Pathfinder Weekend
Our largest camp for sometime… 15 Scouts headed up to Lees Wood for a walking weekend. When I arrived, the site was already buzzing with Scouts from all over the District pitching tents on the difficult soil of Lees Wood, but all in very good spirits. Shortly the tents were up and the Scouts were being scouts. Hot dogs were cooked and with hot chocolate the evening passed quickly (for the leaders, the 17th Harrow had cooked a really nice stew!)
It was a slightly cold night, but Saturday morning came quick enough and the Scouts cooked their breakfasts. Each camp patrol had decided their own menus for the weekend and had gone shopping for it, making this quite interesting to watch as they endeavoured to cook for themselves, with the leaders just offering guidance rather than taking over.
After breakfast – and washing up – the Scouts made their lunches and prepared to leave. Ash’s group of older Scouts were walking from the campsite to Chalfont & Latimer, Ivor’s group were walking from Heronsgate to Lees Wood and David’s group were walking the reverse of Ash’s route – Chalfont & Latimer to Lees Wood. Alan (the driver for the day) walked with David until we met up with Ash then walked back to the bus.
The walk was quite pleasant and interesting. In David’s group, James “Dragons breath” Zoel manage to trip over his shoelaces (twice!) quite early on in the walk; this gave him quite a sore, grazed knee to deal with. As David’s group was walking along the Chess Valley Walk they heard a loud splashing sound – a small herd of longhorn cows were running alongside them along the River! David and Ash’s group met up and decided it was a suitable occasion for lunch. After lunch, we carried on with a short pause at Sarratt for a Coke and a comfort break.
Ivor’s group took a little longer to return to site – their navigation had led them to walk a large circle early on rather than following the route!
Once all were back on site, the evening meal was cooked. Later James “Dragon Breath” Zoel demonstrated his ability to keep a fire going; Oskar entertained us with imitations of many of Doctor Who’s cyber enemies; and Jamie demonstrated what happens if you put too much pine leaves on an open fire (slow burn, then whoomf!)
Sunday morning was at a much slower pace. The Scouts cooked their breakfasts, washed up and the leaders took the vehicles up to Phasels Wood. Today we would walk as a single group with 3 map readers to confirm directions, turns etc. Unfortunately the previous day’s efforts had depleted any energy and map reading skills – and as Leaders we found ourselves walking quite slowly (average speed of 2km/h!) and waiting near footpath junctions as the Scouts wandered off in the wrong direction. Luckily the weather was really nice for the time of year, so it wasn’t too bad. At Phasels we got in the bus and car and headed back.
On return to Lees Wood we found that Bruce had already dropped the Scouts tents for them, so there wasn’t much else to do (the other Troops had also long gone, so it was just the leaders tents to sort out. We loaded the Scout trailer (I loaded my bicycle trailer!) and we all headed for home.
It had been a weekend of two long, challenging hikes but the scouts had completed it. It had been a walk with a purpose – all those attended had planned the menu and the walks; they had then successfully shopped and cooked and completed the routes without any major hitches. It was an achievement that they should be proud of.
Purchasing Equipment – torches
Torches
Another mainstay item for the well-prepared Scout. Also probably the hardest to write about as there are so many options out there now.
LED Torches / winding torches
(From www.watchbattery.co.uk)
Rather than use a traditional bulb, LED torches use a non-replaceable Light Emitting Diode (the LED bit). This has the benefits of being more power efficient, but the negatives that if (for whatever reason) they get broken, they can’t be replaced.
The example above also shows a winding element to it. About a minutes winding will produce about an hours light – which is great, but over about 10 minutes the power of the light will sometimes fade (especially if it’s a bright torch) and so across the campsite you’ll hear the Rrr-rrrr-rrr sound of the torch being wound up again (this is something I’ve yet to hear done quietly… like eating crisps at the cinema).
Whilst the above are great (no worries about batteries running out) I do find that in order to use one I need to either hand it to someone else, or just work with one hand.
Head Torches
(from www.armynavy.com)
Unlike the torch above the head torch, will mean that both hands are free. You can get all kinds of varieties to these and they tick many boxes. Most are now sold with the LED lights – and batteries – so they are quite adaptable.
Benefits are that being head torches they will shine a light where you are looking – a downside for the person that you’re talking to as that will mean straight into their eyes. It also means that you will need to carry spare batteries with you for when they run out…
Mini Maglites
I will admit that this a proprietary brand and that I have tried wherever possible not to point out a favourite, I can’t help but rave about the Mini Maglite with the 2 AA cell batteries.
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(From www.maglite.com)
As a standard it uses a bulb (so yes, you will need to have a spare – but Maglites helpfully put a spare at the bottom of the battery compartment) – but as you can see from the above you can screw in an LED instead; it also uses batteries – so you will need spares for that too.
However, I have found that the maglite also makes use of rubber “O” rings in multiple places, so it is pretty waterproof. I don’t know if it would work underwater (can’t see why it wouldn’t to a shallow depth) but have never tried. However, being a small size, I can pop it in my mouth leaving both hands free to do whatever (and giving everyone else some peace and quiet).
You can get a headband that you can slot the torch into as well – so apparently ticking all the boxes… except the windy thing.
Buying kit and equipment – Hike boots
This has been (and should remain) the staple item in every Scouts camp kit bag! Over the years, technology has moved on to make boots more specialised and so buying these more challenging (and in some cases more expensive, that’s true) – but this guide should enable you to identify what is useful and perhaps what you won’t need.
