Ilkley Half Marathon Support 16 July 2023 (updated 21 July 2023) | By Callum D The Scouts once again helped at Ilkley Half Marathon but running one of their water stations to keep the runner well hydrated. Luckily not as baking hot as last year but it was still dry. A fun day was had by everyone! No Caption No Caption
Scouts Hag Dyke June 2023 11 June 2023 (updated 12 June 2023) | By Callum D An absolutely fantastic weekend up at Hag Dyke! Weather was hot but a good breeze on the summit made it good for walking. Arrived up late on Friday for a supper and bed. Saturday was a great walk up to the summit over into the edge of Nidderdale and back round. The Scouts managed to use all their navigation skills throughout the day to both stay on track and use bearings, pacings, and triangulation to locate four WW2 plane crashes on the side of Great Whernside. On return to the hostel there was some napping after a long day, some games, and a BBQ in the evening. Sunday was some games in the morning, and the patrol leaders tracked down some geocaches the cubs lost a few weeks earlier. Finally everyone mucked in and cleaned the hostel top to bottom ready for the next lucky guests up there before heading down the hill for icecream and home. Overall a cracking weekend, everyone enjoyed it, and we really got the opportunity to reinforce and practice some tricky navigation. If you’re a Scout parent, click here to login and see more photos Fantastic weather for the walk up Nearly at Hag Dyke Morning Flag Break in the sun and the warmth Briefing for todays walk. “Don’t forget hat, suncream, and lots of water!” The route for one patrol. Each patrol had the checkpoints in a different order. Wolf patrol leader passing on their navigation knowledge to one of our younger Scouts A view of the old lead mines, still visible over 100 years after closing Lion patrol just above HagDyke. What a view! Lion patrol at the summit of Great Whernside Lion patrol leader teaching and passing on knowledge of navigation. Wolf patrol at their first crash site of a Halifax Bomber Wolf patrol quickly find their second crash of a Mosquitto from 1948 A curlew chick we nearly stood on! Almost invisible in the grass. Wolf Patrol reach the summit! The view over the top and into Nidderdale Lunch for Lion patrol at a crash site. A little bit of a history lesson Trying to stay cool at the crash site of a Wellington from 1942 Wolf patrol at the crash site of the Wellington Falcon patrol with the wing section of a Wellington Bomber from 1942 Falcon patrol with the tail section of a Wellington Bomber from 1942 Back onto the ridge line, Wharfedale back in sight Hag Dyke just within site for the first time since the morning Pacings and bearings; Wolf patrol hone in on the next crash site Falcon patrol nearly home after a long day on the hill Lion patrol find the crash site of the Mosquito from 1948 Feeling close to the end of the walk now. One more crash site and a ravine to get through before Wolf patrol get home! Trying to stay cool and hydrated, Wolf patrol find the Boeing B-17G Finally Hag Dyke is close! It really does feel like a safe haven after a long day on the tops. Starting the BBQ Not often we get good enough weather for a BBQ Salad an extras, all the trimmings Hungry after a long day on the hills Outside dining is a rarity at Hag Dyke Evening at Hag Dyke Sunday Lunch, a break from cleaning the hostel top to bottom Patrol Leaders finding the cub’s lost geocaches Walking home down the hill Icecream in the heat Even the dog needed cooling off with an icecream Another fantastic weekend completed at our very own hostel in the Dales!
2022 – Quick Review of our Scouting 31 December 2022 (updated 10 January 2023) | By Callum D In 2022 we managed to offer over 461 hours of scouting to our members, including weekly meetings, training, weekend camps, visits to our hostel Hag Dyke, and a massive and very hot trip to Holland with our partner group De Mohicanen from The Hague. Here is a small graphic of our year to help visualise how all those meetings, training, and trips add up! New Scouts joined our troop this year New Leaders and Young Leaders Nights Away Badges earned and given out Hours of Scouting offered to our members
Hag Dyke Volunteers 1 November 2022 (updated 1 November 2022) | By Callum D Hag Dyke is run almost entirely by volunteers. Why not volunteer to help keep this beautiful hostel running. … Continue reading
Day 6 – fettling and chilling 12 August 2022 (updated 19 August 2022) | By Callum D Today we stayed at the camp and changed our tents to make them extra neat and the weather was too warm and unenjoyable to do anything else. It was George’s birthday and we had a lovely jubbly cake and a joyful celebration with cake and a banana and candles. I had to wash up 2 diesel stoves and I got I lovely reward of a banana and Callum and Wilf taught a few of the scouts how the diesel stoves worked, not just how to use them. We had a sponge fight in which we played hitman which is a game in which people get a name out of a hat and we find them and wet them with our sponge, it was really refreshing when we all got cooled down by the cold water and had a nice ice lolly which are always really good in the Netherlands. Afterwards we had a good tea and an early bed time to ensure we were ready for the next day
Day 5 – Swimming pool and Oss 11 August 2022 (updated 19 August 2022) | By Callum D We started off the day by getting a coach to a swimming pool in a small yet expressive town called Oss. The pool had water slides, a wave pool, a jacuzzi, and a steam room. The pool was great as it was a hot day and we got to cool off and play in the pool. There were three types of slides which were different colours; one yellow (the slowest one), one blue (the fastest one), and a green one (which was fast and had turns in it. In the pool there was a big inflatable which we had competed to get to the top of . After the exciting swimming pool adventure we speedily walked into the amazing town of Oss, where we walked around and bought some things like sugary sweeties and an extra icy ice cream. Then we went into a the co-op and bought our own food for tea which for me was hotdogs and vegetables including peppers and carrot sticks with hummus. After that we got on the coach back to camp and cooked our food on the diesel stoves which are tricky to operate, but we’re getting the hang of them by now. Once we got back and cooked our food we had a game of football and one patrol absolutely destroyed us (they had Will who’s really good) and that was really fun.
