15th to 17th October.

We went by mini-bus to Foxlease in the New Forest, this is a Big Guide Centre.  We also took 10 Cubs along and put them in the Stable! I never did find any horses.

We got them up and out of the stable by 9am on the Saturday, as we were taking them across to Brownsea Island on the ten am ferry.  Whilst waiting for the ferry the cubs found the statue of Lord B-P which is on the Quay.  One Cub was heard to say, "I can get my finger's up  his nose."  So there followed the talk about who he was and why the statue was there.

The weather was great and the Cubs were ok as well. We had a guided tour of the island from a National Trust lady, and then in the afternoon she had the Cubs and the Leaders reinacting the activities from the Brownsea Camp.  Over lunch the Cubs had been mugged by a Peacock.  The Guides who were also there, did not seem to like it when it tried getting food from them.  This is the time of year to see Squirrels on the island.  One Cub made it up to seventeen, and one of the others was very proud of his six sightings.  We were getting a bit cold from the wind, so took the 4:30pm ferry back round the island.

On the way back to Foxlease we stopped off for Fish and Chips.  We had phoned in the order from the bus.

On the second day had to get the cubs up for breakfast.  It took the Cubs quite a time to clean out the stable and load the bus.  We got away by 10am.  We were only going a couple of miles down the road to Beulea and the National Motor Museum.  Not too sure of having a monorail running through the roof of the museum building.  The Cubs spent ages watching the videos about the land speed cars, and they seemed to like the Top-Gear and James Bond displays.

We left around 3pm and were going to be on time (i.e. home for 5pm) untill we came across a three car accident on the Motorway.   Our bus driver is a member of the Ambulance Service, so had to stop and give First Aid as there were no Ambulance staff or other Emergancy staff there.  So we ended up with two leaders in Hi-Vis in lane three and one leader and the mini-bus full of Cubs on the hard shoulder inside an On-slip road about 150 metres after the accident site.  This was ok for the first ten minutes, but at the end of half an hour the Cubs had got bored with playing spot the emergancy vechile.  Quite why any large white van with orange lights on top was said to be an Ambulance, I do not know.

Two nights away.  Up to 119 now.

REALLY long entry!

Friday 13th August, one of my favourite days and dates!  J-W came home from work, and got into his scout uniform about 17:45.  He did not get out of it until about 15:00 the next day.  I wore my hi-vis jacket on the coach, and changed later.

We got the coach to meet us at Cranleigh. We had the same pair of drivers as last time, Mark and Steve.  Cranleigh and Shere & Peaslake were also on the coach.

We had to drive up through Shalford on the way up to the M25, which was playing at being a car wash, as it rained quite hard.  Saw one crashed car on the other side of the road.

The coach drove onto the boat at Dover.  Meet up with some Guides and some Cornish Scouts,  I think J-W had meet one of the leaders at the WSJ.

For some reason J-W played with the hands on his watch.

Did not think J-W should have eaten the sandwich he bought at 04:00, as the first ingredent was pain, and I did not understand what the other bits were.

This coach is a bit smaller that the last one, so it made it up the mountains in Switzerland.  Some of the mountains seem to have Icing sugar mines on their tops.

Started to rain just as J-W got the tent together.  It rained quite a bit on camp, mainly at night, so I rode around in J-W's pockets all the time, as some of the mud was as tall as me!

This guy with a Scottish accent was walking past and asked J-W if I was around.  This was Scotland / Stuart from the Gojamboree.org.uk forum.  He was in Kandersteg with his english unit.  We got together a couple of times.

Later in the week one of the older scout leaders, found that his old scout leader was also at Kandersteg.

We were right at the back of the main site, in the shade and half way up the slope, near the cliff.  I think this was because of the smelly socks the leaders were wearing when we got off the coach.

Day 1, we teamed up with the Cranliegh Scouts and went to see a waterfall.  The one Merrow scout with us, came along and slipped over in a river crossing, as J-W was half way through a warning about the concrete being slimy.  We then went down into the village, and some of the scouts went swimming.

We went back and helped serve tea.  We helped out in the kitchen at most meal times.

Day2, was worried as J-W, and Pauline and loads of the scouts were in uniform, so I thought we were going home!  Instead Mark and Steve took us (via a long low route due to rain) to the Chocolate and Cheese Factories.  I tried to get into one of the chocolate machines.  Some of the scouts did not get the idea that any choc's theypicked up had to be eaten in the serving room.  One or two went a bit green eating a whole handfull of different chocolates, it was great.

The coloured cow was still at the cheese factor.  The merrow scout had to go back 7 times for a new info phone, so he and J-W were last out of the desplay area.

