2nd Goring and Streatley Blog

The blog has been written on its own page:

http://2ndgoringandstreatley.org.uk/cyclecamp2011.php

I woke up at 5:30 this morning to a chilly but glorious morning. I took some pictures of our camp site with the low mist over the water and the heavy dew clinging to spiders webs and lying thick on the ground. It wasn't long before the boys started to rise and the cook houses were soon busy with fire starting and prep for breakfast. Eggy Bread was excellent from both patrols this morning and was just the thing to set us all up for the day ahead and our big hike.

Today we are heading out to Hay Bluff and Lord Hereford's Knob, a hike of about 8 miles but over steep terrain. We filled out water bottles and packed the lunch that had been prepared by Akela and in full uniform jumped into the cars to head off to our start point.

We didn't have to travel far but we nearly took the wrong road out of Hay. When we got to the stone circle which was to be our start and finish point there were already quite a few cars parked up. Most of the people hadn't wandered very far from the cars and were taking in the view from where they were. There was quite an amazing patchwork of fields laid out below us, but it was nothing next to the spectacular view we would enjoy at the top of Hay Bluff. Only a few whines were heard as we scurried up the very steep slope of Hay Bluff to the ridge. Soon we were walking the ridge and sharing it with gliders in close proximity below us and overhead.

At the end of the ridge we descended down some 200m to a road that we needed to cross before climbing again up Lord Hereford's Knob. We enjoyed far reaching views due to the clarity of the air and the height at which we now found ourselves. It was the perfect place for our packed lunch before taking “Gunners quick way down” to the path that lead back around the base of the mountains to the car park. Arkela took her now obligatory tumble but was unhurt. In my group David, Harvey, Sebastian, William and Will marched in a well drilled fashion for a while.

Back at the cars people were kite flying and practising paragliding on the flat ground. We however headed back smartly to the camp as everyone was tired and hot an looking forward to a dip in the river to cool off. Skip arrived at camp whilst we were in the water and it was good to see him up and about and looking so fit and well.

As it was Sapan's birthday today we had prepared a cake that we all shared and David performed a impromptu Happy Birthday tune on my trumpet. William and his parents arrived just in time to also join in the fun.

More swimming followed, then a delicious dinner of toad in the hole with bread and butter pudding cooked perfectly in our “Mud Ovens”.

I also think that the scouts finally understood the advantage of a quiet and stealthy game of flag raid with whistles and calls instead of the load shouting version of last night. Some very stealthy work especially by William and Harvey who both put their small size to great advantage and stayed undetected for a long time.

And so again another fully packed day comes to an end with a hot drink before bed......from rising early this moring, to now a dark stary clear evening, we've witnessed what a wonderfull world our Lord has laid out before us.

We had a little more time than originally thought this morning as we are off to St.Mary's in Hay to join them for a Sunday service but they don't start until 11am. Everyone is doing really well with the cooking and keeping the cookhouses tidy. The tents are also in good order and both patrols are close to keeping top marks after inspection.

The only set back so far is that the wood load we bought for the camp (there isn't enough on the ground here) is all Oak. As all scouts will know this is an excellent wood for a hot and long burn fire and very good for cooking on embers but can be difficult to get going in the first place. It's also come in very large pieces so we have a lot of sawing and chopping to do.

The church service was really interesting this morning. We formed a guard of honour to the church and were made very welcome. I was a little concerned that becasue this was a high church and Father Richard Williams advised me the service would be quite long, we might eat into the day quite a bit. I'm really glad we came though as we were able to share the full communion service and join in with the celebration of St.James day. The service seemed to capture the imagination and attention of our group and even some laughter at a couple of stories Father Williams told us about his travels. His dog “Jimmy”, who by the way is also the curate, certainly impressed us and it was clear he wanted to join the troop. We didn’t invest him but loaned a hat and necker for a photo outside the church. He even raised the correct left paw when asked to shake hands.

Back at camp and after a ploughman’s lunch it was on with building the camp ovens. The younger scouts and scubs made most of the mud pie building and decided to bath in the mud that was left over from the construction work. There are some great photo’s of the building process and the cooking results. Stitchy and I built a bigger fire in another area of the camp site to make best use of the larger timber. We then used this later for cooking.

Those that needed a good bath (Harvey and David) after the mud work led the way to the river for a wash off. In fact we all went in except for Stichy. It was quite shallow in places but deep enough to swim. It wasn’t too cold and you soon got used to the temperature. We had fun swimming against the tide, it was very slow progress against the flow. You seemed to be swimming quite hard but not moving very far forward. Good exercise for everyone though. We also asked Stitchy to take a photo of us all with Hats and Neckers on in the river, which I’m sure will become a classic picture in the years ahead.

Bulldogs took on cooking duty tonight for the whole camp and used the big fire pit. We had an excellent meal of steak pie, carrots, cabbage and onion mash. 10/10 scored and everyone cleaned their plates.

So once again a very full day on camp but the scouts still had some energy for a wide game before bed. Gareth deserves a special mention for his teaching Hand, Axe and Knife to Sebastian, Oscar and David so they can be tested this week. I think though his main motivation is that he really wants some help with all the wood splitting

So time for Horlicks and bed by 10pm…..night night campers !

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Don't forget to check in here for the blog about the camp. I'm going to upload my diary over the next few days so you can read what I thought about the camp. I'd like to hear from you too, so post some replies if you like Gunner.