In a couple of weeks we are going to take the Scouts hiking and they will be carrying their own tents etc. Nothing too unusual about that really. They will be split into two groups and the older Scouts (12+ I think) will go on a longer route than the remainder. Again nothing unusual there.
However, this will be the first time any of the Scouts have done any hiking or backpacking and it’s five years since a certain Group Scout Leader did any serious hiking and too many years to remember since I did any backpacking!
I have to admit that I never did much backpacking and in fact the only serious ones I did was for my Chief Scout’s Award (I even found the log we kept here) and Queens Scout Award.
The end of our Queens Scout Award Expedition.
The Chief’s hike was 2 days and 15.6 miles and the Queen’s hike was 4 days and 50 miles. I remember being quite knackered after the Queen’s hike!
Although I didn’t do much backpacking, I did quite a lot of hill walking in Snowdonia, the Lake District, the Peak District and Scotland and it was really enjoyable. My friends (who were all Scout Leaders) and I went quite regularly. But then things change, life gets in the way and we stopped. So although this hike isn’t very far, it will be a good way to break back into hiking and hopefully this will lead to some more adventurous ones.
We’re actually walking to another Groups Scout Hut and staying there overnight and then walking back. But while we are there, we will be able to use their indoor climbing wall and do some archery as well. So this will be a good weekend’s activity for the Scouts and should do the unfit GSL some good as well!