Winter Expo 2004
So, here it was, the day we had all been waiting for….winter expo 2004. The prospect of snow was greatly exciting us all, we couldn’t wait. We met at the hut at half 3, with all our jumpers, thermals and woolly hats in tow, ready for a four o’clock departure. The coach driver miraculously managed to pack all our luggage in to the back of the coach, with room for more if need be. Pure genius. And, it wasn’t long after this, that we bundled ourselves in the coach.
The long coach journey would have been a bore if it wasn’t for the many campfire songs making their way around. After about the third rendition of Ollie’s, ‘..and we push the damper in, and we pull the damper out…’ we, thankfully, reached the services. A short break to stretch our legs, and we were back on the coach. And more coach journey meant, yet more songs. A bulk order of 50 takeaways from a fish n chip shop just a short distance from our accommodation, came as a well deserved treat for us all.
We finally arrived at Rydal Hall a short time later, and as the more ‘responsible’ ones carried all our food and walking equipment down to the accommodation, some of us took no time at all to start snowball fights. We didn’t have long to dump our stuff and get settled before we gathered for a quick brief of the day ahead. The majority of people trundled off to bed relatively early, but the, shall we say, more ‘idiotic’ ones stayed up way beyond their bedtime, which in hindsight was a regrettable thing to do.
Woken at a ridiculous hour on Saturday morning, I don’t think half of the troop knew a 6.30 AM existed, we all, sleepily, guzzled down some breakfast. We rechecked our walking bags, pulled on our thermals, and separated into our walking groups, ready for a long days walking.
It wasn’t long before the traces of snow became clearer, although it took more walking to reach fresh evidence of the newly pitched stuff. Again, the immaturity within many of us was triggered, and unsuspecting members of our groups found snowballs hitting their backs.
After a lunch stop for my group, we hit terrible conditions. Wind, snow, and fr-fr-fr-freezing temperatures. Just standing still for a moment, trying to determine which route to take, froze the backs of our trousers solid. We finally decided that continuing our walk, the planned way, would be too dangerous. After walking around hopelessly in the snow, we retraced our original route, back to our lunch-spot.
One other group made the same decision as us to turn around, but the top group had to change their plans for a very different reason. Two walkers had taken a fall, and were in need of help. The group put into practice, what they had just been learning, and performed a rescue. Thankfully, the man, and his son were ok, but without the groups help, who knows?!
Tom’s tours had fun inventing the sport of…’snow golf’, a game which brought back some funny stories, and video footage, from the mountain. An anonymous member of this group, (I won’t mention their name for my personal safety!!), managed to top off the day by falling through a sheet of ice, into a bitterly cold river. Thank god for waterproof trousers, not that they saved embarrassment though.
We shared all these stories on our return to the centre, glad to get into the warmth. Everyone, from all accounts, had had a fun, but challenging day.
Races for the showers were inevitable, seeing as the hot water didn’t last for long. Once everyone had warmed up, and started to recover, it was nearly time for tea. The menu - a golden oldie, was, and is, loved by everyone…except me that is, being vegetarian, but there’s no problem Cart’s and the team can’t sort, so I was well fed too.
After tea, the majority of the, ‘responsible’ leaders legged it to the pub, along with half the older members, leaving hardly anyone left at the centre. It didn’t dampen our spirits however, as we managed to make our own fun. Pigging out on Frosties, spinning around a broom, and making weird, yet wonderful concoctions from custard powder, orange squash and coffee, kept us occupied ‘til everyone got back.
When the leaders returned, it was obvious where they had been, and everyone joined in with our fun. A pineapple picnic and a lunchbox full of cheese kept a few of us up ‘til the early hours (again), while everyone else disappeared off to bed. It took ‘til 1.30 for Carts to finally send us to bed, leaving the boys in the main room in peace to get some rest.
Not such an early start the next morning, but still nowhere close to a Sunday morning lie-in! A few of us frantically decorated the main room in preparation for Harriet’s sixteenth birthday surprise. All the streamers and banners were in place, and everyone ready for breakfast, before the birthday girl entered. Not quite the impact I had hoped, but I think she was pleasantly surprised never-the-less.
Everyone was split into different groups from the day before, and sent off to different stations. Each station had a different activity to be learnt or practiced. Some of these included map-reading, short-rope work, and abseiling without a harness. Not challenging in the same way that the Saturday’ s work was, but still testing for some members of the troop.
And what better way to cool down and unwind after a demanding morning’s work than launching yourself from a rock, plummeting downwards, and ending up in icy cold water?!! Well, some couldn’t think of anything else… so the plunge pool it was. Those not prepared to freeze unnecessarily, stood around taking photos of those that were.
Back up at the centre, we all stuffed our kit into our bags, so we could leave as soon as possible, and then got together for a little sing-song. Well, we couldn’t go without singing happy birthday to Harriet, could we?! And a piece of cake each, and we were fuelled up to load our bags on to the coach.
One last photo opportunity, and we were off. Some of us started off trying to stay awake, even singing ‘the time song’, to keep us occupied. But in the end everyone’s tiredness became evident, as nearly all of us dozed off. Later on, fifteen minutes were passed with the telling of the green ping pong ball joke, even though we all knew the punch line…we were just too tired to care. A few more songs also helped to pass the time – although, 500 green bottles, luckily, didn’t catch on.
Reaching Keynsham marked the end of winter expo 2004. From the reactions of everyone throughout the weekend, it appeared like we all had had a fun, challenging, and memorable time on the trip. I know that I certainly did.
Now, when’s summer expo...