142nd Troop Camp 2008 - Cumbria
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A relaxing day at the camp site after the excitement of climbing the Old Man of Coniston yesterday. The morning was billed as camp skills which effectively consisted of using the camp oven and making a raft.
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For some this was the first time they had made a cake never mind used an oven. Each patrol had to mix the ingredients and get the camp oven hot enough to cook it. Here the Wolves are placing theirs into the oven, which a few minutes later came out to gasps of amazement, because it had worked. In fact both patrols managed to produce very good Victoria sponges which were eaten rather quickly! |
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Then it was onto raft building, something that allowed them to learn or practice their knot skills and end up with a raft to play on in our own tarn. Two rafts were completed. This one in traditional square shape, plus another which was a triangle shape. These would be used later as part of the Camp Olympics. |
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If you're wondering what the senior patrol were up to, well they started to construct a bivouac using natural materials. They told me this was their finished product - hmmmm I did suggest filling the gap but they never did. We will have to see how they get on when they have to sleep in it later in the week????? |
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After lunch it was time for our very own Camp Olympics. The events this year included:-
Welly
Wanging
A hotly contested sport which is sadly missing from the IOC's list of events. Perhaps I should write to them? However perhaps not if the skills on show here are anything to go by. Accuracy would probably help in gaining an edge on distance but sadly most of the wellies found themselves shooting off behind tents and cars rather than down the field.
Egg
Throwing
Now this requires a bit of skill as the consequences of getting it wrong leave you with egg on your face, quite literally. Consequently it goes down well and this year the winning throw was in the region of 10 meters.
Flour Trail (Cross Country Run)
This usually spreads the troop out a bit. They have to follow a trail of flour left by Paul which takes them around the site. Simple enough you might think, but 100 meters in and they go the wrong way so have to run back down the hill, missing the marker again? so they spend the first few minutes working out where they should go.
For those who worked it out, it ended with a short swim across the tarn. The eventual winner being Tom. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see the end of the race as one of the scouts managed to gash his knee badly on a rock so we spent the rest of the afternoon in Kendal A&E.
Raft
Race
Well after making the rafts it was time to race them. Fortunately both of them floated as we can see here, and a course was devised around the tarn for each patrol to propel their raft around against the clock. The winning raft was the triangle shaped one belonging to the Cobras.
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