White water canoeing, mountain biking, high ropes and mountain walking, all in four days - not possible I hear you cry! Well 8 Explorers and 2 Rangers from Romsey did exactly that and much more!
One rainy Monday morning a mini-bus pulling a trailer laden with canoes and mountain bikes left 10th Romsey HQ heading for the Wye Valley. Travelling through wind and rain they arrived at Biblins Youth Campsite in glorious sunshine. Tents pitched they were off canoeing and exploring on mountain bikes that afternoon.
Tuesday saw a change to the program with the mountain walking postponed until Wednesday when better weather was forecast. This change effected the menu of course and having escaped the wrath of the cook (sorry Karen... I mean QM!!) the days activities began. A reverse of the previous day?s activities saw everyone have a go at either canoeing in the rapids or mountain biking in the wooded valley. The afternoon saw a much needed rest and relaxing walk around Ross on Wye.
Walking couldn't be put off any longer and Wednesday saw Karen waving off the minibus. Ten hours later the bus arrived back (tea not quite burnt!) full of wet and tired Explorers and Rangers. Walking in The Black Mountains was a challenging experience which started with a river crossing. Having walked up from the glorious sunshine filled valley into the clouds on top we were faced with rain, wind and poor visibility. Pushed forward by the cheerful (if a little out of tune) chants over our walky-talkies it wasn?t long before we dropped in altitude and were out of the clouds again. Back down in the valley we found our lovable new DC and DESC who had managed to stagger just far enough that the minibus was out of site!
Thursday morning and the entire camp had to test their nerve at the high ropes course. With the leap of faith, stack of beer crates and very tall, scarily wobbling pole we all found out something about ourselves that day!
Sadly we returned to camp knowing we were soon to be on the way home. Kit cleaned and tents stowed we left Biblins happy in the knowledge we will definitely be back next year.
Pictures of the trip (very funny, well worth a look!) are available in the gallery