Day 2 (Tuesday)
The Leaders were up nice and early, five hours sleep and after a hot drink the Cubs were allowed out of their tents to wash, dress and start the day by flying the tents and rolling the groundsheets to allow the grass to see some light.
Breakfast was followed by some quiet time to catch up with journals before the first activity. The tree trail was a list of nine cryptic clues, a map of tree locations and a time limit. The Cubs formed teams of three or four and went off with a Leader to complete their task. One team got all the answers correct while another got lost and got nil points, you know who you are so no names.
A treasure hunt was next, a 35mm film canister was given to everybody, fill it with as many things as you can, the only things not allowed were creatures, live or dead. Jess T won with fifty two items, remarkable.
Before lunch Akela showed the Cubs how to make juggling balls from balloons and sand - put sand into one balloon, put first balloon into second, cut end off repeat twice more. The air was soon full of juggling balls, some of the Cubs got the hang of juggling but many did not.
After lunch; sandwiches, a biscuit, a drink, a bag of crisps and a piece of fruit, we had an hour to kill before our first afternoon activity, out came the bars of soap for some carving. Apart from a lamentable lack of imagination this proved popular with many clean nice smelling hands at the end.
The Cubs were split into two groups, Hathi and Abi took one while Akela, James and Julie took the other. Our first activity was woodcraft. The options were; we could make a small wooden bug, a wooden snail, a wooden hedgehog, or a snake, which I hope would be wooden. All the Cubs with one exception went for the snail which meant that Hathi was kept busy sawing various sized disks for the snails shell. The odd Cub (sorry Ben) made a hedgehog. The Cubs were very happy with their snails and hedgehog and were finished in time for mid afternoon break.
Our next activity was archery, and by the time we had walked to the other end of the site we were late. After a safety talk the Cubs were given a chance to scare the Leaders. Abi and Hathi were invited to help as they knew almost as much as the instructors about how to load, stand and aim. The Cubs had a great deal of fun doing this especially when one of the twins shot high. Over the target, over the safety net and into the next field. The activity was halted as the instructors and Hathi went to look for the lost arrow. Hathi found an arrow but one that had been lost several months ago. Our lost arrow was found later with the aid of a metal detector (it was an aluminium arrow).
There was a small competition where the Cubs were able to show that all their newly acquired knowledge could evaporate in the heat of competitive excitement. Hathi and Abi lined up in the high scoring finale. Abi hit the red (8points) Hathi hit the blue (6) Abi's next shot went wide (hooray) Hathi hit the black (4) and into the lead. Abi shot another red. Hathi needed a red but failed and hit another blue so both archers scored 16, a draw.
Tea was Roast chicken limbs, peas, sweetcorn, potatoes and pasta for those who don't eat proper food. This was followed by a fruit salad with condensed milk. Three more Cubs helped in the kitchen, drying up and dropping.
The evening activity was the aerial runway. Akela gave it a thorough safety check before giving the Cubs a short but comprehensive safety talk. The run was tested with Hathi as the test dummy. Cries of delight followed him down the run. The Cubs were reassured that it was safe and started their goes.
Four of our Cubs were coaxed into having a go, their natural reluctance being patiently overcome by Akela. The look of terror changing to enormous grins as they completed the run and were unloaded by Hathi. The Cubs all had as many goes as they wished before they retired to the Cabin for a hot chocolate drink before bed. The Leaders, tired from all the pulling, lifting and effort of this activity knew that they had an early start in the morning. So the Cubs were put to bed with the warning that if they stayed up late they might miss the next day's outing. They were really good and were all asleep in less than thirty minutes. The Leaders stayed up a bit later doing what ever it is Leaders do after the Cubs have gone to sleep.