Tuesday

Akela informed Hathi that he had slept through the dawn chorus, not of the birds although they were loud, but of the Cubs that had woken at 05:00 got louder until 05:30 and then gone quiet again with out intervention. They had gone back to sleep without having to be told.

Today was Alex's birthday and we had a small presentation of his presents, after we had toasted his good health and long life. A treat that I'm sure none of us will forget in a hurry. This worried one of our number, Charlotte, as it was her birthday the next day.

Breakfast with chips was a novel experience not that the Cubs noticed it was warm and filling what more could you want. Ian's eggy-bread was deemed to be nicer than Akela's fluffier some said, tastier some said, less burnt said one, very quietly.

The mornings activities were Woodcraft, in which all the Cubs made a wooden animal, some hedgehogs had a mini forest of 'spines'. Akela and Hathi were in charge of the 'Death Slide' Akela putting them on and Hathi taking them off. The instructions were quiet complicated and there were only a few that got it slightly incorrect. I can't remember who the Cub was that on being told to use both hands to undo a carabineer, let go with one hand and used the other. The most frightening thing to Hathi, who was standing underneath the Death Slide, was Vicky and Ian trying to undo the 'wrong' carabineer, not that they would have dropped far but it would have had a couple of people needing clean underwear.

There was to be a prize for the best scream as the slider left the launch stage but without exception everybody forgot until well into their slide. Amazingly every Cub and all the adults except for Hathi and Akela had at least one go. This amazed at least two lots of parents who needed photographic proof that their offspring had done anything that dangerous.

Lunch was served al-fresco and in warm sunshine, again.

We had a piece of luck with our afternoon activity, we had asked for but were told that climbing and abseiling would not be possible as there were no instructors to be found. Paul and Ben from a Kingswood (Bristol) Group volunteered to do the instructing for us. Again some of the Cubs astonished the Leaders with their bravery and climbed up one side of the tower and abseiled down the other. Matt was singled out for his natural talent in climbing having impressed both the instructors. Emily and Gemma were allowed to 'climb' up the wall and were lowered on a rope down the abseil tower, too young to feel scared who can say? Several of the Cubs got to the edge but were not willing to drop the twenty feet, despite having done something very similar in the morning on the Death Slide. The adults, excepting Hathi and Akela had a go or two and seemed to enjoy the experience.

A cooked tea was next and most welcome it was.

The Cubs were given some free time to write up their journals, wash and prepare for bed as we had an early start in the morning

End of day 3