Wednesday

Up early, well even earlier than normal. We had a quick breakfast and because we had packed last night there was no last minute rush and nobody forgot anything, aaah planning!

Sadly the train to Minehead  was a diesel well a DMU we had a reserved  carriage although that didn't stop one rail enthusiast who sat right behind the driver after moving a couple of our Cubs. Akela had a quiet word and he graciously moved away. As we had got there early we had a few minutes and we were invited to inspect the museum which was interesting. All the Cubs fitted on to the footplate on a small engine that they had in the museum.

We got back onto the train and were soon on our way. The ride was pleasant, the sun shone and the Cubs were keen to explore the train especially the toilet. They were warned that they were not to flush in a station and why. They were also cautioned not to fall in as there was no way of stopping the train. The competition to see who would be first to see the sea was won, if I remember correctly, by Vicky. From Bishop's Lydeard we passed through Watchet, Dunster and several other places that were just a platform in the middle of the countryside.

From the train Station at Minehead we wandered across the road and had a look at the beach. Akela went to the chip shop and ordered 20 lunches.

There is something rather magical about skimming stones across the surface of the sea, despite our best efforts we only managed three skips, the waves were not helpful. Some of the Cubs took of their shoes and socks and rolled up their trousers and went into the cold, cold sea. Hathi and Akela picked up Charlotte or Spud as she had been nick-named and went to throw her into the big blue wet thing as a special birthday treat. Naturally the Leaders didn't let go. While some of the Cubs hid from the wind alongside the adults some were prospecting rocks finding some nice quartz. A pebble or two got into one of the rucksacks as we would discover later.

Lunch was taken and mostly enjoyed, we then walked along the beach as far as the loos where some of the Cubs had a comfort break. Then on in the sunshine towards the swimming pool. One of the Cubs, it was noticed really had a struggle to carry his rucksack, when Akela ordered a brief run to the next lamp-post our suspicions were confirmed his bag was full of rocks that were then taken out and returned whence they came. Much lighter now we were able to reach the Aqua-splash without further excitement. Akela went in to pay and found that the Flume had been condemned as totally unsafe and that the wave machine was broken and would not be working. The two reasons that we had picked the place and both were unavailable.

Still the Cubs were keen to get wet and there was the promise of floats, balls and other fun things. We were not disappointed the Cubs enjoyed themselves, the adults enjoyed themselves and Harry did a lot more than he thought he could.

After an hours swim we left the building and Mrs Akela introduced the Cubs to Cape Gooseberries, a strange fruit that you have to unwrap and eat quickly. The sun still shone as we wandered back to the beach, a few minutes more playing on some rocks while Akela enjoyed his sunshine and almost fell asleep.

Back to the station and we watched as our steam engine went from one end of the train to the other, ready to pull us home. We were told that we would be in the front carriage, the "Harry Potter" coaches. They were almost exactly like the compartments in the film. All the young female wizards went into one compartment, all the boy wizards went into another, the cooks team had one to themselves and the Leaders had another. Lovely, Akela went and found the buffet and brought back some drinks. On a previous trip on this railway we had been introduced to Exmoor Gold an excellent beer that really warmed our cockles. They still had some, oh joy! The trip back was interrupted by some niggling between the boys, some rather questionable songs that had Akela on ghis feet and in laying down the law. The girls were of course little angels and kept their troublemaking quiet.

 Once back at the camp site we put all our wet towels out on a line to dry. Akela and Hathi organised a Bar-B-Q and a skittles game was set up. The cooks team almost got the night off, but ended up working as usual. The burgers and sausages were girt lush as they say in the Bristol area and the Cubs were soon well fed up.

Scores from the skittles:

To fill in the time between supper and bed the Cubs were encouraged to go rabbit hunting, to our utter astonishment two Cubs came back with evidence that they had indeed caught a rabbit but that it had given them a good scratching before escaping.

So to round off a long exciting tiring day the Cubs had a mug of chocolate and went quietly to bed and quickly to sleep. I made that last bit up it's what should have happened what actually happened was that the Cubs stayed up for a while talking before dropping of. The Leaders didn't notice and wasted several minutes of sleep before they realised what had happened.