The first weekend of December saw us head up to the Lake District for a weekend camp. After last years winter camp being decidedly wet and windy, this year we opted to stay in the bunkhouse at Great Tower Scout Activity centre, and guess what, not a drop or rain, not a breath of wind - it was a bit chilly though, so maybe just as well. Friday night was just getting there and settling in, the main point of going was to have a good mountain day - and what a good mountain day we had.
Saturday morning we loaded up the cars and took the half hour drive round to Great Langdale. Parking at the Sticklebarn we set off up the path at the side of Stickle Ghyll up to Stickle Tarn.
At Stickle Tarn we got our first sight of our first objective - Pavey Arc - the big lump of rock in the background of the photos above. Here we did a bit of sorting and organising, some of the Explorers went up the ridge on the left with Jon, and some of the more daring Explorers headed up Jack's Rake with Paddy and Jack. The Jack's Rake path goes diagonally across the cliff face in the background and is one of the Lake Districts greatest scrambles.
At the top of Pavey Arc both groups met back up and we were rewarded with some stunning views.
From there, a quick walk across and up to the days high point, Harrison Stickle, where the groups split again, one group heading down, and one going for a quick dash up the last of the Langdale Pikes - Pike of Stickle - and with the light fading, it was a quick dash!
That is not me panting for breath in the video, I'm fitter than that (honest!) that's a highly fit teenager who is going to be a professional sportsman, maybe climbing mountains is harder than cricket! From there it was straight down and back to the vehicles, timed to perfection as the sun disappeared about 5 minutes after we got down. Then it was back to the hut for some well earned food. Explorers is all about learning about yourselves and others. I think some of them really pushed and challenged themselves and learnt a lot about themselves, and as a group, we definitely learned not to let Aaron make the custard for the pudding!
The really optimistic and perseverant Explorers spend a good part of the evening trying to light a camp fires with very wet wood. Others, including the leaders, stayed in the hut and kept warm - experience is a wonderful thing!
Sunday, those that wanted had a bit of time to explorer the many acres of Great Tower, before it was all hands on deck to pack, tidy and clean the bunkhouse, which again, was done to a very high standard, in no time at all with very little direction from the leaders. If you are a parent of one of the explorers who went on this trip and their bedroom is a typical teenage bomb site - they have no excuse - the hut was spotless when they'd finished!
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