A very wintry camp

Whilst most of you were tucked up in nice warm beds over the weekend 1st/3rd Feb members of the Scout section were 'enjoying' their first camping trip of the season. Designed to be a training weekend for those wishing to attend the Easter Hillcraft Course in the Lake District it is also a good learning experience for all Scouts. It was certainly a camp no one is going to forget in a hurry as on the way to Hopehill the rain turned to sleet and then to snow, eventually coating the campsite in around 4 inches of the fluffy white stuff. Tents were pitched just before too much fell but the weight of the snow was eventually such that it caused tent poles to break, resulting in another team of young people spending the weekend indoors.

Saturday breakfast was cooked in an Artic landscape before the teams embarked on a day of training activities designed to teach, and test their fitness, camp craft skills, first aid skills, fitness, navigation, rope-work and cooking. By the end there were a lot of cold wet feet but still enough energy for the rolling of giant snowballs. The team from the 5th showed great resolve in the face of the conditions, especially those for whom this was their first ever Scout camp.
Saturday night saw temperatures drop to an estimated -5 degrees and it was with some difficulty that boots were laced Sunday morning as the laces had frozen stiff! Well done to all who took part, if you can camp in that then you can camp in any conditions.