Copyright Togmedia 2002 |
COBDEN'S CUMBERLAND ADVENTURE |
Cumberland started as it always does, in the darkness with cold winds and drizzle. The scouts took no time at all to get all the kit 500m up the path (ok, with a tiny bit of help from the leaders!) and it wasn't too long until we were all sat round the fire taking a well earned rest. We had all met up to the scout hut at six o clock, ready for a fun weekend. A few were looking forward to it as they had been there time and again, but for the bambini it was a totally new experience. There is nothing quite like Cumberland. It's a stone cottage in the middle of nowhere. It does have a cooker (though the oldies will always remind you of how it wasn't there - "in my day we had to start a fire with a piece of flint and one of my hiking boots!") and there is a natural spring just up the road that makes Cumberland almost convenient. It is situated on one side of the valley, with trees and some excellent hiding places on the other side of the valley, and a river running in between. The scouts played wrestling on the Friday night, as has become the tradition. It seems that the combination of the sleeping mats and being left on their own whilst the leaders organise food always leads to wrestling! A hot supper was gulped down by the keen scouts, and cooked by the even keener! The scouts were soon in bed (well, they were making a bit too much noise to actually be in bed, but they were there in spirit I'm sure!) whilst us leaders relaxed by watching the big orange flames in the fire and remembering the good times we had had at Cumberland in the past. Saturday morning was lively, with the Scouts waking up and taking the opportunity to wake up the leaders by clumping past us on their way outside. Pie soon had it all organised, and even delegated the cooking jobs to the same keener scouts, although he made the porridge himself, just to be sure that it was the right consistency (I'm dubious!) We spent the morning collecting wood for the big fire we planned to have that night, with most of the scouts having a go at two-man sawing with Andy Ginger Togs, whose arms must surely have hurt afterwards! Lunch ensued - delicately prepared Scotch eggs, sausage rolls and soup - all bought of course! The idea was to give the scouts enough energy to get up to the top of Shutlins loe, the highest local hill which has its own trig point, and they duly struggled to the top. News of Manchester United's dismantling of Newcastle filtered through and lifted spirits, and after just half an hour that we peaked and were promptly thrown around by the wind. After another snack at the cottage, the scouts were back out into the brisk wind playing manhunt. It was billed as the weekend's main event, but it took the leaders just 9 minutes to find and catch all 7 scouts. They were given another go, and managed to hold out an extra 10 minutes, and then it was our turn. We were quite content to just sit down somewhere and let them find us (they had torches) and were experienced enough not to let impatience get the better of us. I'm not sure if the scouts really tried, but we managed to hold out for all of the forty-five minutes until tea, which was prepared by Pie if only so he wouldn't have to play the wide game! Cargill was caught, but the general consensus was that if you are stupid enough to get caught you don't deserve to be freed! Tea (Spaghetti Bolognaise) was followed by games around the fire. The batteries of Bop-It had run out (unfortunately!) so we ended up playing Indian Poker, the Counting Game, and others, though staying well away from "Granny went to Market and she bought" as we'd had three hours of it the year before! Sunday bought with it dull weather, but the scouts were more than happy to dead-man's crawl across the river, with mini-fido doing it quite a number of times. The risk of getting wet managed to keep most of the scouts clinging for their lives from the rope, which was only about three yards above the water. There was only time for the last wide game before we had to pack up. The scouts were on the run for the whole time (they're learning!), with Cubby managed to stay free from prison all the game, though sightings and timings suggest he may have cheated and gone out of bounds (that's our story and we're sticking to it!) The cottage was cleaned and left in a better state than we found it, with a bigger and more inviting wood-pile and a swept floor, and it was time for us to leave our holiday-resort. We'll be back next year, that's for sure! Scouts: Cubby Nippy Mini-fido Bowers Cruickshank Po Redfearn Hibbsy Leaders: Cargill Adi Togs Tommy Togs Andy Togs Pie Dawson |
