we started up the stream the snow was on the ground around us and got thicker As we got higher. When we reached the top there were a few people standing around we took a path and started walking, looking out for good bits of rock to have a play on with the Ice tools. We didn't actually find any proper climbable rock but we took some clever pics to make it look like we did.

We walked on for ages, had lunch and played on the rocks with the Ice axes, in various poses. we headed back towards the car at around 4pm and started home. Several hours and a McDonald’s later, we got home.

Dave (Dec 03)

Danger Mountain - 09 04

Here in the network, we don't always play by the rules. Sometimes we make up the rules ourselves. Sometimes we abide by the rules, but the rules we are abiding by are so radically different to the rules normally adhered to that simply by conforming, we are actually making a bold statement. Our seldom-ending quest for 'high-jinks' and 'giggles' in the network has involved many such transgressions of what everyday folk consider normal. Bungee-jumping naked, scuba-diving with a mask full of live bees and full-contact ludo are just some of the events that may be on the network calendar at any given time.

This week sees the Grand Official (second) opening of the Second Warwick Sea Scout Network, under the maverick leadership of 'dynamo' James Sanders. As a taster of the activities that take place under the guise of the network, a series of (at least two) accounts of activities masterminded by and involving the network have been 'organised'. The following article describes just one such event. For insurance purposes, it should be noted that the events described hereof were undertaken by members of the network, rather than as; an important difference, for any big-wigs who have the misfortune to be reading this will, I am sure, agree.

The faint glimmer of my headtorch pointed skywards uselessly, glinting white off rock before mixing thickly with the night canvas of the sky. Craning my neck forward, I could just direct the fine beam of light at the jumble of ropes and gear that lay all around. Nervously, I checked the anchor again. Like a drunken blend of crochet and a house of cards (the number one Danish national pastime, apparently) the anchor securing our (hopefully) bright futures was decidedly shaky. Below Dave was swearing profusely whilst bouncing around upon the fixed climbing rope. This rope was in turn protected from the razor's edge of the granite slab upon which I perched by a pillow, constructed from a shoe and my best fleece -a particularly selfless act on my part, I considered.

In a moment of self-indulgent reverie, of the kind involving wibbly camera techniques and the occasional soft filter, I thought back to the origins of this hair-brained scheme to climb such a towering cathedral of granite as that upon which we now hung precariously, our lives and sanity teetering on the knife edge refuge we shared, tiny specks amongst a sea of rock; a vertical ocean of quartz diorite.

The original seed had been planted upon the discovery that a quarry near Leicester harboured granite of such epic proportions as to warrant a name like Danger Mountain. Curiously enough, the trip over had involved a great deal fewer U-turns than is customary. This I attribute to Dave's driving skill. An unpleasantly steep trudge up a grassy slope was rewarded with a view that cannot be described politely as anything but impressive. An air of almost reverential awe overtook us. This we dispelled with a series of posed tourist photos.

Making our way into the quarry, it soon became clear that the sheer walls divided themselves neatly into two categories: steep and with all the rugosities of the side of my house, or broken and looser than a particularly loose thing that I shall not describe for fear of causing offence to readers of a fragile disposition. The looseness was established with a carefully calculated series of increasingly vigorous tests, pioneered by Dave. This involved hefting increasingly large chunks of rock at what appeared to be the loosest parts of the wall, before pausing a moment to see whether anything fell off. It should be noted for any trained professionals wishing to employ this technique that scurrying around with the back and neck slightly bent ensure the maximum possible safety while undertaking the waiting part of the study. Honest.

As usual, the route lists downloaded from the internet had proved slightly less useful than nettle-leaf bog-roll and had been banished back to the bowels of the rucksack. It should be pointed out that there is a special sequence of Deoxyribonucleic acid that codes for the ability to read climbing guides, and needless to say, we don't have it. Instead, we decided to forge a route up a possible line, whether it had been climbed or not. To save on unnecessary waffle, I shall merely establish that if it was unclimbed before, it remains so. However, as we left the quarry, another seed, similar to the first began to grow. Nurtured by the pumping dance music on the journey home, and the ear-piercing treble of Hi-Hat anthems 4, the words 'You've got to believe in something. Believe in me.' became a mantra for the embryonic idea: oh yes, we would return, and better prepared, too. Next time, we would be ready for all Danger Mountain had to throw at us.

"Wish I'd been better prepared" I muttered to myself. One move from the floor I had become stuck. The block behind which I had banked upon jamming my largest piece of climbing gear was in fact larger than I had expected. Too large. Expletive. Around four feet from the ground, the inadequacies of my equipment (snigger) had reared their ugly heads, so to speak. The plan was to employ aid techniques to scale the vast granite ramparts of Danger Mountain. Aid techniques involve the placing of wedges into cracks in the rock. To these are attached rope ladders, which are climbed before another wedge is placed, and the exercise repeated. In theory. To this end, we had spent a great deal of time 're-organising' the rack of climbing gear, a process referred to by my university friends as 'playing with my nuts' (I should point out here for the uninitiated that 'nut' is a generic name for the metal wedges commonly used when climbing, and should by no means be regarded as an anatomical reference). Around my neck I know wore what felt like fifty pounds of carabiners, assorted wedges and other arcane devices.

In a flash of brilliance, I threw a length of cord over the large flake above me and clipped in a rope ladder. Oozing onto the ladder, I watched the cord for a movement, the anticipation of a four-foot fall drying my mouth and greasing my palms. Stepping onto a sloping ledge of rock, I placed another wedge, which shifted unerringly as I applied my weight to it. A few slightly more reassuring moves brought me to a ledge, and in the gathering gloom, I decided to pause there, and debate the plan of action with Dave. The ledge was wide and spacious, yet the slightly overhanging and almost blank face towering above me in the gloom only seemed to enhance the sense of irony as I shouted down that I was 'safe'. As I began to set up the belay, I was only briefly reminded of a well-oiled machine going into action. Hunting through my remaining climbing gear, I produced an anchor which derived most of its strength from the enormous quantities of friction as the rope ran over numerous sharp edges. Fulfilling his part of the well-oiled machine, Dave unclipped from the ropes, and grabbed a diversion sign before taking numerous pictures and chuckling for several minutes.

In a short time I was joined on the ledge - this is the sort of 'short time' in which the fledgling Roman Empire waxed fat and conquered half the known world, before collapsing into decadence, and eventual downfall at the hands of various hordes barbarian. It was obvious that a retreat was in order, and so Dave set himself up for a short but ageing abseil, encouraged by the words: "Make it smooth and quick, the anchor's [not very good]." He stepped out from our refuge with a confidence I did not hold, so it seemed more encouragement was necessary:

"Move faster or we'll both die!"

Dave had just moved out of eyesight when the sound of falling rubble rent the air, and all was silent.

"Dave, speak to me." Pause. Silence. Brown adrenaline.

"I'm okay, I just kicked some loose stuff." A wave of relief broke over me. Now, the question of how to retreat myself without achieving terminal velocity presented itself. A particularly sensible suggestion of getting down the same way that I had got up drifted up from below.

"You know that I told you to remove all my gear when you came up, Whitey?"

"Indeed."

"Did you?"

"Yes."

"Expletive."

This was going to be harder than I thought. Using a double Monica (simultaneous use of both knees) followed by a double Colonel Sanders (simultaneous use of both elbows) I left the ledge, feet scrabbling in the dark. Metre by metre I worked my way down. Feet flat on the floor, I looked up at the belay ledge, our 'high point' for the night.

Fifteen feet.

"Expletive."

As usual, the drive home brought the chance for a constructive debrief, in which opinions are aired, and suggestions are made regarding how problems could be avoided next time. The overriding sentiment for the exercise blended the wisdom gained in the undertaking with cautious optimism for the immediate future:

"Screw that, let's never come back here again."

"Agreed."

