cumbria

I went with Jayne, Aaron and Bethany, with their Old Roan Church Group, to Great Tower Scout Camp, near Windermere in Cumbria at the weekend.

I was looking forward to a relaxing few days away, but panic ensued early on Friday morning. The lad who usually drives the hired minibus and trailer up to the camp couldn't find his licence to show the company, so Jayne (and dad, Ged, the organiser of the trip) asked would I drive the vehicle and trailer instead. I was a little hesitant to be honest, because they'd be a full minibus load of people and 12 foot packed-trailer behind. But I picked up the thing with Ged later on that afternoon, and it was actually alright to drive. I'm like me Dad (and our Mick for that matter) in that we get into vehicles, and just drive them.

We left Old Roan around 7pm on Friday night and save for a stop at a motorway services near Lancaster, arrived at Great Tower about 9.30. The minibus did 60mph, tops, which was fine by me, and dandy by Jayne too, who was following. It was absolutely pitch-black dark. The last five miles of road towards the camp alternated between single/dual track roads, up and down, but mostly up, and I still marvel at how I drove to this place without misadventure.

The original idea was for me and Jayne (not being part of the party) to set up a tent outside the lodge where everybody slept. But it was so dark, and nobody could see where the hell we were, that we set up our air-bed and duvets in a corner of the hut, adjacent to the dormitories. It was the best idea we had, as it happened.

The following morning, I took the below shot of our surroundings. Lovely isn't it?

Great Tower, as a place, is a huge estate. As is my want, I spent a little time exploring, and found the highest point on the site, where I took the photos below - particularly of Lake Windermere.

On Saturday, the group went canoeing on Lake Windermere. As we were waiting for our boat, a massive rainbow appeared over the water.

The canoes seated 12 people, and me, Aaron and Bethany took our oars with the first boat. We rowed across Lake Windermere and back, before meeting up with our comrades near the jetty where we, predictably, soaked each other with water.

One of the other lads jumped into the lake, and I wished I'd done the same. Instead, me, Aaron and Bethany waded into the water from land and played splash like the children we all are! Note my completely dry appearance below...

In the afternoon, we had a go on the death slide. Here's Bethany complete with her harness waiting her turn....

...and here's me adjusting my hard hat to cover my big head.

When I was a kid, I was a natural climber, so scaling this tree to the jump platform was the old days.......

And here's a video of Bethany's slide.....

I love this photo of Bethany, after completing her jump, and Jayne (who took most of the pics this weekend).

Aaron wanted to do the death slide, but he's not a natural with heights.....

It started to rain on Saturday night, but the downpour did little to dampen our spirits in the hut. That night we played loads of daft party games, and had a really good laugh. The following morning and the rain was still with us, but I still went for a wander around the site. The air was clean, the lack of city noise a blessing, it was bliss. Even with the inclement weather, it was still very warm.

We loaded up the minibus and trailer during the afternoon, and I drove us all back. Again, the rain didn't help with all the spray coming off the motorway. But we arrived back at around 6pm, and quickly emptied the trailer and took the minibus back to the hire company. Job done!

It was a special weekend for me personally. At each of these trips, they have an award for "Hero Of The Weekend", and I won it for driving the minibus at short notice. I was humbled, though I'd have given the award to Ged for organising the whole weekend. Me, well....I was just in the right place at the right time.

I'd happily do this next time!