At lunch J-W was talking to a family from Isreal.  No one was sick on the coach this time.

Day 3.

Off with St Savours and S&P to go rafting.  I stayed in the bag looking after the camera, as the river looked a bit cold.  Good sleep in the mini-bus.   J-W was on the tail-end raft.  Had fun breaking out of a rapid into still water to stay behind another raft which hung up on a rock.  Joe from S&P had to pulled out of the river when they were swimming at the end.

Day 4.

Off with St.S and Cranleigh to some funny coloured lake after going in a cable car thingy.  This has replaced the chair lift, boring now.  Rain stopped play on the tobbogan run.  Got most of the scouts to wash in the lake.  We walked back down, and J-W went down the hill onhisbottom a couple of times.  I think he wanted a go on the tobbogans.

Day 5.

Fun today, we went into the next valley and did Scooterland.  Took S&P and Cranleigh.  Not sure if we should have taken the scouts as  seemed to spend more time chashing than riding.  You could do a lot of different routes, including one on a gravel track with a stream down it. This got J-W wet.  I rode in J-W's knee pocket in his scout trousers.  Had to dodge a calf which was standing in the shadows under some trees on a bend.  J-W and another first aider got their gloves out.  We even got an ambalance for one of the scouts, so our guy who can drive uk ones , got to go for a free ride.  I liked the bruisers the leader got when he stopped the hard way in a cattle grid.  Was sunny for most of the day today, it has been cool and cloudy most of the time, which is J-W's thought for taking a full container of suncream.

Day 6.

Got J-W to go on a little walk with three explorers and a leader up the Gemmi pass.  The sun came out, and so did the rain again!  We dragged the explorers upto 2350m.  J-W said we got down to 1850 after going from 1200 at the bottom of the cable car.  Not sure if it is a car as I could not see any wheels.  The cows, goats and sheep were playing the same music as last time we were up here.  It is a really long way down from the Gemmi cable car station to the village below.  The icing sugar mines are much lower up at the station.

Day 7.

Today was the first day with no clouds when we got up, which was good as we spent the morning breaking camp and then spent the rest of the day on the coach.  We got off in france somewhere and it was about 30 degrees.  I found it a bit hot, so went to sleep on the coach, when not doing air guitar.  We got off the coach at 7am on Sunday.  The scouts were starting to smell a bit.

Nine nights away, so 117 nights away now.

On Friday 30th July in the evening we went by train to Chalfonts St Peters.  We came back on Thursday 5th.  We somehow got an over ground train at an Underground Station, which was above ground, and J-W says I get confused!

We were helping at a Guide Centenary Camp.  J-W was doing archery and he got to drive one of the vidoe cameras on the stage on each of the three evening shows. I went along to direct and wave at the guides an buckets.  I was part of the 100 challenge for the guides.  They had to come and make friends with me, and I had a stamp to give them, I was number 62 in the list of one hundred things they had to find.  I saw a number of the Gojamboree Bugs (mascots from the Gojamboree.org.uk forum).  J-W was part of the secoundary service team, ie people mainly doing activities, but also helping out the main service team the Buckets.  I could not see any handles, but they all got very wet on the leaving day, so that is why I trhink they were called buckets.  J-W's team renamed itself the Funnels!! We camped right at the far end of the site.  We were as far as you could get from the loo block and the canteen!  It was abouta 10 minute walk.

Thanks to the Buckinghamshire Guides for asking me to go and help.

One question, what is it with Guides and WELLIES?  I think there were more pairs of wellies than Guides on site.

I got 6 nights away, so upto 108 nights away.

J-W has been on at me to update this page, as I for once forgot to do this, not him, or so he claims.

We went to the New Forest with about 40 scouts and explorers at Easter for three days.  Almost did not get to go due to the train people trying to go on a strike.

2 nights away, so on 102 now. 23 nights needed for next badge!

Mood:  happy

HAPPY TIMES, J-W will need to get the needle and thread out, as I'm due a new Nights Away Badge.  We Site Sat last night up at Bentley Copse, theSurrey Scout's Camp Site, so the Wardens could go to a County Function.  J-W was doing instruction up there today and some repair jobs, so we slept over.

Question, how long does it take to get from the site to Gomshall Railway Station on Rollerblades?  I'll tell you later

We had a Leader from South London,  turn up to do a site visit.  He had rollerbladed from the station which is 3.41 miles away!  It is mainly up hill, and they is only paths beside the  road for about half a mile.  He was on the road for the rest of the time. On the way back down, we travelled all the way back with him.

