Saturday142nd Troop Camp 2006 - Cumbria
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Saturday
We arrived at our camp in the late after noon to find that the leaders and explorers had been hard at work and the camp was completely set up, apart from our personal patrol areas .We got to work and shortly we were ready to eat our delicious meal of spaghetti bolognaise. And after a briefing of what activities we would be participating in that week, Jeremy read to us a useful and somewhat humorous extract from 'Scouting for Boys' whilst we were enjoying the evening drink that some of us like to call bogwash.
Sunday
The next morning we got our fires going and the leaders started puffing billy (an old beer barrel converted into a water boiler). We cooked our breakfast and then some bright spark had the idea to fish in the lake at the bottom of our camp. After this we were given a scavenger hunt which we were given two days to complete and whilst we tried to catch one of the hardest to find things on the list (a trout) we discovered the thing around which the whole camp would revolve. Swimming in lakes. After this we went on a walk up to tarn hows on which we swam in a second lake. We enjoyed our
evening meal then we had bogwash, a reading of scouting for boys and then we all went of to bed.
Monday
We rose early the next day in preparation for the big event. The hike up the old man of Coniston. We breakfasted on eggy bread and beans and then we were of. We drove up to the car park and began to climb up the hill it was a hike that some found arduous and some found as easy as a stroll through the woods but eventually we reached the top. We enjoyed our well deserved lunch and then began the descent down the steep and treacherous path. Half way down we reached the fabled tarn of the old man which is over 300 foot deep and freezing cold but for a change everyone there scouts, leaders and explorers had a refreshing dip. After that we made our way back to the camp site enjoyed the usual evening activities and went of to bed.
Tuesday
We had a relaxing morning swimming in the lake and making our camps better.
After that each patrol participated in an hour long activity. My patrol did shelter building and the other patrol did raft building. After lunch we drove of to Coniston water to do canoening. We used two man canoes and paddled around the lake for a good two hours before we came back to dry land (dripping wet) and got changed. After this we were allowed a short time in the town of Coniston to buy some stuff from the local shops. Then we went back to our camp enjoyed a hearty dinner and some bogwash and cake.
Wednesday
It was the day of the big hike and everyone was getting ready. We packed up our tents and our sleeping bags and everything else we would need, had lunch and then we were of. We had 3 checkpoints to find that day and we
successfully found all three then we arrived and met up with the other patrol but to our considerable dismay we were told that unaccompanied children could not camp here we phoned the leaders and we were told to pack up our stuff and move on to another campsite which was a further three (err two actually; SL) miles to walk so we packed up our stuff and wearily set of. Eventually we arrived and we set up our tents and enjoyed our long awaited boil in the bag meals. We then proceeded to fall in to our sleeping bags and get straight of to sleep.
Thursday
We decided to walk together the next day and so we packed up and headed of. It was an enjoyable walk and before long we arrived back at the camp. We unpacked and set up our tents and then we relaxed for a while (and as per the usual had a quick swim in the tarn). Then we swapped the hour long activities we had done earlier in the week and my patrol built a raft and the other patrol did shelter building. We then took the rafts down and we used them in the lake and when we got back we discovered that whilst we had been busy Paul had been down to the nearest town and had got a perm. We then
had our dinner and the leaders cooked up some deep fried heart attacks (little jam sandwich squares battered and deep fried and then coated in sugar) and some of us even had a deep fried mars bar. Then we were told we were going on a five mile evening “stroll” as you can imagine after already doing a walk that morning some of the younger scouts were rather dismayed at the idea but we did it in the end and Dave guided us to some amazing quarries and caves and he told us some rather less amazing ghost stories so by the time we got back it was almost 12.
Friday
This was the day of the camp Olympics. We started of with an egg throwing contest and then moved on to a flour trail. Next it was the raft race which my patrol won with ease. Then it was the final event which was several different competitions up and down the water slide. After that we had our lunch and then we packed up our tents filled in our fire pits and took down our dining shelters. Then we started making our shelters which we did with people from our own and other patrols. When we finished them we had our final dinner and we started the big campfire in the leader’s area. We sat
around this until late telling jokes and stories, singing songs and performing plays. Finally it was time for bed and whilst the leaders and explorers slept round the campfire we retired to our shelters in which I must say I at least slept better in than I had in my tent.
Saturday
We had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and then we finished of packing up and made our lunches. We thanked the leaders and then we were collected by the mini bus.
It had definitely been a week to remember.
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