Cumberland Cottage Visit February 2000 |
The camp began, unusually, on the first Saturday of Half-Term, because another group were in the cottage for the Friday night, but were leaving by 12:00 on Saturday. We saw them leaving as we lugged the kit up to the top. The kit was kindly taken to the Macclesfield location by Mr Tognarelli, and Mrs Ridgway. On arrival at the car park spot, the heavier of the crates was carried (dragged!) to the top, although it very nearly ended up being left at the side of the bridge! Tommy impressed us all with his in-depth knowledge of the cottage history, each day, and each night, although he had only learnt it from the information sheet sent to us a week before hand. The first job was to try to pretend that we knew what we were doing with the gas system. Having agreed that it was dangerous, we left that, choosing instead to follow the water pipe, which was blocked, and looking into the supposedly "fresh water" tank, from which the pipe flowed, only to find maggots(!) at the bottom of it. Needless to say, we never touched that water all weekend! Paul arrived late, as he had to get some equipment that would be vital for the camp. We then spent around two hours trying to assimilate a wood-pile that would be big enough for us to keep warm round all night. The first day was relatively uneventful, except that we made an exec decision to leave the washing -up till "tomorrow." We also ended up having the hottest Fajitas that we had ever had, as we put double the amount of chilli powder in than we were supposed to! A sing-song round the fire ensued, following Dan's arrival when he pretended to be the famous "Wildboarclough Wolf." Sunday was another lazy day. We woke up at 10am - which isn't bad considering there's a four foot window that lets light in at dawn. We did enough wooding to get a fire for the night, and generally made a mess. At 2pm half of the camp left for a Gang Show rehearsal, after being given the briefing to get "As much water as possible". The rest of the camp remained at the cottage cutting wood, and even going to sleep for a short while! There was a mix up with the lifts back from Gang Show in that, some naughty hooligan phoned up Pamphlett at the cottage (He was giving us a lift) and told him not to come. Several hours, text messages and phone calls later, we arrived back at the cottage courtesy of John Bintliff - the best leader in the world! We all got in, sat down, and moaned and argued about who's fault it was that we weren't picked up. We eventually came to the conclusion that it was Dan's fault (But don't tell him that!) We got off to bed nice and early (In the morning) cos we were all in a foul mood. Monday morning started a bit better, with last nights new edition to the team cooking breakfast. The day was going to be sunny and warm - at least for most of us it was. Unfortunately for Tommy (And Dan) they were destined to spend three hours waiting in a hospital, following a mad panic with a saw that went straight through Tommy's knee. (No, he wasn't holding the saw!) For the rest of us, we chased grouse, in the hope of finding the "Mellow" one from the adverts. We never quite caught him - but we're sure he was out there, and watching us from a distance. We also created a huge woodpile - right up to the roof, twice! (Picture in the Scout HQ). Departures meant that there was only five team members left. David went home with the weakest excuse of "My girlfriend says I gotta go!". Eventually, Tommy returned, complete with two stitches, and the evening got under way. We had a mountain of firewood to use, and took great pleasure in wastefully burning it - some of it behind the board at the back of the fire. The fire we had was a monster, and overflowing at the front. We used up over half of the wood, although much of this was used when Tom Ridgway decided to throw on a whole fresh coat of wood to the fire just before we went to bed. The fire this created meant that two of us stayed up for a further two hours to ensure that no-one's sleeping bags caught on fire. We were crammed against the back wall, and it was still too hot. That fire will be talked about for years to come! We all woke up really late on the Tuesday, due mainly to our new curtain, which also handily reflected 95% heat back into the room! We had breakfast in bed, and didn't even think about leaving our sleeping bags 'till it was gone 12:30! The usual quick tidy up ensured the place was left in better condition than when we found it, although we regretted somewhat leaving all the washing up to the last day - we must have been washing solidly for about half an hour! Getting off in time was not a problem - you wouldn't believe how much stuff can be crammed into a mini if you try! Many thanks to Mr Williams for picking us up, and for Paul driving us home with about 3 tons worth of gear in the back! We made it back home, and relaxed in front of a gas fire, with water we didn't have to boil before drinking it. Sheer paradise! Who Went: Adi Tognarelli Tommy Tognarelli Tom Ridgway Paul Amphlett David Williams John Williams Ric Statham Dan Hopwood |