3rd to 5th April 2013.

COLD and WINDY.  I stayed in J-W's pocket as much as possible.  Max of about 6 degrees and 0 degrees at night.  Now last time we did this the Scouts were swimming in the rivers, this year one of the Scouts found it hurt when he rinsed his hands off in a river.

This year we only had about 40 scouts and leaders for the trip.

We got trains down to Ashurst as normal, we all went the same way from the station and headed for the normal lunch stop in the woods.  J-W ended up taking the three Shalford  Scouts through the boggy bit he likes going in on the first day.  Only problem is he took the top route and found that in the last two years the gravel covered bridge had disappeared. Luckly the Scouts could jump across.  One of them fell over, but not in the bog.

The Scouts actually got a fire going in the evening and played wide games to keep warm.

Did not think much of the small amount of snow we had over the day.

Next morning it was no warmer, but J-W said the showers were quiet hot.  We left site with 3 scouts, but ended up with the Shalford 3 and the 2 Young Leaders with them for about the last 9/10ths of the distance.  It was windy and cold.  There was more light snow which did not settle. Even with the scouts singing songs we still saw one herd of deer, and found the joined bones of what looked like the back leg of a deer.  J-W got really muddy at the underpass.  The scouts again made a fire to keep warm.

On the last day J-W had all 6 of the scouts from the day before but no Young Leaders.  We did end up picking up a spare scout from another group mid morning, so we ended the day with 7 scouts!  Again the scouts let J-W set the base route, so we ended up getting wet in the last couple of km's.

I spent most of the time in J-W's pockets with the zip done up as it was so cold.

2 nights away making 173 in total.

We went to Bentley Copse on Friday Evening, with a couple of bags full of camping kit and craft stuff, and J-W's mum as well.

We set up in the barn at Bentley, where J-W had to string up a couple of sets of Christmas Lights.  The string stretched, so he had to adjust them a couple of times.

We were up and had breakfast before 8, the leaders then finished setting up, for the Cubs to arrive around 10.30.

It got a bit confusing as we had Cubs from 1st Shalford and Shere & Peaslake, as it was a joint camp with a summer holiday theme.  Well the weather felt about the same as we had in Iceland.

We had the cubs using food dyes, so they ended up with multicoloured fingers.  J-W ran away in the morning to try out the walk we would do in the evening.  This was fun as the  ditches at one point flooded the path.

One half of the cubs was awake before 7 and the other half wehad to wake up.

anyone know how with only about 22 cubs we ended up with two unclaimed pillows?

Nights Away +2 = 171.

Dates, are a funny dark coloured fruit! Dates, 12th July to 30th July 2012.

Location, a place called Iceland, which had more rocks than ice, so it may need to change its' name.

So J-W loaded up his Jamboree bags from last  year with a lot of kit we do not normally take on Jamboree trips, like cookers and thermals!

We got on a bus around 9am and went to a shop in Guildford to get the money we would need in Iceland.  This should have been quick as there were only two people ahead of us.  But the first persons money was not behaving and it took them 5 goes to count it. They were going to about 5000 in 5's 10's and 20's!

Got a train to Woking, at Guildford Station, got asked where we were going by a girl who saw J-W's Jamboree Bag, as she had been at the Jamboree last year. At Woking only had a 5 minute wait for the coach to leave.  Got checked in at Heathrow just before 11, after riding the escalters which are lazy and only go along. At the boarding gate, J-W spoke to a lady who had lots of badges on a rucksack.  Turns out she was also a Scout Leader from the USA, who was going back via Iceland, to go on her summer camp.

So the airport in Iceland is a lot smaller than Heathrow, and we went up and down and around past where we got off the plane.  The coach took about 30 minutes to load up and go and drove on the wrong side of the road, which is ok as all the other vechiles were doing the same.  J-W said Iceland would be colder than in Surrey, but it was sunny and hot!  We got dropped off by the coach at the Reykavik Camp Site.  We got the tent up and then went to a supermarket nearby around 7pm, which was 6pm due to the clocks in Iceland being slower than our clocks here.  J-W had fun playing guess the flavour, as Icelandic does not just use different spellings, it uses a lot of extra letters as well.

J-W was in luck as the camp site has a kitchen area with 4 electric hot plates, so he did not need to buy fuel for his stove.  The hot water here comes from the ground! They have to cool it down, and it still comes out of the tap very very hot.  Also as J-W found when in the shower, the hot water smells of sulphur.  The other strange thing is the sun here does not set until 11pm and then it hids just below the edge, so it does not get dark. When we got up around 7am, the sun had already been up for about 5 hours or so.  Do you think it gets tired being up so long?

So this capital city is not really that much bigger than Guildford.There are more bike paths and the cars give way to walkers at the speed humps and crossings.  We walked all around, so got a bit dusty.  There is a black ashy dust around most roads and footpaths.

