14th July

District invasion of Creally Adventure Park

The Park is near Exeter and a long way by coach. 13 Cubs and 5 adults met up at Stockwood Library at 08:15 ready to start the day.

The Cubs were, in no particular order; Harry, Jack, Alex, Sophie, Dan, Tom, Sam, Kayleigh, Sam, Josh, Rebecca, Megan, and Jamie. The adults were Akela, Mrs Akela (Peg), Hathi, Jayne and Sandra. The coach was a 70 seater, this meant that the seats were child sized and a bit uncomfortable for big bummed adults, not that I'm implying that any of the Leaders have big bums.

Once on the coach the usual questions were asked "Are we there yet?" "How long is it?" and then the Cubs started asking as well. Hathi had a good answer he said it'll be about an hour, each and every time he was asked this was the answer, the Cubs became quite exasperated but kept on asking him. AS we turned into the park he was still telling the Cubs that it would be about an hour, But I'm getting ahead of the report.

We, the coach that is had to stop at various laces in the South of Bristol to pick up the other Packs that were coming with us. This didn't take too long and the coach was soon full of excited people of all ages.

The trip down was broken by a comfort stop at Taunton Deane services for a few minutes before we continued onward.

We arrived at the Park at about 11:30 and were left melting in the coach while Jane (ADC Cubs - amongst a host of other things) went off to deal with the tickets. The Cubs were de-coached and led into the Park, the above photo was taken and an arrangement made to meet for lunch at about 12:30, it was pointed out that as only one of the Cubs was wearing a watch this time would be kept fairly flexible.

So the Cubs dispersed, some to queue for the swinging boat, others for the Train roller-coaster. One Cub was a bit unhappy as he only had enough money for an ice cream and wanted to go on the rides, once it was pointed out that the good rides were free and all the Cub had to do was queue he was a lot happier. Peg and Hathi went onto the Boat as a couple of the Cubs wanted an adult near them when they rode the ride - naturally the boat was filled with them and Peg and Hathi had to go on without the Cubs. It was as exciting as it needed to be, a moment of lightness at the top of each swing was worth a scream or two.

The queue for the bumper boats was not long but it took nearly 45 minutes before our patient Cubs were able to splash and squirt other people in the boats and the surrounding area, so they felt that the wait had been worth it.

The Cubs were rounded up and lunch eaten, The Cubs all had packed lunch and afterwards Akela bought everybody who wanted one an ice-cream. He was a little disappointed not to get a discount but I think that we did alright out of the deal. As everybody was now full of food the next thing to do was the "Buzzard Swoop" This is a parabolic slide - starts vertical then gently changes to horizontal over a few metres. The Cubs that had been on something similar were keen but one or two of the Cubs hung back to avoid spilling their lunch. A longer more traditional slide was much more popular and almost all the Cubs had a go.

Once we had gathered again it was decided that "we" would have a go on the Water Flume. The ride had a warning, " You will get wet, you may get soaked" this was enough to put the Male Leaders off as we had our uniforms on and didn't want to get them wet. Most of the Cubs had a go, they got wet - they got soaked, were they bothered - No not at all, they climbed out and went to the end of the queue, by the time they were ready for next go the top layer was dry. The ladies had a go and got soaked, which was most enjoyable for the spectators.

To round off the day we went to the newly opened Dinoland, this was designed for the younger child and although the Cubs enjoyed the ride and looking at the mini-dinosaurs even going as far as to hold and stroke them.

Naturally as it got close to leaving time we discovered three Cubs missing, we didn't have to search to far but it was an anxious few minutes before we found them and got back to the coach. The rumoured stop at Weston didn't happen, the planned comfort break at the Sedgefield Services did. By the time the coach got back to Stockwood there were some very tired people on board. The Cubs were picked up and finally there was only Akela, Mrs. Akela and Hathi left. There were a couple of moments panic as one of the Cubs that we had to deliver to his parents was missing, a frantic phone call later and it was discovered that his Mum had picked him up, which was a change from the original plan.

Akela and Hathi found enough time for a quick de-brief in the Harvesters.

Thanks are due to Jane (ADC Cubs - etc) for organising it, to Jayne, Sandra and Peg for helping the Leaders and to Akela who was his normal self and forced a horribly dark rain filled cloud to skirt around the Park and keeping us in warm sunshine all day.