|
Over the Easter weekend, 1st Bartons Scouts went on their annual Advanced Camp. Three lads attended (Jack S, Kris J and Jack E), accompanied by their intrepid leaders Pete and Nick.
Sadly Tom H. was ill on the day of departure and could not attend. To say that he was gutted would be an understatement!
With a heavy heart we all boarded the "fun bus", a sixteen seater no less, and headed off for the mother of all motorway journeys. Actually it wasn't all that bad, since we had plenty of room.
We all arrived at Thornthwaite Scouting Centre(OS104 Grid Ref 179 595), near Harrogate in North Yorkshire, around lunchtime. We soon discovered that the campsite was completely empty except for ourselves. A bizarre similarity to last years' advanced camp! Why don't more troops camp at Easter? Could it be that 1st Bartons are tougher than the average scout troop?
Anyway, the lads lost no time in setting up their tents and then building a raft, which successfully floated in the stream at the bottom of the site. Pete and Nick set up the kitchen inside a large barn on the campsite, built to provide a covered area for cubs to do craft, no doubt!
As the leaders relaxed in their portable armchairs (a luxury invested in after years of camping) it was realised that being Good Friday, it was likely that the nearest supermarket would be closing early. However a quick rummage in the food box soon provided some tins of corned beef, a jar of pasta sauce and a packet of pasta shells. Panic over, now where's that armchair got to?
Easter Saturday called for an early start as the lads were booked in for a morning of skiing and ice climbing at Castleford's Xscape. For those of you who don't know, this is a fantastic centre housing a real snow ski slope, a cinema, a bowling alley, shops, restaurants, coffee bars and Europe's largest indoor ice wall!
The scouts geared up with skis and posed for yet another photo-shoot (another one for the website lads!) before heading out onto the nursery slope. Their intrepid leaders relaxed in a coffee bar overlooking the slope and found some more comfy chairs!
By the end of the hour-long session all the lads could ski in a controlled manner down the slope.
Next up was the ice wall and this time Pete and Nick joined the scouts for an hours' lesson in art of ice climbing. This involved being suited up in cold weather clothing, ice-climbing boots, helmets and gloves. We did this in an outdoor shop, under the full glare of shop lighting. It was hot, however we looked hard, so that was ok.
When we walked into the climbing area, it was like walking into the arctic. The place is kept at a constant -5°C ! Our instructors helped us into crampons and handed out the ice axes. Now we looked very hard!
Needless to say we all managed to climb to the top of the 50 foot wall, kicking into the ice with our crampons and axes along the way. Nick went first, as he is the kind of leader who leads by example, someone who is admired by scouts and fellow leaders alike, and he does the camp reports!
Ice-climbing is a great experience, but tiring on the upper arms. We were all knackered afterwards. The afternoon was spent back at the campsite with more raft building for the scouts and more relaxing for the leaders. Scout leading is the easiest job in the world.
Easter Sunday was celebrated in true 1st Bartons style with a mammoth hike around the Malham area. We scrambled up Gordale Scar, a hidden limestone gorge carved by the action of a waterfall, and then hiked on to Malham Tarn. Just as the first "are we nearly there yet?" was uttered we arrived at Malham Cove. This is a huge limestone cliff where huge blocks of limestone rock as you walk over them. As we descended via the safer stone steps we observed many climbers on the cliff wall. Maybe we'll have a go at that next year, if only to get a shot for the website!
|
