The Outbound Journey. I couldn't get back to sleep so I gave up and came downstairs for a coffee. Only one phone call to Switzerland made so far, only one more to Harrington's to check everything is OK with the coach - I shouldn't need to make anymore unless something unplanned occurs and Kez has kindly agreed to take charge of the HQ bit of the morning.

 

From watching all the various facebook status' over the last week I reckon everybody must be feeling the same sense of nervous excitement. We've had several people doing countdowns all week (thanks Lee for the midnight text!), first time flyers wondering if they'll survive the journey, and various debates on whether spots will clear up and there is enough room for shoes in bags. This is the biggest single activity that 1st Bedworth has organised, ever, and all the bag packing days have generated a massive build up and anticipation and now everyone just wants to get out there and start having fun. For myself, I don't think I'll relax until we're starting down that runway at around 1830 this evening.

 

For the adults, the trip started in part on Friday night when we had the pre-camp briefing and social. The business part of the evening was over quite quickly before we got stuck into the partying. Saturday saw a few sore heads that was for sure. Hopefully everybody is now fully recovered, or at least back to their normal level of recovery, and ready for action. I'm sure the kids will deliver their usual excellent standard of behaviour and make it easy for us, even if they are bouncing off the walls!

 

13.45hrs -Well we're on our way! At least we are on a coach on the M1 anyway. Forty Six happy to be campers all safely boarded - with luggage. Thanks to Kerrie we had a very orderly process for checking everyone in, and thanks to you for allowing us to do it our way.

 

17.00hrs - Sitting in the departure lounge at London Luton Airport. A little under an hour to go until we board the aircraft for Geneva. Before we do any more blogging it's worth saying a few words about the staff here at the airport. From the guy on the Easy Jet counter who gave us an early heads up to which counters to go for, to the three girls on the check in desks, to the security team on the scanners - all were incredibly helpful and patient despite being faced with a full assault from 1st Bedworth. The kids as ever were brilliantly behaved throughout, although they are out of my site right now so who knows what might be happening?

 

Tuesday 04 August - Day One – Mark Payne

As Jason posted in the comments last night, we had a delay with Easy Jet because of bad weather on the previous flight out of Austria. It was only an hour delay but it did mean our not arriving until 0100 local time and the kids not getting to bed until nearly 0200.

 

We let almost everyone have a lie in this morning except for some of the Explorers and Adults making a 0800 dash into the village centre to buy breakfast. Once everyone was up and fed and watered we let the kids lose around the village on condition that they had a go at the Kandersteg Trail, a quiz which is designed to help them find their way around as well as finding out more about the area. They should all now be back at the hut.

 

The weather here is great - hot in the sun, but almost cold in the shade. Forecast for rest of week is good so hopefully the programme might go to plan. The whole group have settled in to the two buildings fine and some of the rooms are already beginning to look 'well lived in'. But I guess you folks would expect that as you live with this lot everyday for the rest of the year!

 

Tomorrow is an 0800 train out to the white water rafting. Hopefully by then we are set up for the kids to start posting their own blogs. Will read out all the messages so far at dinner tonight - keep them coming as I know the kids are going to love them.

 

Wednesday 05 August - White Water Rafting, Swiss Culture Night and International Disco- Charlie D, Charlie H and Karis

Early wake up call at 6.30 for an adventurous day of white water rafting ahead of us, quick breakfast and out of the doors by 7.30 to catch the train to spiez and then from spiez to boltigen. Arriving at Boltigen around 9.45 we took a quick walk to the Swiss adventure to get ready for our white water rafting. We lined up and had a group photo before getting our groovy wetsuits and helmets and other water gear. After changing into all our gear we headed off towards the rafts and split into our smaller groups.

 

After safety instructions we entered the water. A short way down the rapids the first boat got popped after we spun backwards into a tree. The team consisted of Matthew Arnold, Linda Clarke, Nathan Bagnell, Kayleigh Clarke, Lauren Lessels and Charlie Hart - we all bailed out of the popped boat on to the shore whilst the instructor quickly sorted out our problem.

 

Meanwhile HMS Party boat went for a quick swim down the river’s rapids. After an hour or so of bouncing down the rapids our journey came to an end. We all got out the boats and help pack all the equipment we used away then it was off to get changed out of our water gear and back into our normal clothes.

 

Eating lunch on the side of the road, before a short walk Darstetten train station for a short ride back to spiez and then back to Kandersteg. Before heading back to the hut we all spent a little bit of money. Arriving at the hut at around 5 for a quick shower and tea before an eventful night ahead.