We visited the national scout centre and a museum of old buildings on the first day.  They used to just pile up rocks and turf to make buildings.  Found some scouting displays in the museum.  We did a number of other museums, a trip on a boat to see Whales, and a climb up a Glacier.  This was fun as J-W had to wear these spiky things on the bottom of his boots  and he had an ice axe.  The axe was  a bit big for me, but was good for sitting on so I did not get wet.  The glacier was a bit dirty, as it had ash all over it.  We got to see at sea a couple of Minky Whales, and a number of different birds including Puffins, which did not! We were on the boat for about 3.5 hours and it was quite cold in the wind.  Some of the other people put on this all in one padded suits, which looked a bit funny.

Whilst we were on the camp site we meet a group of dutch Rover Scouts who had been hiking across Iceland.  Turns out another couple of people we saw for a couple of days were also leaders going to the Jamboree, we only found out as they turned up at the collection point just after us on the day we went to the Jamboree site.  We had also meet a couple of groups of other scouts whilst walking around near the camp site, as the collection point ws a local school, where a lot of the overseas scouts were staying.

The coach had first loaed up in central Reykavik and then came out to the school.  There was a large group of Swedish Leaders and then some groups of USA and Canadian Leaders.  Out of the 50 or so foriegn Service Crew, there were at least 6 UK Scouts and 1 Guide Leader.  There was even one Sea Scout all the way from Korea, who had come back now for his third or fouth Icelandic jamboree. 

The Jamboree site was about an hour away in land at a lake called Ulfljotsvatn.  Parts of the road in were down the fairway of hole 7 on a golf course and also was on dirt roads.

The camp site was a great place to grow Midges, J-W gave up in the ennd and just eatthem when they got stuck on the candyfloss at the Rover Scout and IST party.  We palyed a game where you had to hit nails into a block of wood, after spinning the hammer round.  We played with a UK Guider and Swedish Scouters and a couple of the canadian and USA leaders.  The camp site is on a hill, and we were camped by the lake at the bottom, and where J-W had to work and eat was at the top of the hill.

J-W was working on the climbing tower, but spent most of the time, just watching kids abseiling!  Which seemed to just mean he stood still holding a rope.  We did go to a real mountain one day.  J-W tried leaving me on site in the tent, but I hid in the bottom of his bag.  He had put on lots of layers as it had been windy, but the side of the mountian we were on was in direct sun, but out of the wind.  We also went with all the IST up onto a giant 700 metre high ice cube in a lorry, 40 at a time.  You could see some islands which were over 80 miles away off the south coast.

Some of the Scottish Scouts and Guides got on site late on on the first day, so we had helped them get food sorted.  One of the Scottish Guide Leaders slipped whilst carrying a gas bottle back to their pitch on the first night, and broke her arm!  Her unit was staying on a couple of days afterwards, but she was at the aorport when we went home.  As was a group of the Canadian Guides, who were writing up their diary at the gate for their flight when we went to our gate.  They were a bit surpised to see us.  J-W told them it was part of the IST's job to make sure everyone made it onto their flights!

Was strange getting off the plane at Heathrow, as there was bits for the olpymic games everywhere, and the sun remembered how to go dark before 9pm!  The temperature also dropped a bit when it got dark 

Nights away = 18!  Total now 169.

After getting saw paws doing all that typing at the Jamboree, I'v been a bit slow at doing reports here.  I'v been on three camps since last summer.

The Frost Camp at Bntley was wet under foot, but warm.  J-W spent all his time outside the shooting range doing safety talks.  We were in the lodge again for two nights.

Nights Away +2 = 146

New Forest with about 35 Scouts and 12 leaders in April.  We found a damaged set of Wood Beads in the middle of th forst by a stream and rope bridge.  Three times on two different days, we had to dodge the hail stones.  The first time every one was sitting down having lunch.  We saw lots of deer including a white one.  We got mugged by a pony for J-W's apple.  One of the young leaders routed us through a river a couple of times.  So J-W gave up and just walked across and got wet socks.  We alsochanged which station we ended at, as we were given a different set of trains to use.  So all the leaders were having to think on the last day.

Nights away +2 = 148.

April 2012, 1st Shalford Group Family Camp.  This year we were camping at Loxwood Village about 10 miles away.  Trouble is no-one told J-W that the plan was changed and we were not sleeping over on the Friday.  We only found out after the ten mile cycle with full kit on the bike.  We got a lift back, and I stayed with the cycle bags in the Scout Leaders car.  We had good weather after two weeks of rain.  J-W and I were in charge ofthe bridge building using ropes and dead full.  I got J-W into a climbing harnise, so he could act as a moving end post for a hand rail, so we did not have the Beavers falling off of the bridges.  We also most shoot one off who fall onto the rope, when J-W pulled the rope tight a bit quick!

Nights Away, J-W is only letting me have the night in the tent, not the one in the car.  +1 =149.

The WSJ is now well over, so I can now add up the nights away!