So if there is a lesson to be learned here, perhaps it can be surmised as this: to try and yet fail is human. To persevere and also fail; perhaps more so. But this is ultimately the quest of the network: not to fail, you understand; that would be silly. No, rather, the aim of the network is to do these things - things that the everyday world may suggest is breaking those rules by which polite society is governed - and to have a chuckle doing them. And if at the second attempt, you don't succeed, it may just be that it was a bad idea in the first place.

Second Warwick Sea Scout Network: Omni Secundus.

15/09/04

HMS Bristol Div 1 Report 2004

Friday - 28/5/04 - 16:30 - We left home with high hopes that traffic would not slow us down too much. With a long journey ahead of us, we worried that we would not make it on time.

19:30 - We arrived in Portsmouth with time to spare, so we decided to get some tea at the local Fish & Chip shop. Then we went straight to the ship.

19:45 - We arrived at the ship, and we started to see familiar faces about the base. We were put with people from mixed scout troops to further the experience. We met our D.O. called Guy and our two A.D.O's called Rich and James.

22:30 - We had settled ourselves into our surroundings and lay down for a fun-packed week!!

1:00 - Still not asleep due to everyone being so excited that they can't sleep.

Saturday - 29/5/04 - 6:45 - Wake up from a night of six hours of sleep!! March to breakfast, which tasted good!! 

8:00ish - Our first activity of the day was a drill session with an army commander. A hot morning when everyone was tired didn't go down too well.

9:30ish - We all had to have a picture taken of the bow of the ship. (Picture available in photo section of this report).

12:30ish (Sorry can't remember any of the times!!) - March to lunch. Then the afternoon activity was visiting the submarine museum. Where we went on board a submarine and had a look around.

17:00ish - The usual things, freeplay, dinner, bed. 

Sunday - 30/5/04 - 7:00 - Wake Up, Breakfast, get ready (It is a bit repetitive I admit, but it's fun!!)

9:00 - Action Stations was our day-long activity. It was one of the best things we did. In this Building, you get to do all kinds of things, like go on a kayaking simulator on white water, fly a helicopter simulator, be in control of a warships weapons department, use a key to find out names of warships, run across a minefield, solve a jigsaw, answer a questionnaire, untangle yourselves out of ropes, fire guns at opposing ships and find out what kind of careers there are in the navy. That was just the morning. 

13:00 - After lunch, we were asked to make rockets, using the points we earned in the morning top buy various things like washing up bottles. We tried them out a certain amount of points were given to each team. Later we were set a challenge, to crack different kinds of codes including cyphers etc. Finally, we went on a GPS Trail around the town of Southsea, to find our radio diode, which we then used to complete the radio. After waiting for the bus to take us back for half an hour, we set off back to the ship.

18:00ish - "The usual"

20:00ish - We had a yachting brief in the evening, to find out which boats we were going on the next day. There are three yachts, Amaryllis, Alexander Fairey, and the biggest Bulldog. I ended up going in the Alexander Fairey.

Monday - 31/5/04 - 6:30ish - Wake up to the sheer joy of going on the yachts today. We were first into breakfast. We gulped it down, to board the yachts as quickly as we could. Our crew consisted of a captain, a first mate and six scouts. We set sail out of the harbour and into the Solent.

10:00ish - A round of very "sugarish" tea kept us all going on board. The yacht looks quite small from the outside, but when you get in it is massive, there is enough room to sleep six people, there is a toilet and a kitchen area and also a chart area where we had to find out where we were every so often.

12:30 - Long awaited sandwiches, filled us up for lunch. 

16:45ish - Terrible news, low on water and fuel for oven, in a Southampton Dock with an hour and a quarter until we had to get back. All lunch and dinner had to be cooked on board the yacht. With Jacket Potato waiting to get in the oven and no fuel we were stuck.

18:00 - We got back very tired, we just forgot about the potatoes and had sausages instead.

20:00 - "The usual"

Tuesday - 1/6/04 - 6:30ish - Wake up, march to breakfast.

8:30ish - The morning activity was visiting Fort Nelson, but half of us went Horse Riding, Fort Nelson was cool, and it made you realise how much people fought to defend our country

13:00 - The daily gun firing from a tank. IT WAS VERY LOUD !!!

13:05 - We were off to Horse Riding now, when we got there we changed into our kit. My horse kicked my instructor. Everyone had to stay at least two metres away in case it kicked again.

17:00ish - Off back to the ship.

18:00ish - "The Usual" also we had a Power brief about the next days boating.

Wednesday - 2/6/04 - 6:45ish - Wake up, breakfast. 

8:30ish - To the Power boats!! We were organised into groups, Blue Swan, Black Swan and beginners. I went off in the Blue Swan.

10:00ish - We got to have a go in a boat called the Osprey, it was the best ever session of boating I had ever done in my life!! Reaching speeds of up to 15 knots.

12:30ish - Lunch!! The most annoying thing was that we anchored up for lunch 200 metres away from the Isle of Wight, and I have never been there!! 

13:00ish - We spent the rest of the day trying to plot courses of where we were going to go.

17:00ish- The usual 

18:00ish - On our way to Dingy sailing and Kayaking Brief, we were told to hurry, but amongst all the hurry. Disaster Struck!!!! One of the 2nd Warwick scouts fell down the stairs backwards. It looked nasty. Everyone thought he might have broken his back. I think he would prefer to remain nameless!! Luckily he hadn't broken anything, just some bruises here and there. He was allowed to carry on with the camp.

Thursday 3/6/04 - 6:30ish - Wake up, have a bit of breakfast. Then it's off to morning activities.

8:30ish - We were split into two groups, where my group went sailing. We went out in bosun's (type of boat, if anyone hadn't figured that out yet!!). Where we sailed around the harbour, had a couple of races, then went in.

12:30ish - The afternoon activity was long awaited Kayaking!! We played a couple of games like kayak polo and tag. Then we went for a paddle around the ship. We had a go at our two and three star.

6:30ish - Usual - but we also had an exped brief, because tomorrow we went on an expedition. We did maps and compasses. Bed.

Friday 4/6/04 - 5:55ish - Wake up (earlier than normal !!!) get into hiking kit.

6:30ish - March to Breakfast

7:15ish - Issued with Ration Packs, Get on the coach, which will take us to a village in the countryside, where we would set off from.

8:00ish - Arrive in Staunton (I think ?!), set off, after failing to even leave the village.

8:30ish - Guess what we're lost !! Oh well it's what being a scout is all about !!

9:00ish - Back on track, but still a long way to our destination.

12:00ish - Stop for lunch by a gate, eat cold beans & sausages with a piece of card (This may sound horrible but was actually really nice).

3:00ish - Got to keep on going, I forget to say we were going round answering questions (e.g. what colour is the roof on that cottage?)

4:55ish - We have five minutes to get back to the village, better run!! Oh look nice man picks us up in car!!

5:00ish - Get on coach.

5:30ish - In Naval Base we then cook our meals on hexi-stoves.

6:30ish - Time to freshen up and get to the disco

8:00ish - Disco - DANCE - Disco - DANCE - Disco

10:00ish - Back to ship, Bed.

Saturday 5/6/04 - 7:00ish - Wake up (Last time!!)

7:00ish - Off to wave the D-day veterans to France, we stood in a line on the ship and waved our hats at them, they said it was on TV.

8:30ish - All packed ready.

9:00ish - In car, see Lancaster bomber and two spitfires go over us.

12:30ish - Yay!! Back home!! Time for a nice long bath!!

Sorry if you found this report to long, it's just there was a lot to talk about!! I would definitely recommend it, because it is really fun and you get to meet sea scouts from all over the country. Thank you to everyone who made this camp work!! There are some more pictures available soon, but I have not got them yet?

By Dan Trundle 

Rowathon through Titchs Blury Eyes

The idea for a Rowathon came to us in a flash of light (someone flicked the lights on and off by mistake), in 'the office' after scouts one Tuesday.

