Mountain Biking In The Moors

On Sunday the 10th July 2016 a group of Scouts set out on an amazing mountain bike trek starting at Sutton Bank Visitors Centre.  

 We were handed out a bike, gloves, helmet and glasses.  Then we had to do a check on the bikes but instead of checking our own bikes we checked the person’s bike next to us (trying to remember which way was clockwise!!).

 We set out on our adventure (after eventually finding out which way was clockwise!) heading down a steep hill that had some tight corners then over a bridge and then back up the hill to a road.
Along the road we went, when we came to a gate that led up to a really worn, muddy, dirty path. We played a game of slow races by trying to be the slowest up the hill and in this case trying not to fall off!

In total we cycled 32 km in about 4 hours. My favourite bit was when we had finished we went on a test track and it had some jumps, up and down steps , dodging trees as I raced passed at a million miles an hour!
It was the best but my bum really hurt for the next week!

By Matthew 
Cobra Patrol Leader

The Colour Rush for St Michael Hospice

The Colour Rush, which took place at Ripley castle, is a 5 kilometre run/walk to help raise money to support St. Michael Hospice, in Harrogate.

The reason we (Scouts, Cubs and Beavers) did it, was to raise money to help patients at St. Michael Hospice, who need a lot of care and help. So, by doing the run thousands of pounds were raised to help people at the hospice. 1^st Marston Moor must have collected between £350 and £500.This money will be used to improve people’s lives who have been affected by terminal illness.

The Cubs, Beavers and Scouts from 1^st Marston Moor did a 5 km run around Ripley Castle where every kilometres there is an area where about 8 volunteers throw paint at you, which is why at the end you look like a magical fairy in a rainbow. At the 1^st kilometre there was red paint, the 2^nd was yellow, green and blue after.

. After we finished we were given a packet of paint which of course, we poured on top of ourselves.

Some people were completely coloured as they either rolled in the paint or they were the volunteers who were caught in the clouds of paint.

I thought that doing this run is one of the best ways to do exercise, have fun and raise money for charity all at once. We had a Zumba warm up before the start but there was cake and drinks at the end.

I would definitely recommend this to you. I personally would rate this 9 out of 10. So if you want to do something good, this is for you.

By Jallan 

Stag Patrol

http://www.harrogate-news.co.uk/2016/06/20/pictures-colour-rush-2016-saint-michaels-hospice/

How many Scouts can you spot in the first few warm-up pictures? 

Wheelchair Basketball

Wheelchair Basketball

Our normal scouts’ night was changed to a Friday and at Long Marston village hall we had the exciting opportunity to try wheelchair basketball. Apart from Owen, it was the first time doing wheelchair basketball for us all, and we were all looking forward to it and couldn’t wait to play. They divided us into two groups of ten, one group went outside for an hour while the other group got used to the wheelchairs and played a few different games. Playing wheelchair basketball was a great experience and an amazing team sport. 

There were lots of things I thought would be different like the turning and the pushing; for example, I thought for the turning if you wanted to spin around and go the other way you would have to push one wheel and slowly manoeuvre yourself around. It turned out to be much more simple; you simply just spun one wheel backwards and grabbed both wheels when you had turned enough. The pushing was a lot harder than expected too. You couldn’t just push the wheels once and go really fast, you had to lean forward when you pushed to stop you falling backwards and that kind of hurt your back. You had to do big strong pushes to get a bit of speed up, so your arms and shoulders ached at the end. 

All in all, we had a great evening with the wheelchairs and couldn’t have done it without Adrian and his daughter Imogen from Hoopstars. 

As well as the fun we had, it made us realise how fit and skilful the 
para-athletes who compete in wheelchair basketball really are! 

By Will S 
Stag Patrol

Scouts at the Yorkshire Air Museum

The Yorkshire Air Museum

On Saturday the 28th of February, our scout troop visited the Yorkshire Air Museum which is at the site of the former RAF Elvington.

First we were split into groups and were given a paper to complete.  It had questions which we had to find the answers to.  We all ran into different rooms.  I will tell you what my group discovered.  Lucky for us all of our answers were in the pioneer room which included amazing facts about Sir George Cayley, other pioneers, planes and blimps.

Scouts Dam Busters Reenatment - Watch that bouncing bomb go!

Just before we finished our sheet, Andrea came and said that at lunch, all the groups would perform an act on a subject of their choice. We chose the Dambusters! Other choices included: Sir George Caley and Amy Johnstone.

After a few minutes it was lunch time. We all ate our lunches and at the end of lunch we all acted out our performances. Then we were all given another paper to do. Thankfully there was only one question that needed you to go somewhere so everyone just sat on a bench or rock to do this paper. This time the questions were about plane parts.

We then finished the trip with some fun games.

I would highly recommend the Yorkshire Air Museum as you can learn and have fun at the same time. 
By Tynan, Wolf Patrol.
 

 

Kilnsey: The Horse Riding & Fishing Camp

It all began on the afternoon of Friday the 23^rd of October, at the base of the breath-taking Upper Wharfedale valley deep in the Yorkshire Dales. We all pitched camp in the usual scout fashion, pitching tents, brewing tea, sparking a cosy campfire and huddling up for the cold night ahead. What happened the next morning however was where things got interesting, because,  beforehand we had been told that this was in fact not a generic, cook, hike, sleep, repeat scout camp; but that it was in fact a horse riding  / fish murdering scout camp. SO we rolled up our sleeves in preparation for our first morning’s horse riding.

