15th May
This was our first 'real' camp this year, the sleep-over at the Scutt can not be counted as 'real' as the Cubs were within shouting distance of home.
18 Cubs were booked to do the hike and camp, we had a late addition as a Cub decided at the last possible minute to ask if he could come with us. They were (in no particular order, Paris, Breiz, Sammy, Alice, Charlotte, Jess, Beth(ff), Aimee, Deanna, Tom, Both Ryans, Robert, James, Jamie, Shaun, Bradley, Xenos and Conner.
The usual Leaders team was joined by the Cooks Team; Trudi, Mandy and Dan and by Dave who walked with us and helped with the odd, strenuous jobs that the other Leaders were too wimpy for, i.e. chopping up lengths of dead wood in the searing heat. He hasn't been back from his T.A. duties in the middle east for long and he was the fittest person available.
The day started early for the Leaders, at just a little past daybreak (08:00) they were at the Scutt sorting out the kit that would be needed for the camp, tents, poles, pegs and all the other things that would be needed. The other person we need to thank for making this camp possible arrived with a trailer. At 09:00 most of the Cubs arrived to drop off their night kit, it seems that it takes almost as much to go camping for one night as for a week. The Leaders cars were loaded, taken and left at the campsite.
We were escorted home to do the last few things that needed to be done, the extra certificate, the packing of lunch, the checking of day bags and all the other little things that needed doing.
At 11:30 all the Cubs arrived at the Scutt ready for the drive to the drop-point in Pensford. A big thank you to all the parents, grandparents and others for the lift. The Cubs were formed into a crocodile as we had to walk through the town before we could go 'off-road'.
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At the earliest point maps were handed out to the Cubs and the start and finish points were shown and the Cubs left to organise a route, or to find a direction to start out in. We walked across fields, keeping to the tractor tracks and footpaths. The Cubs did well and we reached the halfway point just in time for lunch.
After a very welcome stop we moved on into Lords Wood, we had been informed by a local that the wood had been thinned out and sunshine had reached parts of the ground for the first time in 30 years. The resulting sea of bluebells was breathtaking, everywhere we looked there was a sea of blue, brilliant.
At each junction we paused while our committee of map readers deliberated before almost always heading off in the right direction. The woods contain allsorts of wildlife, deer, foxes, rabbits, squirrels and many types of birds none of which we saw because of the noise the Cubs made. However it was nice to be in the shade, has it been mentioned that it was possibly the hottest and sunniest day of the year so far, well it was and we were glad but not surprised that our resident sun deity was back in business.
After what seemed hours of walking we arrived at the camp site. Hooray!! The peace and quiet of the field was shattered, The cars and trailer were unloaded and the fun started, while the male leaders put up the mess-tent, Dave was sent back into the woods to get some firewood, Baggy was left to organise the Cubs put the tents up. This appeared to test her patience but soon the tents were up, Akela popped over and made a couple of suggestions and the tents were soon in a neat row. Having put up the frame tent that would act as the mess-tent it was found to be facing the wrong way so a number of strong Cubs were volunteered into help move it around. This meant that the Cooks Team could get organised getting tea ready.
The afternoon sun was hot, very hot and the Cubs started to wilt a bit, but the camp site had been organised. We had tents and a camp fire. Some Cubs had gone to the water tap for the cooks and others had brought back lots of logs ready for the fire.
After a tea of sausages and super noodles with baked beans, (23 people fed for £10.) the older Cubs were invited to build shelters or bivvies as the Cubs preferred. Bits of string, twigs and plastic sheeting were used, the small trees used as tent poles were protected by bits of canvas when ropes were tied to them. Some very workman like shelters were made and there was no problem getting eight volunteers to sleep in them, so little problem that we had to disappoint a couple of hopefuls. They are now top of the list for next time.
Photo by Xenos
The fire had been burning for a while and there were loads of nice hot coals ready to cook on. While Baggy sorted out some games for some of the Cubs Akela was showing the rest of the Cubs how to do 'real' cooking. Fish in wet newspaper, stew in foil, baked egg in foil, baked egg in a scraped out orange, cake mix in a scraped out orange, caramelised banana, Dogfish in orange juice and baked potatoes that were forgotten about until much later when they were found to be a bit overdone.
Photo by Xenos
All to soon it got dark, and it was time for bed. The shelter sleepers were kitted out in survival bags and managed to shuffle into their shelters. The other Cubs went to their tents and settled down. The Leaders settled down for a long vigil, last to go to bed - first to rise. The Cubs in the tents went quiet quite quickly but the shelter sleepers were rocking and rolling until the last one went quiet at 02:00. The Leaders damped down the fire and went finally to bed, it had been a long day.
 Photo by Xenos |
 Photo by Xenos |
16th May
At 03:30 there was a lot of rustling out side the male Leaders tent, Baggy (bless her) had to get up and deal with a couple of the female shelter sleepers that needed a visit to the little girls room. The male Leaders were well pleased and went back to sleep.
Akela had to inform the boys tent that although it was light and the birds were singing 04:00 was too early to be waking up and far too early to be making a noise. He asked them in a whisper if they had heard of the Akela that had gone mad with lack of sleep and had killed all his noisy Cubs, and that had been at 04:00 as well. It seemed that they hadn't and when asked if they would like to re-enact it they declined and promised to go back to sleep, which they did. This recounted by several of the Cubs later that morning but Akela has no recollection of the incident at all.
At a much more reasonable time, 06:00 the Leaders got up and went in search of caffeine. This was found and the new day became brighter. The sun poked its head over the surrounding trees and things started to warm up. The girls from the shelter appeared and had a game of football while they waited for everybody else to wake up.
More wood and water was collected, breakfast was cooked, sausages, beef burgers (should have been used previous evening), eggy-bread, baked beans with a choice of sliced bread or a bread roll. Those with a large appetite had already had a bowl of cereal. Some volunteers were picked to do the washing up while we waited for the tents to dry out, from the dew. The bivvies were dismantled and all the string kept ready for next time. The Cubs belongings were taken out of the tents and put into the trailer. The Cubs were told that if they were quick some games could be organised, but they were not quick as a few of them were content to sit and watch as others did all the work. Unfortunately for them they sat and watched in view of the Leaders who found work for them to do.
All to soon the parents arrived to take their loved ones back to the Scutt. All the Cars were unloaded and kit put away, the trailer was emptied and the Cubs were taken home. The remaining Leaders popped next door to the Harvesters for a pint of shandy and a debrief.