Bath Overnight Hike 2008
Driving over to the meeting point in Swineford the wind and rain were quite something, 62nd classic weather, here we go again, not to be gladly…
…13 Scouts decided to brave the elements and the leaders, for a jolly jaunt upto the top of Kelston Round Tump. Each group had it’s own little tale to tell, one of deer fences, another of circumnavigating an entire field before really paying attention, and a final one of freezing one’s Cairngorms for 20 mins at the top of a remarkably windy hill. Although it was almost midnight at the end of winter so ‘remarkably’ is probably over the top somewhat!
We arrived at basecamp, Cleve Hill Campsite, just before 1pm dry but slightly battered by the wind, a hunt for the toilets ensued along with copious amounts of un-drunk soup. It was only then that the true realisation of what was in store dawned. The beds and mattresses that have been a pleasurable feature of Cleve Hill in recent years and still listed in the inventory were conspicuous be their absence, only to be replaced by lots of rope. Being a Group of the modern age, we know that sleeping on rope is not quite the same, so the leaders sacrificed their carrymats for the Scouts, even Mike’s big green inflatable thing got taken. That Scout had a gorgeous night, Mike he had a concrete floor. The rest had a very pleasant night, the leaders… they had bences, hard benches at that, and a noisy fridge, and a drafty door, and a radio communicating with local taxis half the night, and floor space the size of a dish cloth, and local wildlife…
…but we loved it!