 

When we got to the town hall we sat our group at the front of the really interesting Switzerland culture evening ‘sarcasticly’ it was the most fun we will have for the whole camp. While some of the leaders were trying to work out how to escape rather quickly we noticed a few of our muppety explorers Leigh, Ryan, Ben W and James H were taking part in the swiss dancing making a fool of themselves.

 

After we escaped we all walked round the corner to the international disco where everyone was dancing and having a great time. The leaders seemed to be having more fun than the scouts and explorers. The scouts started to look tired and bored so at about 12.00am we had a nice walk back to the huts where Maxine Barlow had prepared supper for us all. After everyone had something to eat and drink the scouts and explorers made there way to bed. Followed shortly by the Leaders.

 

Leigh is very upset about the fact that in his room he doesn’t fit on the bed because he is too tall and the door frame is quite low so has to duck to walk through but majority of the time forgets and walks in to the door frame. Yes he is gonna come back with bumps lumps and bruises on his head.

 

 

Thursday 06 August - Doldenhorn Hut and International Campfire- Maria, Laura & Gemma

Yesterday morning all the scouts and some of the explorers set off to have a long walk up a mountain.  We split into three groups and steadily made our way up the steep climb in the blazing heat. Thankfully after a while we were under the trees and didn’t die from heatstroke!!!

 

By 6 we had all reached our destination at the Doldenhorn Alpine Hut and ate a well deserved meal of soup and pasta (please do not give us any when we

 

We left early the next morning after a lovely buffet breakfast prepared for us. As we made our way outside you could feel that the altitude was lower than what it is like normally, but soon the sun came out and we were all warmed up. We got back into our groups and started to descend the mountain and made it down in record time   It was certainly a general consensus that coming down was much better than going up!

 

By 10.30 we were all back in the village and did a spot of shopping before heading back up to the hut to shower (well the hygienic ones did) and relax.

 

After a clean up and lunch we chilled; some people popped down to the village to mooch round and others stayed at the chalet playing cards and chatting. Everyone was back for 2.30 and got ready to go swimming at the local open air swimming pool down in the village.

 

At 3 we went down to the pool and were in the pool by half past. Many of us were pleasantly surprised to see 2 bouncing diving boards which were the amusement for many for hours. Nathan managed to gain a few gasps with his daring and often stupid dives off the top board and the pool nearly had to be evacuated when Ryan took the plunge. Most people ran and jumped off the diving board and did it over and over again until it was time to get out. There was also a very small slide but after Lauren’s good idea of doing a chain it got better and better through out the afternoon.

 

Later on in the afternoon it began to rain and got a bit chilly and so by about 5 we were out and got ready to go back to the chalet. A bonus of Kandersteg is that if scouts wear their necka’s they can get onto the bus free and so the sensible ones are making full use of this service. Today is the first day that the weather has been anything other than gorgeous sunshine so fingers crossed for tomorrow and next week.

 

After dinner we got ready and left for the International campfire at the nearby campsite. Most of us managed to get there but a few were behind and got lost and so had a bit more of a trek to get there.

 

At the International campfire there were loads of scouts from all over the world and lots of groups presented their finest to the rest of the group and we ended up dancing and singing songs that we didn’t understand. Of course 1st Bedworth were proud and showed them all what we were made of by performing the Penguin song bravely led by Ryan.

 

It was truly a sight to behold!

 

Afterwards we relaxed back at the chalet, had supper and then hit the hay to be ready for tomorrow’s trip to Interlaken.

 

It's worth our adding a huge note of thanks here to the two Hutten Chefs who looked after us so well during our brief stay at the hut. They fed and watered the group and didn't mind when we weren't exactly silent by the 10pm lights out - that's the leaders by the way, not the kids!

 

Thursday 06 August- Ben Westwood

 

Yesterday was brilliant; we were in a small group of people whose mountain walk was delayed; so we decided to trek through town instead; the streams were absouloutley freezing I was like OMG that’s cold!!!!!! I really wanted to dive it but its was really fast flowing and I probably would have got hypothermia lol.

 

After that we went back to the hut; it was so quiet cuz all the scouts and that were up in the mountain so we spent all night eatin burnt pizza and take-away chips; I managed to build a tower of cards that was 5 storeys high I was well proud; I even made a 3-D model; it was quality

 

The day after that we went swimming; the divin board was immense; I was doin front flips and all that it was well good until my last dive; I didn’t flip right and I landed flat on my back; it was so immensely painfll I was in the water like AHHHHHHHHH and all the locals were laughin at me; my back was bright red I was like lol

 

That night was such a laugh; we went to a camp fire; it was so funny because I got to go on stage for our bit; and some foreign groups; it Ws really weird because when I got down one of the American kids I had met earlier was down there to. I am pretty much convinced us doing the penguin song was the best bit by far.