So let’s get an idea of what we need the “camp shoe” to do:
- Stop water from getting feet wet – first thing in the morning (even in summer), UK grass is wet and will soak trainers quickly
- Be comfortable – these shoes will typically be worn all day
- Be adaptable – they will be worn summer, winter, spring and autumn
- Be supportive – they need to be worn when on hikes over rough terrain
- Be protective – especially if using axes, saws and knives
- Be grippy – especially on obstacle courses and on hilly hikes
- Be tough – these will need to last the whole week!
Linked from www.abc-of-hiking.com
Whilst the image is of quite a technical boot, it does details what a typical hike will look like, and some of the reasons for the extra twiddly bits.
The most important items in the hike boot are:
- A sewn-in tongue. This gives the boot more waterproof-icity (you will need to maintain the waterproof nature – more on that later)
- A knobbly base. This gives the grip to the boot. Vibram is a good name to look for in terms of boot soles. Years ago, when I was a Scout I was told “DMs are good for kicking people, but rubbish for hill walking”. Having now seen someone not be able to scramble up a slope because they were wearing DM boots I understand this)
- A good leather upper. Apologies to anyone who is vegetarian but (as yet) I’ve not seen any reasonable Scout-proof hike boots that don’t have a decent leather upper.
The boot should come above the ankle as this will reinforce the support to the ankle. There is a whole discussion on how much a boot should twist as you turn it between your hands – but as a simple rule it should be reasonably stiff – too loose and it won’t support anything.
When you are trying on hike boots, you need to go prepared – more so than buying normal shoes. This is because you should always wear two pairs of socks inside your boots (the jury is still discussing whether it should be two the same thickness or one thick, one thin). The reason for this is due to the length of time that you may have these on your feet, especially hiking. The outer sock will move with the boot, the inner with the foot – and you won’t get blisters.
Once you’ve bought your boots, you should walk around the house with them on for a weekend. As a note to anyone with light carpets in their house – ONLY wear them in the house when breaking them in! This will start to get the foot bed to mould to your feet and to get the leather to warm to the shape of your foot.
Additionally, you can also rub in NIKWAX or DUBBIN. This is also the stuff that will make the leather more waterproof. This is really gunky stuff to work with and you need to make sure that it’s rubbed well into all the seams. If you’ve been wearing the boots, or have made them warm then the stuff will soak in much better – it is effectively an oil. You won’t need to use leather polish (and to be honest, for these boots its not as much fun either!)
So okay, that’s a quick run through the boots. Some other questions that you may have:
How high should the boots go?
In this case, you don’t need calf high boots (such as the classic DM or the Rock Boot). They do offer good protection, but after a point they are just keeping your ankles warm. Also, just because the leather goes further up your leg won’t mean you can stand in deeper puddles – you need to check where the tongue stops getting sewn to the boot.
But what about Wellies?
Ah yes, wellies. The most waterproof boot going. These are reasonable for sploshing through puddles on a Sunday morning when walking the dog, but because they 100% waterproof and are not breathable, aren’t laced to your foot / ankle and typically are one piece with a thin sole they will make your feet sweat, will not support your feet and early morning will be cold and will not keep your feet warm.
My dad’s got cross country trainers – could I use similar?
Early on in this post, I noted that technology has advanced. There are now some quite decent cross-country trainers on the market – but at £50 for a cheap-ish pair you won’t save much – if anything. Additionally you need to remember that these trainers are designed that they will shed any water getting in – that means holes – which means they’re not going to be waterproof. Also the trainer is designed for someone who will be moving their ankle a lot – so won’t offer the same protection.
IMPORTANT NOTE: cross country trainers do have something that normal trainers don’t have – a decent grippy, knobbly sole rather than a road-based shoe.
I’ve heard of things called “Monkey boots” – any good?
Monkey Boots seem to sit to one side of fashion in regard to footwear. They do have a reasonable grip on them and would tick most of the boxes. However at the time of writing these are difficult to find on the high street, so it’s unlikely that Millets or Blacks will be stocking them any time soon.
What about steel toe caps?
Aha – the solution if you’re using axes and saws. These are quite useful, especially for this purpose, but you shouldn’t go out of your way to buy boots with these (and typically you won’t get proper hike boots with these anyway)
Hog Wild Snap Watch II
snap watch image
http://www.hogwildtoys.com/funfashion.html#surfwatch
Following on from the (apparently necessary) addition of the wristwatch to the kitlist, I’ve been looking around for a second watch to pack in my kit (working on the Be Prepared motto - and a need to know the time, all the time!). I did have a similar “rubber band” watch, but the battery died and I wasn’t able to replace it.
This watch is available in the UK from a number of places and costs about £6. Some websites allow you to buy the watch bit and the strap separately – and you can buy additional straps as well. It all “poppers” together quite simply, so replacing the strap isn’t difficult (unlike putting a velcro strap on a Swatch watch for example).
From a distance it doesn’t look like a watch, but more like a friendship bracelet (great if like me you don’t have any friends. 
) Being a digital watch it isn’t complicated to work out the time – although it does have a day/date function but you need to do some mucking about to see it.
The other thing – which is great for camping – is that it’s waterproof.
The watch is available in three strap sizes - small (6.5 inch), medium (7.5 inch) and large (8.5 inch).
So, if you’re looking for a watch that doesn’t look like one, or you need a second “spare”, or you don’t want to take your best watch, this may be a neat alternative.
