March 11th
Red Nose 'Day' finale.
As we have done very little so far this year we decided that after loosing seven of our older Cubs to the St. Georges Scout Troop we would do a nice gentle stroll out in the darkness to give our newer, younger Cubs a taste of Cubing. It was decided that Tuesday Cubs would be invited along. It should be noted that Tuesday Cubs had booked the Scutt for a sleepover on this night.
We met at the Scutt at 18:30 ready to start out at about as soon as we could. This was really quite quick and we were on our way by 19:00. The eleven Friday Cubs (Zeze, Breiz, Conner, Deanna, Lawrence-Elliot, Emma, Shannon, Jess, Joe, Daniel and Tom) were joined by the three Leaders. Tuesday Cubs were represented by nineteen Cubs and seven Leaders/Adults.
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We set out as a large happy mob, chatting amiably across the grass field at the back of the Scutt. The first busy road was crossed without incident, as was the second crossing. Now we were off road the group stretched out a little. This lasted until the first stile was reached. Getting thirty people over a stile took a while. As we had several stiles to cross the walkers became spread out.
As we were walking on the fields used by the local "Horse World" the fields were occupied. This was not a worry to the young Horsey Cubs who had ridden but to some of the Cubs having very large dark creatures thundering past close enough to smell was a little unsettling. This also applied to on of the Friday Leaders but I am not going to incriminate anyone else.
Once past the horses fields we had our first out-of-boot moment, one of the lightest Cubs managed to get bogged down in the only deep muddy puddle in the whole field. Bravely Hathi lifted the Cub and the muddy footwear. Once placed onto the ground the Cub started to sink again! Encouraged by the shouts of the Cubs friends the sinking stopped as the Cub managed to find a drier patch and wail about the state of their boots, socks and trousers. It should be noted that Hathi took time out to take a photo before the rescue attempt.
The wind was sharp but not cold and pushed us onward to Queen Charlton. The walk back into the wind would not be fun. At Queen Charlton the Cubs behaved as expected, they walked past peoples homes without making a noise, brilliant. A short walk in pairs along a country road brought us back to a point that we could go off road again. A short distance down the by-way we stopped to have a drink, eat, relief stop. Most of the Cubs opted to sit down in the wind while some of the more mature walkers hid behind a hedge. Age does bring some wisdom.
The Cub's delight that we were over half way was tempered by the wind blowing into their faces. Some found a large Adult to walk behind to slipstream and others just walked on stoically. Down the valley, up the other side, was it my imagination but had the slope got steeper and longer while we were out. The stream at the bottom of the valley was safely crossed again and the slog continued.
We stopped just before the penultimate road crossing to make sure that we still had thirty Cubs. A quick count by the Akelas suggested that we had not managed to lose anyone so we continued. The last road was crossed and the last stretch was upon us. 'Our' Akela dropped back and Tuesdays Akela took the lead, at this point it started to drizzle. The sungod was happy to let this happen as he was not in control at that point.
We arrived back at the Scutt a little later than advertised, the Parents picked up their offspring and went home to a hot bath/shower and bed. Tuesday Cubs and their Leaders settled down to a long night of Cubbing with their sleepover.
Thanks to all the mature walkers and both Akelas for organising it, a nice little stroll.