Two months later I turn up at the hut with all the stuff in the car, everything is planned, it's all going great.

10:25am I'm even early which is nothing short of a miracle.

We start the rowing at midday while various things are being set up, we go about various tasks and after what seemed like hours it was...

1:30pm blimey is that all only another 22.5 hours to go YAY.. at 3pm I decided that I should find out when my first row was...

11pm cor I could go to sleep, so after a trip back to the flat to get some half decent music, and many pork and apple burgers, I had a rest..

11:30pm ooh finally my turn to row, and we set off at lightning pace despite sally's desperate attempts to slow our pace when we have knackered ourselves out we realise that the reason she was protesting was that she had never done any rowing before.. Maybe we could slow down a bit.

2:30am Aah it's time chasing time, 11.15mins a bit off the pace, will try again later

3:15am lets get it right this time, 10.55mins ooh better but still the wrong side of 10.50.

4:25 Finally with the all star team of, Amy as the Cox, Titch, James, Simon and Shep we managed a lap time for the 1 mile course of 10.44mins which averages out at a speed of 6 mph yahoooooo

6:30am, not worth going to bed now I guess as the sun is coming up

9am mmm bacon sarnies sound good about now...

10:10 Got to keep going,

11:35 Final lap starts at a very sedate pace; we have all been up for over 24hrs.

12pm finally make it back with ice creams in hands to a champagne reception.

 Sometime later when everyone else had gone and there was just me and James left, shutting the gate I suddenly felt very tired.

A good event well done to all who took part, and hopefully with the money raised we should take delivery of 4 brand new Canadian canoes and a trailer... Titch May 2004

Midland Sea Scout Meet 2004

First of all I would like to thank and congratulate everybody who took part in the meet. It was a very successful event and I hope we can do even better next year.

Saturday

On Saturday morning bright and early several Scouts, Explorers and Leaders turned up to take part and cheer on 2nd Warwick. The first race of the day was the scout under 14 two-man Pico Sailing. Our Warwick hopefuls sailed off to the start in a confident mood, until things went a bit pear-shaped! Just as the hooter sounded the start of the race, the Warwick Pico crew, who will rename nameless, (cough cough Heather!) Decided to go swimming! Eventually, she scrambled back into the boat, too late to repair lost time (you did sail the best anyway once you'd got going!).

Next came the Explorer Pico single-handed, with Joe S sailing well and getting second! Next a new event; you could be any age and go in any boat, and there was a big turn out for this event with several 2nd Warwick scouts entering. The race started and Joe S and Steve McC shot off in the Merlin followed by 4 2WK scouts in toppers, (that's before anyone else started going. Joe + Steve finished the race first, then Rob T followed by Polly, Dan T and Will. Unfortunately, because there were faster and slower types of boats, the scores were worked out on the Portsmouth Yardstick rules.(See the DELIGHTFUL Martin Sc for more details!). This meant that overall:

1st: Warwick Merlin

2nd: Walsall Rover

3rd: Warwick Topper (Helmed by Rob T)

After was the "wacky" novelty race before an early night in, ready for the next day!

National Sea Scout Pulling and Canoeing Regatta

Rather early one Sunday morning a group of yawning scouts and Explorers set off down to London to take part in the National Sea Scout Pulling and Canoeing Regatta. It was the first time 2nd Warwick have participated in the event and we put teams in all events except for the under 12's. Racing took place along the Thames adjacent to Leadner Sea Scout Unit.

It was a bit of a learning exercise of where to go, what to do etc. However, we got our act together and started to win a number of the preliminary rounds.

Everyone did particularly well, seeing we were in strange boats and unfamiliar with the river.

Our biggest success of the day was Sam's win in the under 14's kayak - so he is now our own 'National Champion'.

It was a good experience to mix with other Sea Scout Units and Sea Rangers, some we knew already, some new.

A bit tired we all piled into the bus for the long journey home and a few KFC buckets on the way.

Well done to everyone who went.

Comets arrive

Well the day finally arrived 23rd March 2007, It has taken just over 10 years, the First NEW exciting boats since the toppers arrived in 1996.

They are a little longer than an Express and are equipped with Asymmetric Spinnakers, Slab reefing and so sailing from now on should be more exciting...

The Greatness of Gable 2003

If anyone thinks that observing the two minutes silence atop Great Gable is taking the easy option for Remembrance Day then think again! It is a punishing climb by anyone's standards - it starts steep, continues steep and gets even steeper - more rock climbing than hill walking towards the top. It is certainly a test of fitness where your heart and lungs attempt to burst free from your rib cage!

Owned by the National Trust since 1924, Great Gable mountain (899 metres or 2949 feet) is at the centre of an area of 3000 acres of high fells acquired by the Fell and Rock Climbing Club as a memorial to the members who lost their lives in the 1914-1918 war. In June 1924 a dedicatory tablet was unveiled at the summit and since then a Remembrance service has been held there every November. For a number of years, a group from 2nd Warwick have taken the pilgrimage to Great Gable for this service. 

In November 2003 nine of us undertook the trip, setting off from Warwick on Saturday morning. A brief stop in Ambleside was followed by a scenic drive over Hardknott Pass. Initial plans for a walk at the highest point of the pass were quickly abandoned due the strong, bitingly cold wind. We opted instead to walk around the Roman fort on slightly lower ground. The views were spectacular.

The base of Great Gable stands about a mile from the campsite, which is a field opposite the inn at Wasdale Head. When we arrived the cloud level was high enough to see the peak, an unusual site apparently. 

We returned from a late afternoon stroll to Wastwater in the dark, evening starting early in the Lakes at this time of the year. A decent meal and a long evening at Wasdale Head Inn followed. It is entirely reasonable to assume that the evening before adds to the challenge of the following day!

To the amused looks of fellow campers all nine of us piled into a six-man tent for the night. It should have been warmer that way but the bitter wind seemed to pass straight through the tent after howling its way towards us down the valley. 

Sunday started chilly and thankfully dry but now the cloud obscured the peak. We cooked up the sausages and bacon we had taken for breakfast and we set off just before 9am full of bread and grease. We were among the last to leave the campsite. It doesn't look far on the map and I was sceptical that it could take so long to cover such a short distance. However the assurances that 'so long as we keep going we'll make the top for 11am' seemed to suggest otherwise! 

It was a colourful scene as a continuous straggle of walkers marked the path ahead. The steepness of the ascent and the reason for allowing two hours to complete it quickly became apparent. This is a challenging walk. The grassy bank quickly gives way to rough stony ground that moves underfoot in an energy-sapping way. Every footstep must be carefully placed but the frequent pauses to recover our breath allowed time to turn around and enjoy the emerging views. 

Approaching the summit from the west, a scramble up rough strewn rocks, the summit was covered in an eerie mist diffused by the low Autumn sun that crept above the horizon of the peak in front of us. The silhouettes of the walkers who had already made the top created a scene befitting of a science fiction movie. As we approached, the silhouettes gave way to a colour filled scene of fleeces, waterproofs and hats. This is quite bizaar in what should be such a desolate place. It was cold, very cold...and we could lean on the strong gusts of wind.

The short service included the observance of two minutes silence - nobody had told the wind to be quiet though so it was a noisy buffeting silence of rattling windproofs! The sobriety and location of the service combined with the sense of personal achievement at completing the climb make this a memorable experience. 

If the ascent is punishing then a warning should be attached to the descent. OK so breathing is easier but what about our knees? The views were good on the way down, which was excuse enough to be slow. It isn't pretty, actually 'bleak' is probably a better description, but then the cloud lifted, blue sky emerged and the true magnificence of the scenery was revealed.

I didn't want to leave the place but we needed to pack up and make tracks for a long, busy journey back to Warwick. So why did we do it? And why will we do it again? Shep told me before we went that we do this trip 'because it's fun!' It wasn't only fun, it was special! Cheers guys for a great weekend!

