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Cleavel Point - Summer Camp 2011 - A report by Imogen Allen Judging by the bleary eyes and yawns, Saturday morning at 8 o’clock was a bit early for 4th West Bridgford. This changed, however, after an hour or so of lugging heavy kit, plus a lot of bulky tents. Everyone was ready and awake for the 5 hour epic. Once the minibus had arrived, apprehensive looks had been exchanged and a race for the spare seats in Slim’s car had taken place, we were off. Highlights of the journey were... sweets, chocolate and the endless fun of asking James “Wasn’t there a blue kayak on the trailer...” and watching him frantically checking to see if it was still there. It was raining when we arrived. As the kit was unloaded, we put up our Icelandics (in the rain - still) and neatly put away our bags (it wasn’t to last). Next day, some foolhardy volunteers were summoned to the mess tent. After watching our fellow scouts be allocated with cooking duties, we received a mattock and 2 spades. We were to dig the cess pit. The reality of this was made harder by the considerable smugness (no names mentioned) from the cooks. It turned out to be a… fun experience. Some older scouts (Dan, Beth, Ben, Johnny, Gilbert, James, Robert and I), working towards the Chief Scouts Gold Award, went later the next day on the expedition. This consisted of the 8 of us walking 4 hours (this was extended – a lot) the 1st day, carrying all our stuff (tents, trangias, plates, food… ALL of it apart from the toilet tent), setting up camp, cooking tea, cooking breakfast and walking another 4 hours on the 2nd day. And on top of that, it rained.
Day 4. The sun shone!!! We dried the somewhat messy groundsheets (I thought the girls’ was bad, but after seeing the boys… well, I’ll leave it the imagination). Taking advantage of the warmth, we went sailing, Canadian canoeing, sea kayaking and wallowing and wrestling in the metre-deep grey mud that surrounded the ’beach’ area. A few minutes down there rendered you so muddy that it no longer mattered whether you rolled in it or not – you were coated, head to toe! 10/10 for the new camp showers – standing in a trug and pumping the water… what more can you ask for? Later in the week we took a ferry across to Brownsea Island and followed the path round, pausing for a group photograph with Lord Robert Baden Powell. After a lengthy stop where we read the memorial stone (and discovered that the island is crawling with huge wood ants), we proceeded to invest some of the new scouts and present Dan and Beth with their Chief Scouts Gold Awards. Finally, we ate lunch outside the ‘Trading Post’ and bought souvenirs.
Pete led a group of us kayaking over to Brownsea, where we bought a replacement woggle for someone and achieved a hike away. One night we had a campfire on the beach including a talent show (winners – an interesting chorus of the national anthem; SpongeBob/ Mr T rendition) and in the evenings it was not unusual to see a small, slightly obsessed, group of scouts playing canasta in the corner of the mess tent, all available surfaces covered in cards! The rest of the week was full of hikes and watersports, and it rushed by far too quickly!!! Overall, everyone had an amazing time (so thank you to the hard working leaders) and we were all sad to go home. A brilliant week!
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Our tired party was greeted by the rest of the scouts getting ready to visit Corfe Castle, and then go for a short walk. We went to the ruin and bought supplies (in the form of sweets), then got back into the minibus and with a twinge of guilt, left the bedraggled, wet group to enjoy a drizzly walk.
