This is not strictly speaking a Cub activity as it is run for families. Cubs are expected to bring their parents, siblings, pets or whatever. This year we decided to do the same old same old. A stroll to Queen Charlton and back before it: got dark, we got tired or horror of horrors it rained and spoiled Akela's record.
To set things up, it rained hard for a few days before the trek. it also blew a gale with extra rain. Naturally the Leaders were not in the least worried, our sun-god would come good and it was going to be reasonable, for the first weekend in January anyway.
We met at the Scutt at 13:00 and marvelled at the weather!! The usual doubters expressed their wonder at this fact and were soon put right. We had a good turn out this year to keep Akela and Hathi company we had: Kayleigh, her brother and Mum and a dog called Max, Holly brought her grown-ups along Lee and Karen as well as her little sister Madison who was our youngest walker, Millie brought her Mum, Sophie brought her Dad, Matthew brought Dad and younger brother, Andrew and Luke, Carol brought Gemma and Alex, Ian was resting after a vigorous soccer match in the morning.
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Hathi when asked what he had got for Christmas got out his new hat and when Akela get's the photo processed it may appear here. Just out-side the Scutt was a foretaste of what was to come, it was wet, soft, lovely, squidgy mud. We were very hopeful of a O.O.B. experience. There was a lot of running around with the youngsters finding out how deep some off the puddles were.
Past Horses World and into the countryside, soon we were off-road and in the thick glutinous muck that is the result of horses eating and drinking, lovely! Two fields later and Kayleigh's Mum saw the light and turned for home, I don't blame her one little bit. The going did get better and then it got worse, a lot worse and without the proper footwear it would have been a nightmare. Next year I'm sure that being better prepared they will enjoy it. The dog would probably wish for longer legs as his undercarriage was very close to the cold water and could not have been comfortable.
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Each stile we crossed presented a challenge as they got muddier as more people crossed them and they were inevitably close to a large area of smelly, sticky mud. The easiest way to cope with the mud was to think "lightness" and waft across the surface like thistledown. Didn't work out to well for some of the larger people but there you go. Actually it worked for no-one, who am I trying to kid, we plodded through the muck and onto firm ground as quickly as possible.
We reached Queen Charlton and still no pub or cafe, we have hoped year after year, for at least 8 years, that it might have happened but this year was no different from any other. A short walk on tarmac which had the effect of loosened some of the mud from our boots and people could feel their spirits lifting as it got easier, onto a rough track, part of the old priest road and then it was back off-road. We all started to get taller as the mud stuck to the bottom of our boots but a balance was reached that as some mud stuck other bits fell off.
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Back past the golf course, we didn't find any golf-balls so we got to the valley and realised that it was a long uphill slog to get back to Horses World. And so it proved. Hathi showed how to lock a gate to the two dads that hadn't been able to lock it up on our outward leg. Finding the second piece of chain was the trick, then it all fitted together.
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At the top of the hill we had our first out of boot (O.O.B.) experience, Luke was the victim and his sock became a very nice brown colour as it was pulled out of a stuck welly and placed in the mud. Shortly afterwards Maddie lost a boot and it very nearly spoiled her day completely. Happily she is made of sterner stuff and was soon wiping mud from her boots all over her Dads coat as he carried her on his shoulders. Akela at this point decided to play Pooh Golf and when he found he couldn't get the accuracy he wanted took it into his hands to hit his targets. Gemma will definitely need to wash her hair before going to bed. We reached the outskirts of Stockwood and were soon able to see our target the pub, sorry I mean the Scutt. It has an exterior tap and it was soon in use washing the mud from peoples boots.
Once presentable some of the walkers went next door for a refresher, and then on to home. I would like to point out that it started to rain after the walk had finished and that this can not take anything away from Akela's record as sun-god.
Thanks to everybody that turned up and made it as pleasant as it was, now we have a whole year to wait before we can do it again.