Hey Blog! This post is about the walking weekend I went on a couple of weekends ago!
Every year, the Scouts do a walking weekend. I did one last year, which I also wrote about. However, this year it was quite different. For starters, one of the Scout leaders had broken his fibula unexpectedly a few days in advance, so we were a leader down. Then, it was a lot colder than last year, so extra warm clothes were required. The walking weekend is a 15-mile hike through the Peak District, from Bakewell to Baslow, via a night stop at the Curbar Scout Hut. With only two leaders to run it, this was possible, if nothing went wrong. Nothing did, till the second day.
The first half of the walk, from Bakewell to Curbar, went well; we had good views, fast walking, a frosty start and then nice sunshine. All the ponds were frozen over, and we couldn’t break the ice using a large amount of stones and even a log. I found a horseshoe at one point – this is currently outside my bedroom door to ward off ill luck and look good. We passed through Eyam, the village where the 1666 plague carried off almost all inhabitants; we passed through what looked like Narnia, it was so frosty; we passed old mine shafts (the Peak District has been extensively worked for lead and stone); we found several icicles, hard and clear as glass, but wet in your hand; but there was no snow. We’d have to wait.
When we reached the hut, it was not yet dark, and we had a long time till dinner and even longer till bed. We were all sleeping in the hut, as we had one less leader – this was a blessing in the morning! Some of us played cards, some played D&D (I was DM for the first time – look for a former post on this subject), some helped cook the meal. We had a good time, but then, after dinner, it started snowing – not much, but snow. We went to bed early, for a Scout camp, and it was still snowing.
In the morning, we woke up to about four inches of snow – a total, and most welcome, surprise! We had breakfast (the usual camp kind, bacon butties with scrambled egg); and then, after the leaders had planned a whole new risk assessment taking into account the snow, we set off on a shortened and circular version of the original walk. Of course, we had snowball fights on the way, but were promised a big one when we got back. Up the hill, we were just going along the road when there was a great big crunch, and a car went straight through a wall and into the neighbouring field. None of us saw it happen, but we did see the leaders take off like a rocket to help with the crash. This changed plans yet again, and we went back to the scout hut. We did get a massive snowball fight on the way, though!
The walking weekend is always fun, and I hope to do many more similar things in the future!