District Summer Camp 2016
Scouts enjoy week of adventure this Summer!
Scouts from across the District this year headed off to North Yorkshire and an unusual campsite set on the slopes of Great Whernside (1533 ft above sea level) in the village of Kettlewell.
Lighting/power was provided by solar panels and a wind generator while the water was taken directly from the hills and filtered but looked more like cold tea running from the taps! Access to the site was either by 4×4 or foot which meant everyday was a walking day but this did not put the Scouts off enjoying their week long Summer Camp.
After setting up our camp in the ‘haunted’ Hag Dyke Scout Centre we were ready for a fun filled week of activities, day trips, camping and fun with friends old and new.
Activities during the week included rock climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and the highlight of the camp for most was caving at Long Churn Caves, Ingleborough. For many of the Scouts and Leaders this was a first and there were some apprehensive looking faces when entering the caves. On site activities included archery and air rifle shooting.
A group of Scouts also completed an overnight expedition with Daniel writing the following about his experience:
“After getting all of our equipment and checking it, we set of south-west until we got to Kettlewell. We walked through Kettlewell and found the footpath to Arncliffe (west) then once we got to Arncliffe the girls stopped to have an ice-cream. Then we set off again heading north-east until we got to Starbotton. We kept going north-east until we got to our campsite (more of a field really!) ‘Ior Pike’ then we set up camp. A hot meal was cooked and then it was time to turn in for the night in preparation for the walk ahead of us.
In the morning we woke up and realised that we wouldn’t have enough time to get back so we looked at the map and decided to go back to Kettlewell through the footpath ‘cam head’. Once we got to Kettlewell we made our way up to Hag Dike seeing all of the other Scouts (they were off caving) we got back to the top and after telling the leader we were back we went to relax in our tents. We stayed on the footpaths so it made the navigation quite easy I thought. The most difficult part in my opinion was all the up and down hill part there was hardly any flat parts. Our group consisted of me (Daniel), Holly, Kayleigh, Jack, Burt and Issac. We completed the expedition on the 4th to the 5th August. It was quite sunny so it was more getting hot and tired that did us all in. We walked a total of 12 miles the first day and 5 on the second. All in all it was one of the best days (and experiences) of my Scouting life.”