Winter Camp 2005

 

Winter Camp 2005

 11th February 2005

Kayaking and Raft-Building

Sunday morning we all donned as many warm clothes as possible and headed off for a lovely secluded lake. The only problem was that the weather decided to throw just about everything it had to offer to us all in the space of about 2 hours…

…we had an amazing variety including a couple of hailstorms (when most of the leaders hid in the minibus…) and glorious sunshine, which was actually quite warm. Due to sudden high gusts of wind the Kayaking was abandoned for safety.

The best bit though had to be testing the raft only for a snow blizzard to ensue, all whilst singing ‘row, row, row your boat’…

Thank heavens for those flasks of hot drinks we took!

Dartmoor Walk

Saturday we walked upto and around Higher Tor in Dartmoor National Park. Our guide John from Okehampton YHA led us through some fantastic views and sites, taking in raging rivers, waterfalls, stone circles, bridges, underground reservoirs etc. etc. etc…

Despite it being a tad windy and at one point rather wet, everyone coped superbly and enjoyed themselves, well for at least part of it anyway!

One Scout, Richard tried to claim “it’s like eating a large choclate cake, you start off really enjoying it and then you have too much and start to get sick of it…”. Thank you Richard – words of wisdom indeed!

THE
WINTER CAMP – HOW DO YOU TAKE YOUR TEA?

Winter camp was really fun!
We arrived there on Friday evening and went straight to tea which was tuna pasta (youch) or Cod and chips! We were then put into our rooms which were quite small but warm! The beds in our room were so scabby that Will prodded mine and it wobbled about half a metre!!!!!But we did get a sink!!!! In your face will ‘n’ Richard!

   On Saturday we woke up at 7:30am but we got out of bed at 5:30am!! Breakfast was at 8am and it was a proper English breaky!!!!!! That was the best bit of the day!

We had the dreaded walk that day which was 10 times worse then we all expected!!! We started walking at about 9 until 4!!! The first bit was ok but then we started getting higher and higher but what made it so hard was the gentle breeze at the top (or should I say gale force winds which you could lean into!!!!
And which pushed me and Rich into sharp rocks that cut our skin!) Then we walked down a huge hill and started walking through puddles that came up to our knees! Or should I say I walked through them, despite Ray’s warnings! All the others avoided them which I wish I did as well!! But I hope we got Mike wet!

Finally we stopped walking and I was the first to get back! We only walked a poor 10 miles but I would love to see one of you wimps who didn’t go, do it!!!

   After the walk we got ready to go to the swimming pool and had another tea of chicken nougats & chips. When we got to the pool it was empty and no one was there. It looked like every one was having fun while I was scoffing my face with sweets! We went to bed quite early that night (or we were meant to!) I slept badly that night because someone WAS SNORING REALLY LOUDLY!!!!!!!!!

     On Sunday we had another LUSH breaky and then went to pack. The activities were rafting and/or kayaking! The rafters had to wear wetsuits because they were much more likely to fall in (I wish that was correct!) When we got there it was sunny, then raining, then evil hail which hurt my legs because I was stupidly wearing shorts! This was before we were even in the water! The kayakers started off in the water and it was all going well until a huge gust of wing swept me, Sammy, will and James into the water which was unimaginably cold

! I wish we had the wet suits instead of the rafters, they didn’t even fall in! But they did raft in hail, rain, snow and wind! Finally we went back to the hostel, had showers, ate lunch and went home!!!

   I just want to say thank you to all the leaders for a sort of successful weekend!!!!!

 

Cheers!

SEAL!!