On Saturday 1st November and Sunday 2nd November, Logan, Ben , Callum, Nicky and Daniel from Wilson Troop and Melanie, Hollie, Anastasia, Amy-May, Emma, Hannah & Kayleigh from Haddon Troop completed their Expedition Challenge.
The Scouts planned their own routes and prepared their route cards and planned their menu before the expedition. Before they set off from the Scout Hut they bought all of their own food and had their kit checked. Both groups were taken by minibus to Willey from where they hikes by a dog legged route to Fiveways Lakes Campsite. On arrival at Fiveways the teams had to pitch their tents and cook their evening meal on expedition stoves. The Scouts were very tired so they were soon in bed as soon as all the work was done. The Scouts rode out a very wet and windy night and it was still raining a little next morning as they were cooking breakfast and striking their tents. After leaving Fiveways the Scouts hiked via Bulkington back to the Scout Hut.
The Scouts acquitted themselves very well, very often they were outside of their comfort zones but they coped very well and the leadership team are very proud of all of them. During the weekend they had various adventures and got into one or two ‘scrapes’ but they were safe at all times as help was not far away when it was needed.
You can read about their adventures below, written in their own words
On Saturday we arrived at the Scout Hut at 8.45am. We then had to prove to Badger that we had all of the right kit. Once this was proved we waterproofed our bags by lining them with bin bags. We then went shopping for Saturday lunch, Saturday dinner, Sunday breakfast and Sunday lunch. We had £4.00 each to spend. When we had bought everything we picked up our kit and got into the mini and took a ride to Willey. We set off after the girls at 12.05pm, however by 12.35pm we had overtaken them. The girls had previously tried to send us the wrong way. The rest of the trip didn’t go as smoothly though as we took wrong turns multiple times. However we resolved this by asking directions off a lady in Monks Kirby. She pointed us in the right direction meaning that we could make some leeway on the girls group.
We spent a lot of time in Wolvey’s country lanes but this was probably because we kept stopping and resting. We got out of the country lanes by 4.00pm and made our way down to Ashhurst Farm. On the way to the farm we had to go through a mud filled path. After a brush with a barking dog we found the main path with took us to Fiveways which was our campsite for the night
On Sunday we set off from Fiveways on our journey to Bedworth at 10.25am. We made our way to Bulkington via the junction. We went the way that we knew rather than sticking to the route card. This was a bit naughty and we got a ticking off from Stu. We stopped off at the Peugeot garage as we were all desperate to use the toilet. After going through Bulkington we turned into Marston Lane at the Corner House and followed it until the junction with Furnace Road. We then made our way up and around Tesco and into the Scout Hut via the back entrance. Overall it was a very successful expedition. Logan, Ben, Callum, Nicky & Daniel
We got to the Scout Hut on Saturday and went shopping for our food. We then went on a drive out to the middle of nowhere with a map, compass and a G.P.S. We hiked a while and made our first check point. On the way we had told the boys the wrong direction. When we crossed over a bridge two dogs came running towards us and they scared us at first until we saw their owner and realised that they just wanted to play. On the final part of the journey we made a wrong turn and ended up in a ploughed field but with a little help from Woody we made it to the pick up point where we boarded the bus to take us to 5ways where we were camping for the night. We had hiked from Willey to Fiveways which had taken us just over five hours. On Sunday we struck our tents which were very wet. We started our journey towards Bulkington leaving the camp site at just after 10.00am. When we had been walking just over an hour the nice leaders gave us some supplies of water and chocolate bars. When we got to Nicholas Chamberlaine School which was open for a football match we had a loo break, when we got back to the hut we were happy to find that we had beaten the boys back. Melanie
I enjoyed getting lost because I just talked. The worst part was putting the tent up. Food was key on this expedition. I got lost in Tesco and I got lost in a field too, I had a lot of fun. We were spotted by dogs, however they just wanted to play. Hollie
We walked and got lost ending up in a field. We tricked the boys to another place. Hollie got us lost in a field. In the evening Amy-May and I were the last to put our tent up. The next day came and we had breakfast and then we had to put away the tents. It was time to go and we walked until Woody and Richard gave us water and chocolate so we walked faster Anastasia
Me and Hannah went into Tesco’s for hot chocolate and we lost the rest of the group. We finally found them then we walked back to the Scout Hut and started the expedition. On the way to Fiveways we had a few breaks but still we were up forbs walking. Some dogs came with sticks and wanted to play. We got lost in a field because of Hollie. Although we were a bit lost Woody finally saved us although he scared us with his torch. When we got to Fiveways it was dark and we still had to pitch our tents and cook dinner, We were son tired we went to bed and it started to rain. Next day we got woken up by Hollie at a quarter to seven. We set off for the second day. We had to stop off at Nico to go to the toilet. We had some fizzy water and Snickers off the leaders. We beat the boys back to the Scout Hut. Even though we got lost, cold and a little wet we still had a great time Emma
I most enjoyed the walk because we had a lot of fun also I enjoyed getting followed by dogs which were cute. Then we ventured through a lot of fields which were very muddy. After a while we got lost thanks to Hollie Hannah
I enjoyed putting up my tent with Melanie. I really didn’t enjoy sleeping on Saturday night because it was dark and it was very windy and very rainy. I like walking back from Fiveways. Melanie shared her breakfast with me. We had sausages for breakfast. Kayleigh
I slept with Anastasia. We ate sweets. We started in Willie. We went shopping. I got lost in Tesco’s. We went into the wrong field. We tricked the boys. We got a minibus. Some dogs came to play. We walked to Fiveways. Amy-May