 So over all the weather was very british, but more so.  The nights were warmer and the sun did not like going to bed, like some of the IST.

J-W eat more fish than he does in most months put together.

I saw one of the Go-jam bugs and quite a few mooses.  I dodged the White tailed eagles which had a nest  on the far side of the bus road.  There were nice flowers in the fields and butterflies which did not sit still enough for J-W to id them or get a photo.

J-W was not impressed with the credit card thing you were forced to use to pay for things.  It was near impossible to find kiosks which took cash, and  the cards are slower to do than cash, as were credit  cards.  Also it took hours to get cash put onto the cards in the bank.  There was no way of securing the cards, so J-W had to try not to loss his.

 I saw Charlie* get given her Queen's Guide Award.   Also Larry in J-W's Patrol got to the Jamboree ok, but his bag never did get there.

I liked the tower in the middle of the site, I just need to talk Graham at Bentley into building one like it.  Went up it twice, and got a photo of me and Charlie*.

I'm going to go through J-W's badges tonight.

Also the pin badge I was testing for J-W , I'm keeping it as mine now.

14 nights away, making  a total of 144 nights.

AAW is the All Adult Weekend, which is where all the oldy's like J-W who are going to the Jamboree got togoether to be told things and to have a party.  Lots of my Go-jam friends were there, including Rainbow Dave whos legs keep getting really long and then shrink again.  Had fun on the trains with missing stations and then the signals having a holiday.  We were camping with the White Lion and the Unit Leaders who he looks after.  Got J-W to get me more badges and a knecker.  Which he says is his, but I talked to Mary and she will do me a new one.  Got a hug from Becky, who is still cute!  Saw Jo from Woking with her purple camo tent.

There was a massive big top tent, as the humans need something big enough to hold about 700 bodies and be able to see a screen for the video's.  Saw some leaders from the Channel Isle, who know the Explorers we camped with at the Essex Jambo.  They had not heard that they arrived on site in a police car!  J-W had to explain that one to them.  They had flagged the cops down for directions, and got given a lift instead.

We had a go on different bits of the underground on the way home, and had a go on a slow train from a funny staion up on a load of arches.  J-W's been puting the badges in a plastic book thing to stop me drooling all over the badges.

Two more nights away. So 128 in total.

J-W decided to be healthy and cycle to this years Family Camp for 1st Shalford Scout Group.  We got about half a mile across the village, when the rear wheel rim split open.  So J-W had to push the bike home, and get a lift off of his mum.  we were a bit later than planned.

We were at Garner's Field near Tilford Surrey.  We were in the large Jamboree tent.

The Families did not turn up until the Saturday morning.  J-W and Emma were runing the prone shooting, this seems to be perfect for scouts as they get to lay down and shoot.  It also helped when I was instructing as the shooters were now down where I could see them eye to eye.  There was a very long winded Cuckoo around the site.  It started calling about 04:30 and was still calling when it got dark.

2 more nights away, 126 in total.  New Badge time.

18th to 20th April.

The yearly backing trip to the New Forest was a bit late this year, I thought J-W had forgotten, but it was just that Easter is running late this year.  We had three changes of train this year on the way down.  It was hot about 20 to 22 degrees and dry.  J-W had shorts on and no gaters.  We saw deer, lizards, tadpoles and lots and lots of wood ants.  We had to give directions to some lost cyclists and also saw the same group of girls from Richmond two days running.   Jeffcame with J-W on the second day and walked J-W's legs off with a 15 km walk to a pond to find there was no Icecream van there.

J-W took his new jamboree water bottle and had dented it by the time we got to Ashurst!

2 more nights away, making 124.

Hello all, on Saturday 16th April J-W cycled up to Bentley with a load of camp stuff and items from our trips to jamborees.  We sleeped in the Training centre with about 25 other leaders.  I showed the leaders my camp blanket and hi-vis jacket.  The group sat around for ages talking, but not to bad as they decided on a group name and badge for the South East England IST.  They are now the Moldy Boot IST!  I checked but did not see anyones footwear looking moldy!?

J-W got to  use the tractor to move wood and cook pits on.

1 night away, making 122 nights.

I forgot to post about this, as I helped J-W with his blog.

J-W cycled up to Bentley Copse in the rain on Friday the 14th and then spent the day repairing arrows for the scouts to break later

He had to direct cars in the dark in the evening.  We sleeped in the Lodge both nights, the first night J-W & I had one bunk room to our selves, whilst the othr had two ladies in it.  One of whomwas locked in a cage all day!  The second night we had another leader in with us.

On Saturday I was in charge of the Shooting Range, and on Sunday J-W helped on the Prone shooting range.

Weather was damp and warm.  One Network laady had to be driven off of the Hurtwood in the tractor, as she has a leg which does not always work, and it went on strike!

 We traded badges and sold some Badges to help get to Sweden.  Got hold of two more unit badges.

Two more nights away, making 121.