The two-week expedition took place over the School Easter Holidays, starting at Chipping Campden on Sunday 29th March and finishing at Bath Abbey on Friday 10th April. The group, from 1st Corringham, 1st Thors Oak and Zenith Explorers, divided the route up into 10 manageable sections with a rest day every 2 or 3 days which allowed them to also experience the activities on offer at Woodhouse Park Scout Activity Centre, their base camp for the fortnight.
Throughout the expedition, the group experienced a full range of weather, from lovely sunny days to pouring rain and the mud it brings with it. There was even a hailstorm which made eating lunch one day a challenge!
Each day’s route brought with its stunning vistas, quaint little villages to pass through and many different landmarks, including old Iron Age settlements, stately homes like Stanway House and Newark Park, golf courses, the Tyndale Monument and Coopers Hill, famous for its cheese rolling competition.
Wendy Thomas, a leader walking with the group, said it was a fantastic experience, “All the Scouts seem to have grown in confidence over the last two weeks. We arrived in Bath singing to the cheering of the adults and families. We were allowed into the Abbey where the DC presented two leaders with their wood badges then two senior Scouts received their Gold Award; a perfect end to our expedition.”
During the winter there were several practise hikes around Essex and all of the young people had basic training on kit and equipment, first aid training and health and welfare training so they were all well prepared for the expedition.
Special thanks go to SCH Active Support Unit who took care of the catering and domestic services and to minibus drivers ‘Tug’ and ‘Toastie’ who racked up a lot of miles during the expedition!
To see the group’s experiences in more detail, their daily blogs are linked below.
Expedition Blogs
All blogs by Wendy Thomas