By Sally C 2003

Rowathon 2004

The Challenge

The challenge was to row a rover continuously for 24 hours around a 1-mile circuit on the River Avon between Charter Bridge and the Banbury Road Bridge in Warwick.

We met the challenge!

The rover, loaded with at least a 5-man crew (one for each oar and one Cox) started from the jetty to complete its circuit. As it crossed the finish line the next boat already loaded with a new crew set off, so keeping the rowing continuous.

Target: 50 miles - Total distance achieved: 90 miles

Participants

Approximately 12 Beavers, 23 cubs, over 70 scouts, 14 explorers, 15 leaders, 31 parents and a few other relatives and friends took part in rowing at some point during the 24 hours. This was over 165 people in all, truly making this a whole group event. Many others simply came along and supported the event. With each lap requiring a crew of at least 5, and boats with our smaller members in often having several more, a total of over 480 bottoms went on seats in the boats during the 24-hours.

The younger children sometimes rowed two to an oar or were helped by the scouts. Some crews consisted of as many as 9 children! All 20 of our patrol leaders and senior patrol leaders were cox at least once and rowed at least once - some did much more as those over the age of 14 were allowed to stay all night!

At night the flags were lowered and replaced by a hurricane lamp - it was a dark night! The overnight crew consisted of 8 scouts, 11 explorers and 12 leaders, many of whom stayed awake all night, taking it in turns to man the boats in order to get warm and stay awake! 40 laps were completed between 10p.m. and 7a.m. Egg and bacon sandwiches went down very well at 1.30a.m (thanks Martin and Jess)!

Fastest Lap

10 minutes 44 seconds (Crew: Titch, Shep, Simon and James. Cox: Amy)

A number of challenge laps were included. These ranged from the Mum's challenge, the Dad's Challenge (several of them), The Tea Tent Challenge (very many thanks to the catering team), The Old Codgers Challenge, The 7th Warwick Leader Challenge (well we had to let them join in didn't we!), the Mc Challenge (2 scouts, 1 explorer, 1 leader and 1 ex-leader all from the same family), the Vanguard Challenge, The Vigillent Challenge and various scout team challenges, explorer team challenges and leader team challenges.

Many of the laps with the younger children manning the boats took nearly half an hour. The first challenge lap was a demonstration of how to row by the SPLs and was completed in a very respectable time of 14 minutes and 24 seconds. A mixed team of our youngest leaders (network members) and two scouts then set an early fast time of 11 minutes and 34 seconds mid-afternoon. This time stood unbeaten by the late afternoon and early evening challenges until it was finally smashed by an explorer team late evening, setting a time of 10 minutes an 48 seconds (Crew: Richard, Doug, Steve and Joe. Cox: Amy). This time remained unbeaten until 4:50a.m. when a leader team knocked 4 seconds off the time at their third attempt and after swapping their original cox for someone lighter (and actually the same cox as in the Explorer team that had set the time to beat)!

Well done to everyone who did the challenge laps, this definitely helped us reach our final total of 90 laps within the time.

Well those were the facts... and now some personal special moments...

Quote of the Night

"It's definitely easier to row if you don't put the oar in the water!" (Sid - our Chairman at about 3a.m.)

Funniest Lap

Simon being the 'Dragon Boat Master' whilst very hyper on strong sweet coffee and no sleep! (At about 4.30a.m)

Magic Moment

Rowing through the mist as the sun rose!

Thanks to everyone who supported this event and made it such a fun weekend!

I hope that the attached pictures show how much fun we were having!

A View One Mile Back Southern 50

For those who didn't know, a Warwick organised team of Explorers suffered the unfortunate event of losing the Southern 50 30k event by one minute!

A view from one minute back - Hoxton Heroes Team 85

Thought I would take the time out to tell you what it feels like to miss out on the winner's trophy by one minute!

Aged 18, entering the 30k, it can be seen as "wimping out", and yes I would probably agree, we were wimping out! However, our group had been coming down to this event for years! We wanted to get Warwick a piece of silverware. I'd done 50k before and I'd usually end up in a team with someone dropping out, halfway through, ruining your chances of registering a valid time and therefore knocking you out of the competition. So I thought, why not pick four lads up for the challenge and try and actually win something?

I tell you now we tried! After a great pre-walk meal of McDonalds from down the road (we definitely saw some other 30k teams in there!) we got a good nights sleep in the hall, I have to say one of the best I've ever had at Southern 50. No late night piano sessions from some guy who thinks he sounds like Chopin and thinks that sleep is an overrated past time! We woke up at the leisurely hour of 5am, and had an amazing lie in??

We set off for what was checkpoint 12, but also our start point in Stoke Row. We arrived fairly early, but it gave us plenty of time to give the map a good thorough look at. We were planning on setting an extremely fast time. Our time came, 9.28am, we posed for our photograph, then when we were released, we were off like a rocket. Looking at the individual times published on the website, we could see that we had overtaken two teams already and got to checkpoint 13 at exactly the same time as two other teams! I found this really strange considering the balloons literally pointing you the right way and the fact that it was only a few hundred metres down the road. Anyway we got there within 13 minutes, pretty good seeing as it took one team half an hour guided by balloons!

We set off with no delay towards checkpoint 14 at a blistering pace. We had looked ahead at the next checkpoint whilst walking down the first road, so we knew where we were going. By the time we reached checkpoint 14 we had overtaken a fair few teams. We never once met a team who set off after us. We knew that to win, we had to keep teams behind us, and obviously good navigation would help us do that. So on the way to 14 we dispatched of Teams 84, 81, 79, 78, 76, 75, 74. We found it fairly funny when we took a slight wrong turn near 14 and as we turned back we found 3 or 4 teams confused at where we went wrong, furiously looking at their maps. We reached 14, and felt good so we carried on with minimum fuss. Sometimes we felt guilty that we couldn't stay a bit longer at checkpoints and talk to these lovely people. But as we found out every minute counts.

We continued on our way toward checkpoint 15. This is a checkpoint where we lost our way a slight bit. Some slack navigation cost us a few minutes in the woods. We started along totally the wrong path, and were heading east when the compass came into use. Once back on the right path we found the road which would take us to a small village which was home to a scout hut and checkpoint 15. We met a few teams in there already dipping into a selection of biscuits. We however continued without too much delay. We were now heading north towards Woodcote. As we travelled along the minor roads we overtook teams 73, 72, 71 and finally we had caught 80. When in Woodcote we caught sight of a Team of three girls and a boy. We weren't sure of what number exactly. It turned out they were our main opposition Team 77. We followed them through Woodcote, (they seemed to be taking all the routes we planned to take!), occasionally running to try to catch up. No matter how hard we pushed, they seemed to stay a similar distance away. As we approached checkpoint 16 we caught them, as they stopped to work out navigation. Then as we overtook we asked what Team number they were. After a few mental calculations, we worked out that we must have overtaken everybody in front of us. However, the next field was probably key to the whole event. Them being team 77 we didn't see them as competition as they had set off 16 minutes ahead. In the next field, we stuck to the footpath at the side, they however saw an opportunity and trudged straight across it! It would be the only time we lead every single group, however. A few hundred metres of being purely in front of absolutely everyone on the walk! We kept sight of them and reached checkpoint 16, a caravan in a lay-by, two minutes behind them. We headed off to 17 which was located in Ipsden. We kept on their tails which we thought was all we had to do, as we were allowed 16 minutes on them. On the way to 17 we stopped briefly to sort out a boot problem. Yet we still arrived at 17 two minutes behind them. Spirits were high, although I had looked ahead at the next checkpoint and decided it was what I called "a beast", I did feel sorry for all the 50 milers. Along this route to 18, there were two distinct choices go right over the hill towards Nuffield, or go hell for leather around the hill. We opted to go around the hill and head straight for the road. I still don't know which way Team 77 went, but however checkpoint 17 was the last time saw them. After a slight climb, and a fairly slow walk along the road towards Nuffield golf course, we arrived at Checkpoint 18.

