|
1st Ticehurst condensed training!
Exhilarating may be a great description when we were standing on the edge of Mynydd Troed near Lllangorse Lake in South Wales with the wind almost blowing us down the hill. Boring the trip was not. I am sure our scouts will have their own version of the trip and I hope that they will have enjoyed it. From a very dodgy smelling hire car to an interesting final route for some of the scouts this was a weekend to remember. We set out on a Cloudy March Friday night meeting the scouts from school with the car loaded up only to find that one of the seat belts was faulty. Thanks to some help from Ben Greg Vauxhall in Wadhurst the seat belt was fixed and we were away to fight our way to Wales. Surprisingly it was not midnight when we arrived at the Llangorse Rope centre just as the darkness turned to drizzle. There was one of those knowing looks from Sharon where she predicted rain for the weekend.
Our accommodation was a massive farmhouse normally enough for for 24 but the 7 of us spread out across the building. Although it was dark and wet outside and Sharon was not so keen on the animal sounds the radiators were on and the kitchen table had a pile of welsh cakes for us. The scouts quaffed hot chocolate and biscuits and after a briefing on the following day they turned in for the night |
Saturday started with the big lecture on the days expedition and a cooked breakfast so at least there would be some food in us for the weekend. We turned ourselves into tortoises with our packs on our back and weighed in. the aim was to have each scout with 10Kg and it nearly worked. We discovered later that some of them swapped around the kit so some packs were more even than others. Our scouts learned that good fitting rucksacks are very important on hikes like this. It can make the difference between struggling or an easy time.
Walking on gentle low lying hills in the south east of England is so different from mountain walking in Wales and this was the first real experience that the scouts have had of carrying all their load with them and scaling 600m hills in a variety of weather conditions. The first day started cloudy but cheered up very quickly and so layers were added and removed on a regular basis as we went up and down the amazing national park hills. We found that we were walking much slower than we had ever done before. this would be an important lesson to learn especially when packing your own kit. the lesson was also learned about having things hanging off your rucksack and the value of walking sticks. Our target route of course was unlikely to be achieved unless we were to walk into the night but after a great day out we found a friendly farmer who allowed us to camp in an idyllic field with a babbling brook for company. The scouts put up their tents very quickly and organised their tea. we made a small fire and sat around for a while before turning in before 10:30pm, a record for our scouts. |
Sunday morning saw blazing sunshine spread across the field and we were able to break camp after a breakfast of porridge and bacon sandwiches. The scouts were ready for their major challenge to get up on the hills once more. The route was much longer on the second day but they covered the ground far more quickly. there must have been something in the water or was it they wanted to get to the end to get a real dinner inside them. Our revised day two route was breathtaking on the hills and we kept encountering the same groups that we had met the previous day at various locations. it soon felt like we were all part of a community of Black hill invaders We made excellent times en route although by mid afternoon it was all slowing down. Our original plan to finish at lunchtime left us short of returning to the Llangorse start point but pressing on we found ourselves on the opposite side of Mynydd Langorse before 4:30pm. A division in thinking split the group into those that wanted to go over the top and those that wanted to go around. Over the top was shorter but guess which of the two groups arrived first. Darkness dropped quickly and after a fish and chip supper in Abergavenny we sped home on the M4 to Sussex and a night's sleep |
