Alfriston Cycle Camp - the Big Sausage Weekend

A great weekend’s cycling!  Ash, Malcolmsorryalan (Alan), Ivor and Tintin (David) headed off to Alfriston, near Eastbourne, with Nandesh, Lewis, Matthew, Aaron, Devash, Joel and Kieran.  We got to the Services outside Brighton and picked up Robin, before continuing to Alfriston, arriving around 9pm.  We quickly set up our rooms and spent a little while going over the route with the Scouts.  Whilst the Scouts we still excited - the leaders had a frustrating night due to a school party in the next room.

 Next morning we had breakfast then set off.  The route took us up onto the Downs before heading down to the sea, then along and back to the centre.  The route was about 15miles - but it was hard work, with many of the Scouts having to push their bikes up the hills (due to a combination of small wheels, not many gears, knowlegde on how to use the gears or just not being strong enough).  It should be noted that one or two of the leaders also had a few problems.  During the cycle we also had a few punctures!

 

When we got back we invested Devash.  Ash had brought the 8th Harrow flag with him, so stuck it into his pannier.  Unfortunately he forgot that he had put the flag in his bag, and tried to get off his bicycle, but his leg got caught and he fell over!

 

After investing Devash, we returned to the hostel to cook the tea, repair the punctures and recover from the day! The school party was a lot quieter this night….

Sunday we got up and had a shorter cycle - whilst the hills still caused a few problems, generally the energy levels were a little higher (but then yesterday was a very tiring day!).  On returning to the hostel, we loaded the bikes and started to head home… via the Long Man of Wilmington - a huge chalk figure.

The drive home was very pleasant, and the boys were quite quiet in the back of the bus!

Why the Big Sausage weekend? We had hot dogs for supper on Friday; sausages for breakfast Saturday; sausage and mash for dinner Sunday and sausages again on Sunday!!

My thanks to the Scouts for their company - and to Ivor, Alan and Ash for organising the weekend.

Gilwell Winter camp - Sunday 13 January - and awards

Sunday morning we go up quite quickly - and the Scouts were much more perky (I think most had decided to turn in early).  We got the trailer packed with kit and the tent inners - and whilst the Scouts enjoyed the activities in the morning we finished packing the tents.

After lunch, Ivor went to get the trailer brought to the main car park - and I went to get the van.  Unfortunately, there were a number of vehicles that had come onto the site and had just blocked the main routes - which meant the shuttle bus took ages to arrive and everyone had to queue again for what seemed like an hour to drive round to the trailers.  However, once hitched up we headed back to the church to unload the boys and their kit.

What surprises me was at the end of the camp, by the wardens hut was about 20 pairs of very muddy wellies… one can only wonder what was being by the owners of the boots….

Camp Awards
From this summer camp, we have now introduced a new award… the Two Left Wellies Award. This is to be awarded to anyone (and it can be more than one recipient) during a camp who manages to do something that was felt to be memorable.

The first recipient for this award (by the leaders) goes to Anand - Sunday morning he got out of his tent and one of the leaders says “your boots are on the wrong feet”.  Rather than checking, he disappeared off to his tent and swapped them over!  A few minutes later he came back (with the boots on the right feet still) - and it was clear that he had been thinking “why don’t my boots fit - but the leaders said that they were wrong - but my boots are round the right way…”

Final Thoughts

On watching the mud slide, David:

“Why can’t we just deal with normal kids, sat in one place with their Playstations?  Why do they have to try and do what we used to when we were youngers?”

On Watching the Scouts walking back, covered in mud, Ivor:

“Do you think the parents will notice?”

On the events on Sunday, Lewis

“I have no intention in getting muddy today.”

The invention of the Nonivor:  A person who does not eat anything (’cos they don’t like it..)

Gilwell Winter camp - Saturday 12 January

Very bleary, red-eyed Scouts got up from their tents at 07:30.  We walked over to the canteen for breakfast.  After issuing the wristbands (and being told about last night) the Scouts disappeared off to have a go at all the activities that had been laid on for them… quad bikes, climbing, Zorbing (rolling down a slope in a giant inflatable ball), high ropes, very high swing, dodgems, waltzers, Segway two wheeled vehicles (and I’ve never seen the off road versions before!), laser clay shooting, archery, simulator.  Many of them also took part in the very unofficial (but popular) mud slide out the back of the site.  The ground was already of very slushy proportions - and nothing was going to stay white - or clean - for long.

As leaders, we found somewhere warm and dry (and that sold coffee) and planned our summer camp and term programmes! We met for lunch to get the feedback on the day - and it would seem that the pace and the freedom (plus the lack of sleep) was starting to take its toll on the younger Scouts.  However, they bravely set off again in the afternoon to continue their enjoyment.

After tea, a couple of the Scouts went to bed very early - the pace was clearly too much for them.  As we made sure one was properly bedded down, we asked if he wanted another sleeping mat to further insulate him… which was when we found that he hadn’t unpacked one for last night (so in addition to Scouts talking all night, he would have had the cold ground further taking heat away from him)

Gilwell Winter camp - Friday 11 January

We met at the church, loaded up and left.  The weather had looked bad, so we gave the parents all the boys shoes - making sure that they would only have their boots this weekend.  As this was now our fourth camp, we had intended to drive to the back of Gilwell - straight to the overflow car park.. but it was shut!  So we had to drive round to the entrance, which meant a very long crawl up Daws Hill to the entrance.  Once we got there, we decided to get the tractors to take our trailer up to our site (Ash and Ivor having already put the tents up Thursday night).  This meant that the Scouts didn’t have to walk their kit onto site.  The van was dropped off at the overflow car park (down by the golf course, and nowhere near the site!)The rain was not very heavy, but it was quite persistent, and the cold could be felt.  We left the boys to go to the Disco, whilst we went to register - what we hadn’t realised was that they had needed their wristbands to get into the disco… and we hadn’t issued them.  The night was a cold one…. so the Scouts didn’t sleep much.  I know this as they also decided that no one else would sleep much either….