 

After that we all went to the kiosk to get chips; and decided to make friends with some of the people down there; which ended in a sing off! Luckily a Danish guy had brought his guitar down and one of my American mates could play Wonderwall, I seemed to be the only one who Knew ALL the lyrics but the rest of Europe seemed to have a good go at it.

 

After the inevitable Oasis tribute songs started getting patriotic; but we won after I started 1st Bedworth of with a round of god save the queen; it was pretty epic! After the singing stopped I decided it was time to chat up the nearest Danish girl; I was literally moments away from pulling when we were told to go back to our building! But oh well theres always tomorrow. shut up

 

Mark. We have it on pretty good authority that Ben’s reference to ‘pulling’ a Danish girl got about as far as waving shyly and giving a very meek ‘Hello’. Also, that they didn’t actually win the sing off as their Ben and Ryan C’s rendition of ‘Row Row Row your boat’ let the side down somewhat against the Danish drinking songs.

 

Saturday 08 August – Interlaken – Leah, Ruby, Nathan & Daniel

Today was our trip to Interlaken and it was the rainiest day we have had in Switzerland so far. It started with a train ride to Spiez and then caught a boat to Interlaken (we had to walk from Spiez to catch the boat, and we could literally ring our clothes out after!).

 

The boat trip was very posh, with people coming to your table asking what you wanted to eat and drink. While we were on the boat we started playing dares and Ruby had to lick the table. We all drank posh cups of tea that we had to make ourselves, they were actually really nice!

 

We started walking round town and WE HAD TO STOP FOR RUBY TO GET CHIPS! AND PUT THEM IN MY LUNCH BAG (LEAH). We brought some gifts and HAD TO GET RUBY McDonalds. I got the road runner toy from McDonalds and annoyed everybody. When we went into McDonalds we met Nathan, Liam, Todd, Sarah, Lauren and Kaylum who had been sitting in there for the whole hour eating the whole shop (well we say everybody we mean Nathan) as per usual Matthew was taking pictures the whole day. And everyone took the Swiss newspapers so to all parents when your kids come home you will find German newspapers all round the house!

 

We got back at 3.30 and had free time till 7.00. In our free time some people caught the bus back to the hut so they could dry off. Others aka Ruby, Leah, Laura, Jim, RyJo, Ben, Matty B, Todd and Daniel decided to stay in town and spend our money on rubbish. Ryjo and his gang brought a fly swatter. The rest mostly spent there money on drinks and food in coop, and then sat outside eating and drinking it. We all got together and walked to the bus stop and met some American people. They were boring. Then we all got the bus home and most of us got changed and had a shower. For dinner we had soup AGIIN! and we had loads of veggies, mince and potatoes as well.

 

Mark -Today, was not just wet, it was torrential. We had 20-30mm of rain in a day - that's a lot. Everybody was soaked in the short ten-twenty minute walk from Spiez rail station to the mooring on banks of the Thunersee. The kids didn't seem to mind though as at least it wasn't cold, just wet.

 

We didn't have long to wait though and the almost two hour sailing to Interlaken gave everyone the chance to wring out wet gear and begin to dry out a little. Unfortunately the rain and fog meant that no one got to enjoy the stunning views you get of this part of Switzerland from the lake.

 

In Interlaken, everyone was given a bit over an hour to go off and explore. The kids all broke into smaller groups and shot off in various directions. As the blog above says, this lot hit McDonalds. The leaders had a similar idea and hit a restaurant were we gorged out on cheese  fondue and a gross bier. Then it was back to the rail station and an easy journey back to Kandersteg.

 

All in all a very nice relaxing day if a little on the damp side.

 

Sunday 09 August – Jungfraujoch – Liz, Lauren & Sarah

At 6:00am we were woken up suddenly by Payney knocking on our doors. We then had to get up and dressed and have breakfast quickly as we had to be up at KISC for 7:00am. Once we were all ready and had walked up to the meeting point, we got onto a coach for over an hour to the train station in Lauterbrunnen, this was going to take us up to the top of the Jungfraujoch.