Day 4 – Hike 10 August 2022 (updated 13 August 2022) | By Callum D Post written by NelsonAssisted by Angus and Josh Today all of the patrols were split up in half and linked with other Dutch patrols. These were the same groups that we worked with yesterday, which is amazing as they were really friendly and we really bonded. One of them was really nice and is called Noah, we talked most the walk about some of the really fun things that we had done previously in the week. I personally had been put with people for the walk which I had already become friends with in the two days before on camp which was lucky. The weather on the day was fantastic, very hot, maybe a bit too hot. However, it was good since there was shade from trees for most of the walk. It was also not so bad in the heat as Holland is very flat, so barely any hills to climb. The walk was also assisted by the amazing kind leaders to fill up water and guide us across the road and where to go just in case we had any trouble. some of the patrols went wrong and skipped a section of the walk and had to walk back when we got to camp three hours early. Luckily they gave us snacks, drinks, and topped up our water before we set back of. When we got back we had some time to chill, then we cooked, and did a wide game with all the scouts, which was really fun. Then teeth brushing and going to bed ready for another day tomorrow.
Day 3 – Camp Completion(ish) 9 August 2022 (updated 13 August 2022) | By Callum D Post written by William Day 3 started with a late-ish rise to begin the first full day of camping. The day included making some camp gadgets, settling into camp, and generally continuously improving the place we would be living in for the next week and a bit. But most of the day was dominated by tripods, so many tripods; bad tripods, good tripods, mediocre tripods and even tripods that are perfectly fine but are taken apart because a leader wants to try out a better design. By the end of the day some of us had built 6 or 7 separate tripods, trying to design them successfully and implement a perfect tripod. An important part of the day was preparing for the next day’s hike by learning about the different ways of following routes including tracking a mark on a GPS, following line maps, and walking on a bearing. We also got to know the people we would be walking with the next day and gave a presentation on another member of our hiking group. We finished the day with the first wide game of the camp theme, crypto pirates. The game was basically football with two pitches and 4 goals on each pitch, 2 teams off 8 teams on, concede a goal you’re off. In the end an English team and a Dutch team won, increasing they’re crypto currencies value by 50%.
Overasselt – Day 2 – Setting up 8 August 2022 (updated 13 August 2022) | By Callum D Post written by Finn We arrived at mid day just before lunch, we had had a overnight ferry and two coach rides, thankfully there was great hospitality and the Dutch groups had already prepared a meal, this was a great kick starter to recuperate and prepare to set up the dining and sleeping shelters. Whilst assembling the shelters we discovered that we were working on soft soil but we persevered and managed to successfully complete the dining and sleeping shelters before dark. After the tents were built we had a great meal of wraps with a desert of yogurt and custard. Later on we played some ice breakers and wide games. As it was getting late we all had a good night’s sleep to prepare for the next days busy day!
Overasselt (not quite) – Day 1 7 August 2022 (updated 9 August 2022) | By Callum D An interesting coach journey up to the toon. Good chatter and everyone in high spirits. On the ferry, cabins all sorted and dinner eaten. One of our newest scouts just got invested at the stern of the ferry to become the newest member of our international group! For now we’re just sailing off with the sun keeping us warm, everyone excited for the fantastic camp ahead!
Ilkley Half Marathon Support 16 July 202321 July 2023 The Scouts once again helped at Ilkley Half Marathon but running one of their water stations to keep the runner well hydrated. Luckily not as baking hot as last year […]
Scouts Hag Dyke June 2023 11 June 202312 June 2023 An absolutely fantastic weekend up at Hag Dyke! Weather was hot but a good breeze on the summit made it good for walking. Arrived up late on Friday for a […]
2022 – Quick Review of our Scouting 31 December 202210 January 2023 In 2022 we managed to offer over 461 hours of scouting to our members, including weekly meetings, training, weekend camps, visits to our hostel Hag Dyke, and a massive and […]
Hag Dyke Volunteers 1 November 20221 November 2022 Hag Dyke is run almost entirely by volunteers. Why not volunteer to help keep this beautiful hostel running.
Day 6 – fettling and chilling 12 August 202219 August 2022 Today we stayed at the camp and changed our tents to make them extra neat and the weather was too warm and unenjoyable to do anything else. It was George’s […]