Friday 3rd April, Day 7 – 15.4km
The word is mud! We left and it was raining. It stopped when we arrived at the drop off point at Coopers Hill. We immediately had to climb up to the top of the steep hill. The path was muddy and slippery. One scout lost his footing straight away. We continued to the top and paused to admire the views (ie to get our breath back). We realised we had missed the path and so had a short detour back to the correct pathway. We continued through the woods trying to dodge the worst of the mud. There was another hill to climb, then another. Each with lots of mud. Then we had a steep muddy path down to a road. That was muddy too! We crossed the road and continued up another hill and for once it wasn’t muddy. We passed the site of Painswick Fort, which is now a golf course. We could clearly see all the ditches that surrounded it even though it is now a golf course. We continued through a quarry and down past an old cemetery towards Painswick. Painswick was a small town very quiet (until 24 scouts arrived…)
We met Tug and Toastie and sat on the wall of the beautiful churchyard in Painswick and ate lunch. The church yard had many interesting grave stones and 99 yew trees. They were all beautifully cut into neat shapes. The tradition is that there is always 99 trees in this church yard. After a slight detour to a toilet we continued through the town and back onto open ground. We passed some beautiful stone houses with a stream running through the garden and on upwards again and the path undulated through the trees. There were lots of woodpeckers here, we could hear them but not see them. We passed a milestone on it was written: “44miles from Chipping Campden and 55 miles to Bath” we were nearly half way there! The path became muddy again and headed steeply upwards again. We saw the Cromwell stone under the trees and stopped for a minute to get our breath back. We came out from under the trees and it began to rain. Knowing there was still about 1km to go we put waterproof jackets back on. We headed out onto Haresfield Hill where there were views across the valley, but unfortunately the clouds and rain had obscured them from us.
We took a sharp left turn and headed towards the topography point where we were glad to see Tug and Toastie. The fast explorer scouts, were generous and the younger scout who had been keeping up with them for most of the day was given the honour of reaching the marker first. We hurried off towards the minibuses and dried out slightly on the journey back to camp. Considering it was a shorter day it felt quite hard today. I don’t know if I mentioned it, but there was lots of mud today!
Saturday 4th April, Day 8 – 17.3km
Skips Birthday today, so we all sung happy birthday at breakfast before we left. There was only one hill today so we started on a positive note. The weather was dry but dull so we hoped that it would stay that way. We began to walk downhill through the woods along a path that was surprise, surprise muddy! The route through the woods continued and it was a pleasant walk through the trees (except for the mud). Leaving the wood behind we travelled across several ploughed fields and found a large, old oak tree that had a “hobbit hole” in it. Photos were then taken. We crossed the railway bridge and waved at the train. The driver hooted in return. We then crossed a busy road, using a footbridge. It led us straight into a private boarding school – opps! It was closed but a leader managed to sweet talk the caretaker into opening the gates so we could re-join the official footpath.
We then walked along the tow path of a canal and passed several locks before we passed through a field containing cows and a huge smelly pile of silage. We then walked away from the town of Stroud and headed upwards onto Selsey Common where we stopped for lunch. One scout made friends with a lone dog who ate his sandwiches before disappearing over the hill. We then had a pleasant walk through more woods and the weather began to warm up. In fact the sun came out! One scout even rolled up the legs of his trousers, for the first time this week. The views through the trees were amazing, we could see the River Severn gleaming in the sunlight. The scouts did not want to stop though so we continued at full speed, straight past an ice cream van which we, as leaders, looked at longingly…
We had a steep trek up the final “one hill” through several quarries and up several flights of steps before we emerged at a viewing point where the mini buses were waiting. Everyone seemed cheerful and happy, it shows what a difference the weather can make to the day. There was also chocolate fudge cake for afters! Yum!
Sunday 5th April, Day 9 – Rest Day
A lovely sunny day spent climbing, high ropes and crate stacking. The young people worked well as teams encouraging each other to overcome their fears. We were really proud of certain scouts who started off very nervously but became very confident at climbing around the high wires. Later on there was an Easter egg hunt with the teams searching for different coloured pegs before swapping them for chocolate Easter eggs. Dinner was a full roast dinner and finished with apple pie and custard and then, as a treat, a toy and Easter egg each.