We were told by some very nice Jam sandwich makers that we were the second team through and were trailing the other team by ten minutes. We set off determined to not fall behind. Some quick maths, earlier on in the walk, said that we had to finish no more than 16 minutes behind team 77 to win presuming there were no faster teams starting after us. We raced off along the bridleway, towards Swyncombe and checkpoint 19. A very gradual rising hill in a field which made our boots collect tonnes of mud, made us think again of the 50 milers doing this at 3am! This new-found desire to know how we were doing compared to team 77 resulted in us asking many leisure walkers along the way to 19. When posing the question "Don't suppose you've seen a group of girls ahead have you?" I have to admit we got some funny looks.

After a brief worry as to where checkpoint 19 was, we found it. At 19 we were told that team 77 had passed through quarter of an hour ago! It was getting tight. In reality it was 17 minutes between our two groups. Also after saying sorry for not being able to stay and talk much, to the kind people there we set off for 20.

It took us up a fairly steep foot path, however, we "blitzed" it. We continued on the footpath towards North Farm where we met a guy and a girl who seemed to know what they were talking about. We think they were Southern 50 officials but we weren't sure. They said that we were the first team through to just before checkpoint 20 but they knew that Team 91 were doing well. Which in fact wasn't true, because looking back at the results they had a non-starter and retired at 19!

Anyway, we took their word and considered new rivals, that could be anywhere behind us. We decided that we didn't like being chased! As we reached checkpoint 20, we were told that Team 77 had been through around 16 minutes ago. Things just couldn't get any tighter. After a very brief goodbye and thank you, we went for it. Reaching the B480 and heading towards Watlington. As we reached the village, I was itching to get running. We broke into a run soon after that and decided a shortcut through the village and not to go down the conventional route of Love Lane. We expected to come out near the pub next to the school. WHERE WAS IT? Turned out it was only one street to the right, so we didn't go too horribly wrong. We reached the school, and broke into sprints. After starting to go in the main entrance (Should have known from previous years, was just to tired to concentrate), we set off on what seemed like a endless series of left turns around the back of the school to the official finish. We burst through the doors and saw Team 77 and the clock stopped at 14:55pm. After handing in our tickets, we hovered over the times. I saw 14:38pm next to 77. When sitting down, we were still trying to do a bit of simple maths. Then it struck, one minute. One minute. As we were looked over very kindly by the finish staff, it started to dawn on us. We looked knackered I can tell you it wasn't the walk! No way, It was the Olympic sprint we did in the school grounds that got me!

We settled down after a while, and were told that nothing was official until Sunday morning. After a lazy afternoon, we watched as some other teams from Warwick came in then we hit the sack. Too shoeless to walk over and watch England get beat by the Welsh. On a Sunday morning, we hoped but we probably knew it was inevitable.

The presentation came and we enjoyed it. As we went to collect our trophy we raised a smile as we heard the "ooooh" as they announced how close we were.

In all seriousness, we have to say a massive well done to Team 77. To raise their game when we were bearing down on them and keep spirits high whilst carrying out some difficult navigation was top notch scouting. Well done guys.

Thank you to all the checkpoint staff, however little we may have seen of you! and also to the organisers for putting it all together. I say keep the 30k event, it provides interesting competition and some close results. I know the first two teams were only two minutes apart last year. Who'd of thought it was going to get closer in 2009.

Thank you everyone though we definitely had a thoroughly enjoyable Valentines day, spent chasing some girls through the countryside.

Dan, Ali, Dan and Matt - Team 85 - Hoxton Heroes

Both Xmas Disco's From Loz's Perspective

When you ask a normal Explorer to organize something, it will usually get done with only a slight hitch. On the other hand, when you ask C Meek to organise something, many people would think 'you've gone mad!'

It was the Saturday two weeks before the disco. I was sitting in front of my computer screen, still clad in a sweaty high-school uniform. Because I was drifting away into a binary code world of my own, I actually had no idea that it was two weeks until the disco. The only thing that reminded me of it was the orange flashing in the bottom right corner of my screen. Thanks to the luxuries of instant messaging, I soon found Meek telling me, in Lucinda Console, that there was a disco in only two weeks' time. This was when the planning actually started.

On the Sunday, myself, Meek and Andi along with a few others found ourselves at Andi's pad with two laptops and a rather heavy computer (Dubbed 'Tardis' -this is another story altogether) which had just been dragged from the my house across to Andi's (on the other side of town) by Meek. After a long period of about, say, 30 seconds or so, the disco had been 'planned' and the technology in the room was being used for purely entertainment purposes thanks to Meek. We decided that we should reschedule.

The same time next week, me, Chris and Andi decided to meet up at my house. Shortly, Andi knocked on the door clasping his laptop and usual snacks for the session. Some kind of planning was finally put into the disco within an hour or so. However one slight problem. Meek hadn't turned up. Several calls revealed that he wouldn't be there for 10 minutes then half an hour and so on and so forth. He eventually turned up just as Andi had cycled off in the opposite direction.

The day dawned upon us. The 18th December. I had arranged to meet Meek at his house at midday. At 11:45, I pulled myself out of bed. 20 minutes later, the Tardis and myself turned up on Meeks doorstep.

Tesco had proved eventful. I had insisted that they would let us borrow a trolley. Sadly, we made the mistake of asking. We found ourselves carrying back about 20 litres of drink, and 68 packs of crisps, as well as a large French stick and some squirty cheese which I called breakfast. Several bag splits and spine twists later, we were back at Meeks. The next two hours were spent using our artistic skills to wrap up the contents of pass the parcel.

At 4:30, myself and Chris appeared on the doorstep of 2wk, clad in posh shirts, blazers and jeans. Andi had already got there and was setting up the tables. Within ten minutes, everything was fine and dandy -except for the lack of one speaker, an amplifier and a Titch and a James. At 5:00, people started turning up, and we started to get panicky. A phone call to James revealed that they were 3 miles away, and that somewhere along the line, something had gone wrong with the timings. Several arguments and polite discussions later and we realised we shouldn't be wasting time and should be trying to get whatever we could, sorted. I returned from the sanctuary of the gents where I had been on the phone, to the main deck. I found several stereo components that appeared to have been thrown at 2wk some time during the 50's scattered on the floor, and Chris and Andi trying to get some sound out of the one speaker and a random amplifier. I informed them that this would be like trying to get a 3 centimeter speaker to produce Mozarts 5th Symphony in the Royal Albert Hall. Defeated, Chris (with some kind help from Liz) got a game going, involving several Explorers (including myself) and leaders getting wrapped up in toilet paper. Shortly, James and Titch burst in the Exit with our missing components. A scramble of hands got everything working as fast as possible, and soon the beavers and cubs were dancing away. At the end of the beaver/cub disco, we neatened up, and sat down to dinner -which for me (due to budget problems) consisted of a pack of jelly-babies! For the others, Andi cycled up to Hot Stuff and ordered pizzas only to realise that he had no way of transporting them back to the scout hut.

The Scout/Explorer disco worked fine. 5 laptops, the Tardis and several noise-loudening devices ran the disco, without one problem at all... except for when Scott decided to pull the plugs out! After this brief silence, interrupted only by the words 'Oh, Scott!' the disco returned to its usual noisy self. This came to our relief and utmost joy.

So, after several visits from the mess-up gremlin, everything ironed out smoothly. Myself, Chris, Andi, James, Titch and several other helpers put on what we think was a rather good night.

Thanks!

Loz

(Explorer and DJ, MMIV)

RN Soccer Sixes 2006 - An Explorers tale

After departing a little later than scheduled on Friday night, the scouts and explorers arrived at H.M.S Excellent. The home of H.M.S Bristol, and more importantly the R.N Soccer Sixes competition. Hopes and expectations were high on arrival and settling down was to be the first obstacle for the explorer team. Not only were there other explorers to keep quiet, there was an issue with lights and a rather noisy/ancient fan!!

