Expedition/Outdoor Plus Summer Camp 2005
 
The expedition/outdoor plus camp is all about the Scouts being independent and showing their skills, that is how I saw it, being a Scout myself, I am Anna and I am an A.P.L (assistant patrol leader) of foxes patrol, I am soon to be a P.L (patrol leader) for the patrol from September, with Tom as my A.P.L.

Each Scout had to go off in their set groups and find their way to Pateley bridge by reading off the map and taking bearings to find their way to the Scout hostel where we spent the night, where as Skip had to spend the night in the disabled toilet! Each patrol had 1 (or 2 in my case) young leaders to help if we got really lost! We walked 16 miles over 2 days and at some points felt like giving up but everybody worked as a team and didn’t argue and in the end we achieved our goal, although there were some ups and downs we tried hard and managed to get through it. I have written a diary of what happened from my point of view through the 4 days we stayed.

Anna’s diary

DAY 1: (FRIDAY) ARRIVAL.

Everybody arrived at Fan wood with their 65 litre Bag and had packed all the correct equipment. We set off in the mini bus with Skip driving. Everyone had a nice sing along all the way there; we arrived at about 7:00pm. As soon as we arrived we got all of the equipment we needed out of the trailer for the four days we were staying,  after that we put up all the tents up such as: girls patrol tent, boys patrol tent, mess tent and leaders tent. After the tents were put up everybody had free time and went off to explore,  Becky and me found a rope swing while most people were sat on the rocks which were quite fun to climb. After that it was supper and we had hotdogs, we lit a fire and had our supper round the campfire.

DAY 2: (SATURDAY) THE FIRST DAY OF THE WALK.

Everybody woke up around 8:30am and foxes (my patrol) cooked breakfast, we made bacon and sausage sandwiches and they were gorgeous!! After breakfast everybody went into their tents and packed their bags for the walk to Pateley Bridge, we had to pack: fresh underwear for the next day, P.J's, wash kits, our money (£10 or less), a T shirt or something for the next day, plenty of water for the walk and our packed lunches. Once we did this we put our sleeping bags and mats into the mini bus which was the first aid bus, the leaders and Stu were in the bus with walkie talkies and the young leaders had a walkie talkies aswell to keep contact if needed. We were split up into two groups 1 and 2, group 1 had Richard for their young leader and group 2 had Vicky and Lucy, I was in group 2 with Becky, Lauren, Tom, Shiv, Andrew and Chris. Group 2 set off first and because we were sorting out everybody’s bags, we set off about 20 mins later. We set off up the road and began our walk and we took a bearing, we struggled to take many bearings and got lost a few times, everybody got quite scared at one time because we were really lost and the farmer had bricked up the styles but Skip came to the rescue in the bus and got us to the next checkpoint in Heyshaw where we ate our lunch, once we had eaten we set off again, it gave us an energy boost, we managed to beat the other group there (hehe haha), we went to the hostel dropped off our bags and then we went off for a shop after that we played in park for a bit until all the leaders finished having their pints and then we went back to the hostel. Kestrels cooked tea whilst the young leaders set out the hall for sleeping arrangements, whilst Skip slept in the disabled toilet the only room left!! We had our tea and then the leaders made supper, after that we all went to bed after the long day we had.

DAY 3: (SUNDAY) WALK BACK.

Ravens cooked this morning and we just had some cornflakes and a choice of either a sausage or bacon sandwich, we also had some toast with butter on it. After breakfast Kestrels washed up and foxes were on site duty so we wiped the tables down and put the chairs back, soon the hall looked great.  After this Graham and Jon showed us how to take bearings properly (again) and we took a bearing on a piece of paper, we were ready to set off on our walk back to the campsite, we decided not to walk back the same way so it wasn't as hard to find the styles that had been bricked up, so we walked along footpaths and this was much, much easier but still needed the map to find our way. We found our way to the second checkpoint where the leaders were and we had our lunch. We soon set off just before the other group arrived and found our way back but it was quite scary when we ended up walking through a field of bulls and cows, they all lined up in a special way as if they expected we were coming but we managed it okay. We got back to camp and put our things back in our tent, one of the patrols made tea I can’t remember which one but it was nice, after tea we had free time and talked to some of the other Scouts there, we invited them to our campfire and had a sing-a-long, they had some good songs and we really enjoyed them, they seemed to enjoy ours as well. We had camp doughnuts and they tasted a bit like pancakes, they were quite nice. After that we went to bed.

DAY 4: (MONDAY) MOTHER SHIPTON'S CAVE TRIP.

We had sausage and bacon sandwiches this morning again and then we got our uniform tops and kneckers’ on for our trip to Mother Shipton's cave and we split into two different groups and ate our lunch we then went off with a quiz around the cave to win a chocolate bar, we made a wish in wishing water, apparently when tom went with his family he made a wish and it came true so we all thought we would give it a bash, hopefully it'll come true - I would tell you what it was but then it wont come true!! In the end we won our chocolate and ate it in about 20 seconds!! After the trip we went back to the camp site and had some free time, we backwoods cooked for tea we made chicken wrapped in bacon and sausage with carrots and peas drowned in gravy (GORGEOUS!!) and finally for pudding we made the traditional bananas and melted chocolate, we wrapped all these in tin foil and put them on the embers of the fire. Instead of a wide game we had free time again because there was limited space, we sat round the campfire and sang the 5th Spen Valley Scout song (TIME OF YOUR LIFE by GREENDAY) and had our supper which was baked potato cheese and beans backwoods cooked by Graham (again GORGEOUS). Then we all went to bed.

DAY 5: (TUESDAY) THE TRIP BACK AND SWIMMING.

This morning we had sandwiches again, we lugged all of the equipment we used back to the trailer and got out our swimming things, once everything was loaded into the trailer including bags we had some sandwiches for lunch and a little drink, we then had a litter sweep, we then got on the minibus, we noticed some cubs from 'Bardsey' who had the same kneckers’ as us. We shot off to the swimming baths and had a great time there, with all of us shattered after this great camp we all were really tired on the way back, when we arrived back at Fan Wood we took the equipment up to block house and then were awarded our badges.