 

On the way up we saw some breathtaking views, but this may have been because of the altitude that we couldn’t breathe. When we reached the top we were able to explore in small groups around the inside and outside of Jungfraujoch. The first thing the group did was go up to the Sphinx, which is one of the highest point in Europe, and those who weren’t invested including Jess who became a beaver and then Adele, Liz and Sarah who became explorers, others renewed their promises. After this we went off in our groups to have a look around. We went to the Ice Palace which was really slippy and had some great ice sculptures to see.

 

We also went outside to see the snow and have a play, we made snow angels and had a snowball fight, but we weren’t allowed to hit the “normal” people. It was freezing up there (literally) so we was all wrapped all warm with lots of layers on. We saw lots of people having fun in the snow by tobogganing, skiing and just generally having a laugh. It made it hard to run around a lot though as the altitude made the air thinner and hard to breathe.

 

Once we had ate our packed lunches and had a look around the shops, we all met back at the train station ready for the descent. The train was not very pleasant for some people as it was quite rocky and made people feel sick. We departed the train half way down the mountain and started the hike down.  The walk was not that bad as it was all down hill and was quite steep. It took about 3 hours to get to the bottom and reach Grindelwald. When we got to the train station some of the group were already there as they took the cycling route instead and got back quicker.

 

We had a wonder around and got a drink and generally just chilled out around the side of the road until the coach arrived. When it did we all got on and most people had a nice nap, whilst those who were still awake took some rather embarrassing photos, which you will probably see on the site later on.

 

Back at the hut we all got in and showered because everybody smelt, really, really, really bad.  For the rest of the night everybody had free time as most people were very tired and had no energy left, so were just reflecting on a great day and looking through all the photos they had taken. Then it was an early night for all so they could recharge their batteries, some more than others as they had another early hike in the morning.

 

Mark - I really don't think I have the words to describe today with full justice. The Scouts were roused at 0530am, explorers and other adults at 0600. There was no messing around, everyone just got up, got sorted and got out in good time for the 1 hour coach journey to Lauterbrunnen for the first part of the train journey.

 

At the station there was a member of staff already waiting for us and within ten minutes they had completely rearranged our day give us an extra 30 minutes on the summit and take advantage of our arriving at the first station early. We had a whole rail carriage to ourselves which quite bizzarely had a reservation label on the side with my name on it. The kids very quickly renamed it the 'Payne Train'.

 

First stop was Kleine Scheidegg, a small hotel village sitting very close to the north face of the Eiger. Then it was on the Jungfraubahn train which took us through the middle of the Eiger to the Jungfraujoch complex. The train stopped twice allowing passengers a five minute break each time to have a look through windows cut into the mountain face and looking down on the rocks and ice below.

 

The train journey gave us a unique opportunity to show the kids a little bit of science in action. A perfectly normal crisp packet a sea level appears to inflate like a party balloon as it ascends to higher altitudes and lower air pressure. Try explaining this to thirty kids in a classroom and you will probably be met by stares. Pass around a crisp packet that looks as though it is about to explode and you will be met with wows and guesses on how much longer it will last. If you are not sure what the heck I'm on about, have a look at the picture in the gallery of the crisp packet with two altimeters - you'll see what I mean.

 

At the Jungfraujoch we went to highest point, the Sphinx, and did some Beaver and Explorer investitures. Everyone then had a couple of hours to explore the ice palace and play in the snow. As promised, everyone who wanted to was able to throw a snowball. Not bad for August eh?!

 

Then it was back onto the train to head down. Once again it was change at Kleine Scheidegg, but the plan this time was for everyone who was able to, to walk down to Grindelwald where the coach would be waiting for us. The path took us right below the Eiger north wall. None of the kids could believe that this big grey and snow covered cliff was 6000ft high and over hanging.

 

The descent was almost 4500ft and we had three and half hours to do it. Everyone got down safely, but the real star of the day was Paddy. Granted I had to wrestle his jumper off him and his rucsac out of his hands, but his little legs still managed to carry him about three quarters of the way before I stuck him on a train with Charlotte with instructions on where to get off - fortunately they made it. This walk was a real achievement for anyone and many people much, much younger than Pat are feeling a bit stiffer today.

 

The coach journey back to Kandersteg gave many people the chance to catch short naps. In fact everybit of the journey where we were sat down for more than five minutes gave people the chance to grab naps. We won't name them, but there is a photo mosaic of some of them in the gallery. :tongue:

 

Monday is more walking with two groups going out with KISC instructors on the 'evolving alps hikes'. To finish about today though, the kids were as usual now, simply amazing and keep telling us how much they are enjoying the camp and your messages - so keep them coming. Thanks.

