Everyone pitched their tents on a clear Friday evening. When we were all set and refreshed by hot-dogs and soup, we were grouped into five teams. As a getting to know you exercise, the Young Leaders organised a game of Capture the flag . After much to-ing and fro-ing, Team One emerged victorious after some allegedly questionable tactics. Team 5 drew the short straw and had to get up bright and early to cook breakfast on Saturday morning, but we were soon briefed and ready to start the Family Trail, a mini-incident hike, around Seal and Sevenoaks.
In addition to testing our navigation skills, there were five incidents to test us along the way. The first was a photography challenge around the streets of Seal where we had to reproduce 18 photos we were given. The main challenge was the find the locations! The second challenge was to build a copy of a Lego model hidden inside a box, with just a few tiny holes for us to be able to see inside. Challenge three was to tie nine knots – the most challenging being an alpine butterfly. I think all teams had to resort to some impromptu internet research. Challenge four was to follow an orienteering course through some woods, at the same time as gathering “tree fruits” and identifying leaves. The final challenge was a pioneering one – build a free-standing flag-pole at least 5m high. The competition was extremely close in the end, with none of the teams scoring 100%. The beavers did extremely well just to walk that far. For the remainder of the afternoon we all had a chance to do three different activities: Archery – with our all-new archery equipment. Air rifle shooting in the refurbished shooting gallery; Bridge building across the stream. Two of the teams built the bridge, the remaining teams tentatively crossed at first, before becoming increasingly daring. The braver ones trying it backwards and blindfolded!
Dinner was jacket potatoes with a variety of fillings and the staple of all scout camps – swiss roll and custard, yum The day finished off with a campfire – old favorites from our campfire song-book plus some new ones.
Over-night the heavens opened, and several people abandoned their tents for the comfort of the horse-box (!) or the hall.
Sunday morning was quiet after another hearty breakfast. A final go on the rope bridge before it was time to pack up and go home.
If you have any other photos you think could be added, please email them to Michael (bluefish101) and take the survey to let the group know what you would like us to change for next year.
