District Night Hike 2006

On Saturday 30th September a total of 8 teams took part in this years district night hike. Luckily the heavy raid that had fallen that morning had passed away so it was dry and quite warm, although some of the paths were muddy underfoot.

The teams had to navigate a 5 mile circular route, starting and finishing at Gilwell, with 5 checkpoints along the way at each of which they had to do an activity. These included eating as many cold baked beans as possible in 30 seconds, making a cup of tea using a trangia stove, finding a hidden glowstick, singing a campfire song and doing a campfire stunt, and lighting a candle from distance using some canes and string.

It didn’t look too good to start with as a few teams found it difficult to get out of the car park at Gilwell – but they were soon all on their way.

One team decided that the route wasn’t long enough for them so they went from the first checkpoint round in a nice big circle and back to the first checkpoint. A couple of others had a little wander about in the woods, but managed to get back on track. One scout from the 34th had to be picked up by the minibus when he put his foot down a hole in the dark and twisted his ankle and there were a few scratches and stings but nothing serious.

Given that during the district day hike earlier in the year we had to send out search parties looking for a team that had gone missing I was slightly apprehensive about all the teams finding their way back in the dark. However, amazingly all the teams made it back to the finish before the deadline without having to send out any search parties! All the scouts seemed to have enjoyed the event and had a good time.

The winners of the rather fetching new trophy that Brian Cumpstey had made were a team from the 8th Holborn, with a team from the 34th coming second. Other troops taking part were the 1st Islington and the 201st Islington. Many thanks to all the scouts who took part, thanks to the adults who walked with them, and to all the checkpoint staff for manning the bases and Jan for doing the food.

Mark Thompson
201st Islington