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Sunday 12th August 2001
A late rise for most at 8.30am to find it was actually dry with a few sunny spells. There seemed
no rush to get breakfast underway, instead we wandered up to reception to book some activities.
Whilst there, we were given our rota for cleaning the toilets. Back to the site to start breakfast
at 9.30am, which was cereal and a bacon sandwich. While cleaning up after breakfast, the midges
decided to make their first appearance of the day. We tried out best to ignore them and headed
down to the jetty for our first activity of canoeing from 11am to 12pm, with Arron
being in charge. With the exception of one Scout who fell in the water whilst trying to get out
of his boat, we all stayed reasonably dry.
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| Back to the site to dry off and have a ploughman's lunch followed by cake kindly baked by one of the parents. The sun had now disappeared and rain looked imminent, so it must be time for the hike. | |
The plan involved us driving to Kielder Castle (3 miles along the road) and walking back from there along
forestry roads, a total distance of about 7 miles. Had a quick look around the grounds of the castle,
but not a great deal to see. Headed on across the road and headed for the 'Sky Tower', which had been
recommended for a visit. This is a modern cylindrical structure located at Cat Cairn at a height
of 355m. The younger Scouts struggled with the ascent but were rewarded by the view overlooking
Kielder Water. The Sky Tower itself had seating around the inside walls were we could
look upwards through a large circular hole in the roof, designed to emphasise the strange lighting
in that area.
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| After a break of about 45 minutes, and as the weather was still fine, we decided to continue our walk through the relatively flat, but longer forest tracks rather than heading back down to the main road. Made relatively good progress considering this was the first time some of the Scouts had ever done a walk like this, which showed by the blisters one of them was getting on his feet. It had been getting duller as the afternoon went on and eventually the rain arrived, which was to be with us for the rest of the day. Got back to the main road and after a short distance we were at the camp site by 6.15pm. Went back to the Castle to get the car we had left there. and then made a start on dinner at 7pm of chicken drumsticks, potatoes, carrots and peas left over from the previous day. This was followed by apple pie and custard. Unfortunately, the midges had reappeared which hindered our progress (and also added some extra flavouring to the food) so it was 9pm by the time we were all cleared up. It was then free time and the Scouts decided to head for the reception area where there seemed to be fewer midges. All were in bed by 11pm. | |
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