So we were awoken on Saturday, and after the march to the breakfast came the food, a nice helping of grease to keep the body fuelled until lunchtime. And after returning to the ship greased up, everybody got changed and was raring to go. A brief warm-up came the explorer's first game, a 1-0 defeat to eventual runners up Hamble. This was followed by three more 1-0 defeats to Worthing, Warsash and Watchet leaving us bottom of a tough group after a disastrous morning.

Lunch couldn't come quick enough. But at least our friends from the Walsall group were having the same difficulty with winning! As lunch drew to a close team manager Steve and Captain Scott Visited Warwick's very own witchdoctor Anne Porter, former 2WK quartermaster on camp (if your oldschool) anyway back to football and the plate competition or losers cup as it?s known to some. Anne's big hug and immediate effect on team manager and captain! As the explorers got two draws against Warsash and Barry. These were both encouraging results which spurred the team to gain two victories firstly a 1-0 win over Oulten Broad, where Steve coolly finished great interplay between Scott R and Dan T. This left us joint top of our plate group with Warsash and Barry, all on 5 points. Only 2 teams could qualify and we had the advantage as the two other teams had to play each other and we had Torbay. Where it looked like we were going to have a frustrating match until Scott's through ball for Steve C ended up in the back of the net thanks to a bit of suspect goalkeeping. 1-0 Warwick!!! And after a 0-0 draw between Barry and Warsash, we won the group and would have a slightly easier semi-final in the morning. After our last game, a quick shower after arriving back at the ship and we were off for dinner, a lot better than the breakfast, then down to the drill hall. Unfortunately the obstacle course was a bit of a challenge for a warn out side!! Next we went up to the Whaley club for the film; this year was Knights Tale (a considerable improvement on last years viewing of robots).

Sunday breakfast passed and it was time for more footie before we came home, firstly, the penalty shoot-out competition, a winner from a penalty comp between each individual team would bring together the 20 winners for a battle to be penalty king.

Our winner was Steve C, who unfortunately couldn't show the same form as he did to beat the 2wk boys. Smashing the ball onto the crossbar!

So after that story came and went the attention was drawn towards our semi-final against Durrington. 10 mins saw a 0-0 draw which took the game directly to penalties in a full size goal!

2wk lost the toss and had to shoot first, Dan T saw his pen saved, but 2wk breathed as Steve pulled off a super stop top keep the penalties at 0-0, Scott R stepped up next and rocketed his penalty pass the keeper, Durrington?s second penalty was saved and 2wk lead 1-0. If Steve C scored it was all over. He showed no sign of pressure from his penalty miss earlier in the shoot-out competition to drive home his penalty and take 2wk through to the final of the plate. The final came round against Allerton. After a cagey opening 2wk won a free-kick near the end of the second half. But confusion saw Scott score a cracking goal from Dan T's lay-off was disallowed and the free-kick had to be taken again, this time no mistake, Dan made a great run and Scott slid a beauty ball in which Dan tucked under the on rushing keeper! 1-0 2wk!!!! Allerton through everything at us in the last 2mins but Rob T and Matt C's organisation kept them out. The final whistle went and 2wk explorers were the 2006 Plate winners!!!!!

A quick presentation ceremony in the drill hall and we were on the road home, tired, smiling, and very pleased with a good weekends work!!

Special well done to Doug and Scott R for helping the team in their last football comp! also a special shout to 3rd Walsall explorers for the support all weekend and to the Warsash boys for their support on Sunday. Roll on next year!!

disney weekend - a Riz and Steve View!!!

Soon after everyone had arrived at the hut we were split up into 2 teams. The teams each had to find clues that spelt out a word of where we had to go next, it turned out we had to go to 4th Warwick and save the penguin, thus saving the Disney weekend! Tired, after an hour or so walking, both groups sat down to watch a couple of films, sweet wrappers spread everywhere we cleared up to make play-dough films! Amused for hours we moulded the dough into figures to make our own films. Next we cooked a dinner of sweet and sour and rice. Whilst some cooked, others lay the tables and watched more films! After the formal dinner at the hut each one of us took a share in cleaning up our mess.

After our late night of watching films we woke up to a cold scout hut, but the films cheered us up. We ate breakfast whilst watching Disney films and gradually packed away our sleeping bags. By around midday we to got into our fancy dress outfits and later decided to trek down to the park to play on the swings. Before we went home we watched the films and pictures of the weekend. Overall this was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend and we would all like to take this opportunity to thank Steve for organising it for us.

Southern 50 2004 2

So the day starts at 5AM yes that is 5AM!!! and that meant getting up and going to breakfast for 5:30AM!!! (sorry still hung up on that!) but me being really welcome of food at that time got up a little later and went for a coffee at about 5:50AM!!!

And then it was back to the School Gym that was out 'tent' for the previous night, to collect our kit for the walk and to the kit check for 6:30AM! (it's getting better)

So having ensured every member of the team, (James, Dave, Andy and myself) had all the required equipment, it was time for a final loo break and then on to the 'holding pen' till our departure time.

On to 6:58AM (Mmmm not too bad) we are finally given the grid references of the checkpoints we have to pass through and the order to go to them, and after 2 minutes to decide our route to the first checkpoint, we were off!

Every were we go! Every were we go!

Now for a word of advice, never let James navigate to your first checkpoint, yes you guessed it, we went the wrong way, but only about 1/2Km. so on we went check point to checkpoint.

People always ask us, People always ask us,

On each checkpoint they would stuff you full of food, and pour water, squash or a hot drink down you and shove you on as soon as possible, so you didn't stiffen up or go cold.

Who we are, Who we are,

The route was well laid out with the 30Km, 50Km and 50Mile all over lapping in places but each differing as well. so the day progressed with a stop for lunch at about 12 midday, and reaching the hot food point at about 7ish (sorry time started to blur after 6 hours of walking, and then we carried on still!)

And where do we come from, And where do we come from,

At checkpoint 12 (the hot food stop) sadly we lost Andy from out group, due to blisters, and I was nearly put out to the same fate, but 4 blister plasters later and a slightly longer break than any other, we were off again.

And we always tell them, And we always tell them,

But this was when it got harder, it was 8pm, we'd been going since 7AM!!! (sorry) we had merged with one of our Explorer teams, who had also lost one member to the blister fate, and it was dark and we were tired. so on we trudged, a lot slower than before, to checkpoint 13.

Were from 2nd Warwick Sea Scouts, and Warwick Sea Explorer Unit, Were from 2nd Warwick Sea Scouts, and Warwick Sea Explorer Unit,

And about 10pm, after travelling for 2 hour in the dark, using head torches, as cloud cover was that heavy and being out in the country with no light pollution, we arrived a checkpoint 13. At that point, both Dave and I should have Folded, but Due to a family trait of mine, I was stubborn, and carried on.

And if they cant hear us, And if they cant hear us,

So at 11pm, we were halfway between checkpoint 13 and 14, just 2 1/2 sections from the end! I could not go on, Dave and myself folded, due to my being ill from the Wednesday before, and the added bonus of blisters the size of dinner plates, and Dave not being much better, we got a minibus pick up and officially resigned at 11:30PM 15.5 hours and 45Km after the start!

We Shout a little LOUDER, We shout a little LOUDER!

The remaining 4 of the merged group got in at 2.30AM and the two explorers on the 50Mile still walking got in at 2AM.

Every where we go!...

Congratulations to all that completed, and congratulations to all those who got as far as they did, I think I might pass next year, team member shortage or not, FIND SOME ONE ELSE!

Jess (2004)

2nd jamboree training camp

The weekend started when we all arrived at Offchurch Village Hall armed with spades, loppers and the odd pickaxe as well as all the usual kit. We had a quick talk about our patrols and what we would be doing and then we were sent outside to play a game involving covering each other in sticky spots to represent diseases. We came back inside all spotty and then patrol one set about cooking some hot-dogs which we promptly ate and this time had two each!

