Thirty cubs from the two Wargrave packs gathered at Milestone Wood, the scout centre and campsite for the 89th Reading group on a beautiful warm evening. The plan was to play lots of energetic games on the recreation ground next to the campsite to ensure a good night’s sleep, two hours of perpetual cricket, capture the flag and relays later and we returned to camp for hot chocolate and hot dogs and preparation for a night without sleep. Ask any cub scout leader what the first night away is like and they will tell you, horrible, the last cub to resist sleep was still awake at 1am and the first to get up and ask when breakfast would be ready was around 4.30am.
We had planned a Bear Hunt by which I mean we had planned to head off into the Chilterns for the day on a 12K circular walk encountering, long swishy grass, deep dark mud and thick woods, we didn’t cross a stream or encounter a bear but the weather was perfect and despite the lack of sleep spirits were high. The first enquiry “how much further is it?” was not more than a 100 metres from the campsite but despite an ambitious route, probably longer than many of the cubs had attempted before, with plenty of breaks for refreshments and a long stop-over for lunch in the beautiful Crowsley Park overlooking the BBC satellite dishes, and an emergency run from base by Pete Fry with ice-lollies, we all made it safely home.
It was wonderful to walk into the campsite after seven hours with 30 hungry and tired cubs to be welcomed by Simon with the words, dinner is nearly ready. The cubs had really earned their sausages and beans and came back for several helpings.
We joined forces with the Beavers who had spent the day exploring and playing in the woods for a campfire and sing-song and by 9.30 the cubs were starting to ask to go to bed!
Everyone slept well so the expedition must have been a success and after breakfast on the Sunday morning we packed up the tents and prepared to head home but before we left a moment to reflect on what the cubs had achieved. We had set out to have an adventure, that is what scouting is all about and sometimes an adventure can be tackling something you aren’t really sure you can achieve so the cubs slept, at times, away from home in tents many for the first time and then went on a proper expedition that when they set off some of them probably thought they would never manage. What a brilliant adventure we had thanks to the cub leaders, John and Fiona, Christine and Simon and young leaders; Faizan, Ben, Andrew, Henry and Romain.
“We’re going to catch a big one!”
Richard Best, Assistant Cub Scout Leader.
(…..And thanks to Richard for all his help too!)