Paris 2024 Travel Home Day 8

An extract from a diary, written by one of the Scouts: Today, we went home! We woke up at 6:00am to finalize packing and then we set off!! After a 2 hour coach journey, we reached the ferry. We sat in the quiet lounge for a bit and ate the Haribo my mum had packed for the journey home. I felt a bit seasick as the waves were quite rough, but it was OK. Finally we reached home!

A bed for the night can be anywhere! It’s certainly a few grades up from the original plan! An early start required all the canvas to come down. Even leaders’ tents (I know!)

Some of the scouts even enjoyed their wooden gazebo experience.

We left Jambville around 8am for the epically long journey home.

A lot less photos today. everyone was asleep, or watching really awful films.

The Scouts were quizzed on the journey home , in amongst their napping, for their favourite and most memorable bits:

• The hockey was so good!
• The atmosphere was so good in the hockey and Team GB scoring with 7 minutes to go against France!
• I loved the hockey event even though it was boiling hot.
• Watching the hockey was my first time and it was really good fun!
• Team GB beating France – that was amazing!
• I loved the athletic and water polo, there was so much to see
• the whole week was amazing, from start to finish
• I loved it when we slept under that weird wooden thingy on the last night
• Kayak cross – the women’s races were so much more intense as they were more bunched up,
• I liked the canoe cross and being on TV to the world!
• Getting on TV at the canoe slalom!
• The athletics was the best – being able to watch with my friends
• The British runner that got second and everyone cheered around us
• The Irish fans around us at the hockey. Even when they were losing the kept singing. An that bloke’s airhorn!
• Water polo, when the lights went out and everyone was asked to put phone lights on. It was an awesome display! Water polo was my best day – I now love water polo!
• Going swimming in the local pool with the weird French rules. I had mini speedos, but it didn’t bother me!
• I did a front flip into the pool and the French bloke shouted at me: ‘Non! Non! non flippy, flippy!’
• Getting a wave from Sky Brown!
• Seeing a gold medal Team GB athlete.

And just to highlight that these memories will last a lifetime, my favourite sums up the whole experience:

“Just going to the Olympics”