After quite a bit of talking, playing cards and moving kit around, we were ready to go to bed. The girls were sectioned off at one end of the hall and it was very cosy, the boys had loads of room which was unfair. Eventually the room became quiet and soon people started dropping off to sleep.... until Chris started snoring.

The morning came all to soon and my patrol dragged ourselves out of our sleeping bags and set about cooking the breakfast. We did quite well if i say so myself and it is the only time I have cooked baked beans and scrambled eggs for that many people without having a thick layer burnt on the bottom of the pan.

The activities soon started when we got into patrols. We did a load of challenges that were quite difficult and then went outside and did a challenge where one person was the shepherd and had to guide the rest of their patrol to the swings only using an animal sound they'd been given. It was quite difficult and our patrol did the worst at it but we did have a good time.

We then played a few games, ultimate frisbee, sailmakers grip and sitting on each other in a circle which took a few attempts before we finally completed it. After some lunch we started on the community project that was the main aim of the weekend. There were four things that needed doing: 1. a hedge needed clearing 2. some ground cleared, levelled and an arch built 3. small field needed clearing of the weeds and shrub 4. a fence built along one side of the field. My patrol started off doing the ground levelling which was definitely hard work. There were a load of roots and a metal rod that needed removing so that we could dig a trench either side of the arch for flowers. After hacking, digging and sawing at that base for about two hours, our patrol moved to the hedge clearing site.

Soon it got dark but we weren't finished. We all tried to do as much as we could but soon we had to abandon the work and go inside where patrol 3 got started with the cooking and the rest of us played cards or played guitars. After food we got into our patrols and started thinking about English food and stuff to put in our box. At the jamboree each contingent is given a one metre by one metre by one metre box where we can put what we want to. We will also be cooking an English food for the rest of sub camp to try as well as putting on a small stage event for the rest of the sub camp. Suggestions included such great ideas as Leamington spa water for the food and a slide for the box. Even so, somehow a paddling pool will be transported to the jamboree in our contingent box. WE then played a game that involved creeping up the hall in the dark and hiding behind various obstacles whilst avoiding the flashlight. After a long and tiring day we all went to bed.

The last morning started a bit later but everyone was still knackered and it was still a huge effort to get up (for most people). Patrol four reluctantly started cooking breakfast and soon smoke was drifting into the hall from the kitchen. The breakfast was actually very good . As we hadn't quite finished the project, it was decided that we would do it this morning. Jo-ann, Me, Polly, Laura and James finishing clearing the hedgerow which was nice and gentle work (ish). All was going well until a man and a big camera turned up and me and Laura were volunteered to speak in a short video that was being made. The man then left to go to the other group where others spoke and were filmed doing the community work, including some very funny synchronised digging.

Soon all the work was finished and we had lunch. All that was left to do was to clear up, pack and clean the place. We all got into uniform and went outside where we walked over to the archway and looked at what we had achieved.

Just want to say thanks to all the Warwickshire bears leaders for another amazing weekend. I can't wait for the next one.

RN Swimming Gala 2005

Just a short report to give you the low-down on the event. Firstly I'd like to say a huge well done to everyone who took part, the team support expressed by those who went was brilliant and secondly a thank you to Martin and Sue for putting up with us.

Saturday morning began with the individual heats followed by the medley relays and line throw relays. Kyle secured our first final in the U12 breaststroke event and the finals just kept rolling in. By the end of Saturday morning we had managed to secure around 8 finals, including 3 medley relays!

Unfortunately, during the Saturday afternoon activities, the explorers failed in winning the creative challenge set by Admiral Swain but still managed to incorporate our well-known touch in the catamaran (in other words, stretching the rules to almost breaking point) even against the '2nd Warwick proof' instructions! While the explorers where slowly getting colder and colder the scouts where in a similar situation in their outdoor 5-a-side football competition. Although I did not witness any of this I heard on the grape-vine that James Briggs (who stepped in to swim at the last minute) proved very useful in the tournament, even though I believe we won one and lost the rest!

Sunday held the finals to the individual events, medley relays and squadron relays. We won the U18 medley and managed to acquire enough points to win us the U18 trophy (the only one Norwich failed to win). We gained several fifth & sixth places and two 2nd places by myself and Joe S. Unfortunately the team suffered a couple of disqualifications in the relays, bad luck on the day I guess.

Congratulations to all those who made it into the finals. This has probably been one of if not the most successful years at Raleigh the group has ever had.

Also, our thanks go to Barbie, Pete & Ann who where on the Admin team.

Chris aka Pants (2005)

Easter Eggstraviganzer 2004

The Explorers recently visited Lymington, on the south coast of England. We left Warwick on Good Friday and after a three hour journey we arrived. We toured the Marina and then launched the boats that we had brought with us: 'Brenig' and 'Cunning Plan'. We returned to Lymington Sea Scouts' very smart HQ for dinner and some of us learnt how to use the GPS and set our routes for the next day.

Saturday included taking the boats to the Needles, looking around Yarmouth harbour, lunching on a beach on the Isle of Wight and in the evening we did our first night navigation exercise: out around Lymington. We returned tired and despite my amazingly flattering and very stylish Tango suit, I was very chilly.

Sunday was occupied by Level 2 Powerboat training, and for those already holding the award, Wayfarer sailing was on offer.

Our second night took us out in the direction of Portsmouth and it was really cool! It was an exercise using our charts without GPS and it was memorable; with the Isle of Wight ferries crossing and me nearly going straight into an unlit mark. And I nearly forgot; Titch, Chris Mac and Sarah (of all people!) managed to overshoot one point and only corrected themselves, returning to the buoy, after nearly two nautical miles. Honestly!

On Monday, after a well deserved and badly needed lie-in, we cooked breakfast then cleaned and retrieved our boats.

We came back a very happy bunch!

All that remains to say is thank you to Lymington Sea Scouts, especially JJ, who I hope enjoyed the table wrestling show! And thank you to Alan Gandy and Nick, and to Titch for all the planning and organizing and for making it a really cool weekend. Cheers!

Cate M. May 2004

District Craft Competition December 2010

We entered a good display of posters and cards. There were about 200 entries in the various classes from the various Cub Packs taking part, and we succeeded in winning four prizes including a first! Well done. Despite the cold weather (at least it wasn't raining), there was an archery competition in which we entered a four cub team. Haven't heard the results of this, but suffice to say some good hits were achieved.

Cubs at St Georges Parade 2009?

This year, we joined with other local scout beaver and cub groups to hunt dragon masters, hidden at strategic points around Warwick center, mainly on the far side of busy main roads. Six stickers were there to be collected, and we completed the task in good time for the parade and march around the town. Our dragon was probably the longest entered, but nobody told us when judging was takling place, so we were too late for the judgment! However see then photos to appreciate the achievement of lining quite so many cubs under such a long sheet!

DBJs view on the Chase Walk 2004

So again I find myself doing another stupidly long walk, but this time it had quite an unexpected end. It was the second time me, Chris, Joe and Steve had been on the Chase Walk, we had all finished it last year. Doug was the only newcomer to the 40mile hike.

We pitched in the campsite in the dark on Friday night. After a bad nights sleep we woke up at, yes another stupidly early time, 5:10, packed our kit and proceeded to join the long cue for breakfast of sausages and beans. The kit check was not very stringent, luckily for us, and we started walking at 6:37.

I had quite a bit of confidence in navigation, half remembering the route from last year when we completed the course, and if we were doubt you could always follow a group; however a lesson learned was that groups of who seem experienced walkers actually cannot map read.

We set off round the 16 checkpoints, going up and down hills with this odd mix of scrub and conifer trees on. The sun was shining and we were having a good time. It was easier walking than the Southern 50/50 and the previous Chase Walk as this time we knew we could accomplish it. We got to checkpoint 2 in good time, keeping to out predicted times, which were quite optimistic. On the way to checkpoint 3 it started raining, boo hoo. So I ate a mars bar. Then it started really raining and being windy, very windy!