We drove the tractor around the site in the morning and in the afternoon.  When round in a loop twice, I thought J-W was going mad.  But we picked up a fire pit, near where they are stored, took it down to the service yard to empty it, took it back to the store, and then back to the workshop.

So we had a good day.

No Frost Camp this year, it got snowed off, as the road is not cleared by the council, and they had ten inches of snow in a day.

Down hill on road on rollerblades for 3.41 miles in 30 minutes and 5 seconds!!

Hello all, on the 1st of August I went with J-W by train to Woking to see a friend of ours, Jo.  From her place we went by car to a place called Windsor which has peanut shaped roundabouts.  We got the tents up had lunch and then went looking for Bears and Rails (J-W here, Bears Rails is a scout camp site 15 minutes walk across the Great Park, is in the part of the park where the Bears were kept).

When we signed in I showed my WSJ pass, as you had to show offical  scout or guide ID.

Saw a load of the Gojamboree members and some new friends.  We were meant to have been doing Archery, which means we would have been with three other people who were instructors at Essex08 last year.  We were short of staff so we ended up on the shooting range.  I got to coach Mary from the Gojam lot, and had a go myself, and no it was not me who shot J-W that was an Archery Instructor!  We made friends with people from Denmark, Canada and the USA.  If you went to Bears by minibus, you had to wave your pass at the guards on the camp site gates.  At first I and the ducks hid, but later in the week we got waved not the passes.

On the last day J-W had a nice 2 to three mile jog around the Great Park looking for lost Scouts, whilst eating his lunch.   We scared up about 2 Pheasant, 8 Partridge and were followed by 50 or more Red Deer.  That was a bit scary.

We traded for a lot of badges.   Last two days the weather was helping to clean the tents, so we did the shooting from inside the tents which meant we could only use 13 not 14 shooting points.  The ducks were helping on the outdoor cooking and the archery.  We got back after the jog on the last day to find two of the ducks sitting on the heads of the archery instuctors.  One of the ducks was still on a head in the evening.

We camped for a total of seven nights.  So I am up to 99 nights away. JUST 1 MORE FOR MY NEXT BADGE!!!!!!

Hello all, back on the 27th May to the 29th May, I got J-W to take me and some Cubs to a place called Longridge which is on the River Thames.  I know this as we got wet closer we got to it.  Once the Cubs had got the tents up we stopped getting wet!

J-W took me with him when he went in a bell boat and a dragon boat.  The bell boat would not ring, I tried really hard to make it ring, all the humans got wet by putting heads over the side and into the river.  The Dragon boat did not have a dragon on it, nor did it breath fire, it did go quiet quick, with someone counting to ten over and over.  We also sang the banana song again and again.

We had a campfire and counter sang against the Brownies for one song, who were also having a camp fire.

2 more nights away.

Thats 92 now.

J-W a month or so ago, stayed up Bentley Copse so the Wardens could go to a County Event, so I went too, so I have a nights away from that.

As normal on the Wednesday to Friday after Easter, the Guildford East Scouts went for a three day swim round the New Forest.  It should have been a walk, but looking at the number who needed to change clothes each evening, I think it should be called a swim.  We had one Scout who was still laughting about a friend in another group who had gone up to mid-shin in a river, when he walked into a sink hole and when up to his knees in it.

Second day started bad, we were meant to go out of north side of camp site and turn so we were going south.  Even I know that means to follow the white pointy thing on the compass.  So one km to the north J-W asks the navi' where we are going.  At lunch one of the scouts went for a bath with his cloths on.

Day three J-W had the girls from Merrow and or Ripley.  We were all singing Camp Fire Songs at one point, with actions. 

The weather was good, J-W only had to get the rain cover out for an hour on the last day.  It makes a good tent fo soft toys!

So 3 more nights making a total of 90.

J-W was working on the Bentley Copse Frost Camp.  We went up in Emma's car on Friday and did not come home until Sunday.  J-W did get scar but not from the Wide Game.  The Guides I liked were there again, and I got some badges from them.  J-W was doinf Shooting Instruction and photoing.

2 nights, so now 87 nights away.

This was cold on the Saturday morning, the roofs down the road were wearing a white shiny layer of something.

J-W had to be down the Scout HQ for 7:30!

We took some bits from the HQ, and got a lift to Walton Firs, which was not furry at all!?  There was a lot of noise coming from something called the A3.  I do not know what that was, but I could hear cars on a big road!  J-W and his group put up a big tent and a patrol tent to sleep in.  I went to sleep in J-W's bag, as it rained most of the day, and he had to go and learn things.  We had a Camp Fire in the evening.  Sunday was wet and J-W did more learnting, and cut up lots of veg and fruit, as he had to help cook for about 12 people!

85 nights away now.