At ten o’clock sharp Saturday morning we were all ready to meet the horses, and after we’d actually shown the horses that in fact we were not their food, we got stuck in with grooming and saddling up the steeds we’d be riding for the rest of camp. We learnt how to approach our horses safely, how to clean their hooves and bodies of dirt and stones, and most importantly, how to fit their saddles and bridles, and eventually how to mount them. With all that sorted, we set out for our first proper ride of the camp, a pleasant gander along the bank of the River Wharfe.   It wasn’t the particularly fast and arduous trek that we were expecting, but it was a nice way to start. After a swift picnic lunch, for the second part of our horse-riding morning we were ushered to the trekking club’s horse arena for some basic skills (some handled it better than others) involving trying to wrestle ourselves and respective ponies round and round the circuit, whilst simultaneously trying not to fall off.

For our afternoon entertainment, (so the leaders said) we were to do fishing, and most of us managed to catch some fine, shiny trout. Despite the popular opinion of fishing being boring, in practice, it was surprisingly challenging and altogether very satisfying when you hauled in your catch. Although, the “humane” killing and gutting of our soon-to-be dinner, wasn’t, to say the least everyone’s cup of tea. Next, we came to the cooking of the fish, and following some professional preparation masterchef would have been proud to judge, we grilled our juicy meat to culinary perfection, and treated ourselves to a warm campfire dinner. Then, we fell asleep, believe it or not.

When the next morning arose, we briskly returned to the trekking centre for our second day’s riding, and, having said our hello’s and prepared our ponies for the second time, we set out on what would become our camp’s equivalent to the traditional scout stroll across the hills, a graceful saunter through some majestic views from the hills. And after another picnic lunch, we were again taken up to the arena, for some more advanced riding skills, including slaloms, mounting and dismounting, and trotting (to the obvious amusement of our leaders).

With the end of camp fast approaching, we returned to our deserted campsite for the traditional task of striking camp. And, when all was said and done, all the tents pulled down, all the food packed away, all the questionably edible fish digested, and every last trace of horsehair brushed from our clothes, we returned home in good spirits, and in no doubt why we had sore stomachs weeks later.

Blog by

Guy, Falcon Patrol Leader

Tohunga: Day 1 Hike

Tent Pitching

So we'd practised the skills, planned the route and today (May 9th) was the day of the first hike.  This year though we had to put up our tents before we set off.  

Once the tents were up we had to have our bags checked - to make sure we were carrying the correct equipment for a full day hiking.  (We did apart from the fingerless gloves - not much use for protecting your fingers from the elements on a mountain!).  Once the gear was checked we had to orientate our maps and then set off.

Waiting for the gear check

The route had actually changed a bit from the one we route planned, because there had been loads of rain the night before (thankfully not on the competition like 2014) we couldn't cross Cogden Beck because it was more raging torrent then beck.  We left Grinton in high sprints, the first section of walk was through the village and then through small fields with lots of stiles over the dry stone walls.  Most of this section was a steady trek uphill out of the Swale valley.  

After the checkpoint we were on a bridleway in open moorland traversing the side of the valley.  We could the villages of Grinton, Reeth and Helaugh below. Once past Reeth we dropped back down the valley to the riverside (checkpoint on the way down), then over the suspension bridge and almost into Reeth.  This was a cruel part of the walk we'd climbed up and way from the campsite, come back down and towards the campsite - then instead of being able to go to camp we had to walk away from it again!

The path followed the opposite side of the river across fields (and even more stiles) full of sheep and lambs - not sure what they thought of all the scouts wandering by!

The next checkpoint was the village of Helaugh (he-law, he-laff, he-low - we still don't know how to pronounce it).  From the village we climbed the steepest road in the world, thankfully it wasn't too far.  Then back onto the moorland.  We had to be mindful here of nesting grouse and make sure we stuck to the footpaths.  This was the worse bot for navigation - there were so few points to reference.  When we got to Skellgate lane (not a lane - but a small sort of cobbled path which was uncomfortable walking for weary feet), we knew it was the home straight.  The lane took us down to Reeth (checkpoint).  We headed through the village, looked longingly at the ice-cream shop and continued over Reeth Bridge and then back across the valley fields to our campsite in Grinton.

Setting Off

Tohunga: The Training

Tohunga Training

Tohunga, Teko Teko and Tahwiri are 3 levels of an annual scout and explorers competition run by our local district Harrogate & Nidderdale District Scouts.  At 1st Marston Moor we had a team of 5 in the Tohunga section of the competition.

In Tohunga you have two route plan and hike a 7  to 8 mile hike, pitch camp, cook dinner, camp overnight, cook breakfast and hike a second (previously route planned) 7 to 8 mile hike.  All without a leader!

To do this we needed to have some navigation, cooking and camp skills and be able to work as a team!  We needed to learn first aid and rescue techniques as well - thankfully we didn't need them

Tent Pitching

Training began in March with a short hike around a nearby village called Marton cum Grafton.  /it gave us a chance to show what map and navigation skills we had.  While we walked we talked about the competition and our scout leader (SL) asked questions about first aid and rescue techniques if we became lost.  It was all fine -but the looked horrified when one of the team said they didn't need to look at the map because they had memorised it!

The second training session was orienteering on West Chevin Park, this was all about navigation and teamwork!  (With lots of first aid and rescue questions - on the way).

The wet practise hike

We had two training sessions in Kirk Hammerton, we practised cooking on the Trangia stoves pitching and striking tents and did some of the route planning for the actual competition.  Of course there were lots of questions on first aid and rescue.

We also did two more hikes - on one it was so wet and cold that we had to abandon the walk part way.   Even though we all had waterproofs on we were still getting wet through to our clothes.  These hikes were all 8 miles or more - distance practise for the actual competition. (Plus more navigation, first aid and rescue!).

Finn Perkins-Hill

Wolf Patrol