We got to checkpoint 4 in the rain where we got some very nice flap jacks, so nourishing. We didn't stop at any of the bases for very long; past experience suggest that long breaks hurt your legs a lot after you get up again. So we made quick progress though the bases, in fact there was one team we kept pace with all the way, but they overtook us about 7 times as they stopped at every check point for ages when we passed them. It was quite odd how they kept overtaking us, except at the end when they got lost after leading us the wrong way, how inconsiderate.

We walked along a long canal (There's something about long walks and canals), there were loads of teams walking this stretch, it was quite reassuring for us to be walking in a group of teams as we knew we were going at the right pace. By this time, around 10:30, it was getting very windy.

We climbed up what we think is the third worst hill, but it seemed a lot easier, maybe because we had the strong wind behind our backs, just as we got back onto the chase we walked off it to checkpoint 7 ran by 1st Sutton Sea Scouts; worried they'd notice we were from Warwick we just passed though this base. From 7 to 8 it was all new territory to us as last year we took a short cut. But the wind became a real problem on some of the fields here. Particularly one field that was just bare soil, the wind was blowing strait across it whipping up clouds of dust which were flung into your face and body. This really really stung, luckily me and Chris had map cases we could use to shield our faces with; Joe wasn't so lucky wearing a short sleeved top, oww!

Heading back onto the Chase it was lovely and sunny again, really hot in fact; the wind was warm and southerly. On the way to checkpoint 9, south along the road, it became very hard not to be blown onto the on coming cars. This wind really did push you all over the place! 

Eventually we got to checkpoint 9. We checked in, and as a passing comment the lady there told us we weren't allowed to continue as the communications were down and because of the extraordinary strong winds, so we got some soup and waited with all the other groups here. The walk was cancelled due to the strong wind; I wouldn't have liked to be walking in the dark when a tree falls down around you, or on you. So all the teams got mini bussed back to the campsite. We had to walk around one fallen tree to get to the mini buses. 

This obviously was a great disappointment as we came all the way to complete the 40 miles and were doing very well, were the 23rd team out of 71 to get to checkpoint 9; I think we all could have finished. But as we were aching it wasn't that much of bad news

Back at the campsite there were many tents blown to the floor, poles bent, sheets ripped, one tent was shredded and one person had lost his tent completely. But our tents survived! Except a little rip in mine and bent pole in Steve's. We carefully packed up and sat inside with most of the other walkers till we got a premature lift back to Warwick on the Saturday afternoon.

It was a pity it got called off as we were having a very successful walk, but now I get to eat all my mars bars to myself, yum yum.

DBJ 21-03-04

CAMP 2010 - Incomplete

Monday 26th July

Start of boating proper today, lots of fun on the water.

This evening they are playing silly camp sports (photos in the camp gallery)

The scouts went sailing, canoeing and kayaking and looked to be having a great time.

the explorers tried out the kata canoes and did some power boating, with a trip across to Poole for a bag of chips.

Wednesday 28th July 2010

Another good day on the water, with sailing in little wind this morning many happy faces and a few swims even in the light wind. this afternoon was a little windier with one or two sessions of sailing called off but a few leaders stepped in and did some joyrides, had some crazy camp sports this evening, the explorers went and polluted the local swimming Poole, there was a slight scummy layer on the top of the water when we left..

Sunday 25th July:

Had a great journey down with the Scouts, once the coach actually arrived!  With no holdups.

It was WELL noisy though, with 65 scouts trying to make themselves heard from one end of the top deck to the other (why?) over Radio 1.  The first sweets were definitely opened before we had left Warwick, and we then stopped at the services near Newbury to top up the sugar levels a bit more.   (Pocket money now collected into 'camp bank' ready for their next retail opportunity: tuck shop.)

Having received a "bring waterproofs" text first thing, we arrived in Dorset to bright sunshine. Had a  rendezvous with the mini-buses at the handy local park and ride as the coach was too big to make it down the lane to the campsite, so then arrived at the campsite in 2 shifts, into the care of Barbie and the advanced party at around midday.

The site already looked like a small village, with 2 marquees, 4 other big 'mess' tents and all the leaders and explorers sleeping tents in place.  Plus our huge central flagpole must have been causing serious flagpole envy for the sea cadets down the hill.  The sea looks really inviting, and the explorers were starting to unpack boats.

Shorts on, and then a busy and cheerful afternoon was spent setting up patrol sites, beautifully spaced out in an arc, the far side of the flag from the marquee.  And whose idea was it to alternate the tents green, white, green,.....?   Very aesthetically pleasing Barbie.   The scouts had lots of help to get everything sorted out, with adults being kept on their toes with questions usually beginning with 'I can't find  .....', except for Aaron's 'Why can't I get everything back in my bag?? ', after rummaging for a change of clothes.

Stores were issued by Sue early at 4pm, so that all the basic items such as toilet roll and jam could be put away before the evenings dinner of meatballs was started.

Handed over all my messages from Mums & Dads as appropriate to Jenny or Sally (our ex-cub leader) who would be running the medical clinic after tea. Sadly had to leave to come home for a couple of days before returning for the rest of camp .. can't wait to get out on the water.           Jane.

 Friday 30th July

Today was troop sail day for the scouts....after making a packed lunch and rigging loads of boats we launched from the camp beach at about 10.30 and sailed off.  As everyone has already had a day or two of sailing this week, they were all really impressive sailors.  Laura and Emilia were hanging off the trapeze, Elaine was leaning out of her boat so far that her hair was dripping.  Max Widmer & Elaine unexpectedly took a little swim but everyone else managed to stay in their boats.  For lunch we landed on a beach adjacent to a very private nature reserve (lots of convenient trees and bushes).In the afternoon the wind got up a bit, but the sailors coped really, really well, and were still smiling when we got back to the camp site at 4.30pm

You may have seen Elinor and Vicky wearing our 'happy hats' on the photos.  That was to reward them for capsizing a mirror dinghy without any sails up!  Owen had the hat today and wore it all day whilst sailing.

Thursday evening the explorers went swimming, and the scouts have now all been over the last two evenings -  they have awesome showers, although they might have blocked up filters by now.  Owen managed to find Heart FM on the minibus radio - well done to Kay for educating him so well,  I had the Bee Gees for them all to sing along to on the way home.

The explorers had an independent day today, going to Swanage by bus and train, and playing on the beach - they are just big beavers really.

Saturday 31st July

Today the Explorers went off on their RIB trip to Freshwater bay, they were delayed by an unfortunate first for a 2nd Warwick Camp... We had a boat stolen, one of the RIBs was stolen from the moorings, we recovered the boat later in the day minus its engine (the police later got the engine back).

We set off with two borrowed RIBs to the Isle of White and Enjoyed a fast run down to the Needles then down the south side of the island to Freshwater Bay. We stopped there for lunch ferrying ourselves into shore with a rope and a smaller boat.

Unfortunately Claire tripped over coming off the boat and the next wave was enough to set off her automatic life jacket in 2" of water some hilarity and a spare life jacket were the next order of the day..

Police Station visit for the Beavers 2007

On the 30th April the Beavers went to Warwick police station to have a look round and to have a go at asking some questions. The chief constable was there and the Beavers got to ask some questions. We were taken around the police station by Seb and Kate which made this trip enjoyable.

The first thing we did was to have a tour and see what rooms were there. Then we took the Beavers to the cells and we locked them in there. (Yes no noise). We did some fingerprinting which made the trip very messy. The boys and girls were covered in ink. Finally we had a look at the police cars which got the Beavers in a fabulous jolly mood. We locked them in the back of a caught-on-camera van. They enjoyed this very much. At the end Kate and Seb gave all the children little presents to take home with them.

We all said thank you to Seb and Kate for taking us round and we hope we can do something else like this in the future.

Cat (PL Merlin 2007)