Winter Camp – New Forest
What a camp – an all day bike expedition, cooking on trangias, orienteering, adventure course, picture trail, homemade pizzas in an outdoor oven and plenty more! We even managed to roll a malteser 19ft down a tape measure into a scouts mouth – beat that if you can?!
Lightwater Scouts ‘Winter Camp’ is always an adventure and this one didn’t disappoint. Forty Four headed to the New Forest and immediately participated in the strange ritual that no one ever talks about but happens every time; emptying the entire contents of each and every rucksack onto the floor and quickly merging the contents with all fellow dorm mates. Perhaps it is to help ensure the game of ‘wheres my stuff’ gets under way as fast as possible? Following this the Scouts knuckled down to plan the following days expedition, merging compasses, maps and hot dogs until some sense was made.Â
Our all day bike expedition across the New Forest was full of incident check points, helping the Scouts to understand how to change a tyre, respect the countryside, navigate, spot hazards and care for their equipment. Following a checkpoint which discussed ‘the importance of checking out water before crossing it on your bike’, we came to a ford. They say that you only retain 20% of anything you are told – and I guess the bit about checking water before crossing was the bit that got dropped! Following a night of rain the ford crossing was deep and became a quick way to test water proofs. By ploughing straight through (several times) the Scouts beamed from ear to ear.
Once back and dry we set about some team challenges including rolling a malteser down a tape measure into a Scouts mouth. We challenge you to beat our 19ft record. Over the weekend we also went orienteering, completed a picture trail and managed a very muddy adventure course. All of which provided many giggles.