 

Woody has also now posted a second International Blog if you want to read his latest too.

 

Monday 10 August - Evolving Alps Hike- Lauren, Matty, Todd & Phil.

Hi First Bedworth blog readers, Lauren, Matty, Todd and Phil here. We are having a great time here in Switzerland and today we hiked through an alpine trail with a leader from KISC called Rosie. We learnt about the Swiss Alps and how they were formed and the different rock formations. Matty and Phil did a little role play about how they were formed. There was only one difficult part of the hike which involved a steep climb. On the way up we learnt even more about the Swiss alps by doing quizzes and i-spies which Todd won  :smile:. Also we adopted pet rocks called Tom, Sanjeep  and “Faz”. As well as naming pet rocks and pouring acid on them to make them fizz, we also laughed at Nathan as he walked into an electric fence.

 

On the way back from having a very educational walk about the Swiss Alps, we skimmed stones across the river. Most of us walked in and it was freezing, whilst the people that weren’t brave enough to go in all stood and laughed at us. Altogether it took us three long hours to get there and back. The people not on the walk had free time, but they had to help out and go down to the village shop and buy the food for the next few days.

 

When they got back most people had a shower as there were the odd few smelly ones. Everyone had free time this afternoon and most of us went to the village and bought chocolate and sweets. After dinner everybody was just chilling round the hut. Later in the evening everyone went up to the International Evening at KISC and got to explore round different country’s food and culture. Near enough everyone in the group got a stamp representing Kandersteg/Switzerland on there group tops. After we got back we got to relax and chill before we all turn in, some more than others as they have a big mountain hike ahead of them in the morning.

 

Mark -Today the kids took part in something called the 'Evolving Alps Hike' as part of the environmental bit of our programme. The instructors from KISC were excellent and from all the comments coming back to us, they managed to turn what could have been a very dry subject - plate tectonics! - into something really enjoyable. Boys went out this morning and girls this afternoon.

 

Tuesday is the turn of the last nine Explorer’s to have a go at a hut walk. Luck has been on our side with the hut bookings and we have been able to book beds in the 8500ft Fruenden Hut. It’s unlikely we’ll do a blog on Tuesday but we’ll make sure there’s one as soon as we get the chance afterwards.

 

Tuesday 11 August - Fruenden Hut – Ryjo, Jim & Dan

Today we had an early start. Markel Flatley woke us up at 8.00am. We had to get up and then get ready for a long days walking ahead of us to our 8500ft high mountain hut. We said our goodbyes and then set off at 10 am. Just before we set off though Mark told us that he had bought us tickets for the cable car from Kandersteg village to the Oeschiensee (which for everyone who thought that was cheating it really wasn’t). As we arrived at the cable car stop at the Oeschiensee we saw the monstrous mountain that we were just about to ascend. The cow bells on the cows in the field that we went via were very irritating as they were constantly ringing as the cows ate inhumanly amounts of grass (they could have at least rung in time).

 

We set an exceedingly exuberant pace at the start of our walk which would have been impossible to maintain throughout the trek especially for those people who were either unfit or ill. However we were soon above the cloud and could clearly see our mountain hut and the flags outside it. We plodded over 3 bridges which dangled precariously over fast flowing waterfalls. We zigzagged up the mountain, stopping every so often for the ill people such as Charlie and Sarah (But don’t worry they’re okay now!) When we arrived at the mountain hut, Mark brought us all ‘a coke’ which was wonderful and refreshing; the view was fantastic with a glacier behind the building. We sat outside playing cards until we were freezing. For tea we ate beautiful vegetable soup and pasta with a lovely sauce. We had an early night for an early 7am descent tomorrow.

 

Tuesday 11 August – KISC Quiz – Liam & Nathan

Hello people who are reading the blog we start with yesterday by going on a walk and answered question about the K.I.S.C centre. Later we did another quiz which spelled a word and the word was alpine adventure. During the first walk Nathan fell over. Making a good day in all. The quiz went rather well but some groups weren’t doing as well as others a group with Nathan Leah Kalem and Adel took 1 hour and 30 minutes to spell a word.

 

Wednesday 12 August - Fruenden Hut, High Ropes and Disco – Ryjo, Jim & Dan

Today we descended from our 8500ft mountain hut, being woken up by Mark at around 6am ready to eat before a 7am set off. Our continental breakfast consisted of cornflakes, bread and jam and cheese with drinks of Orange Juice, Coffee and Tea. We set off around 5 minutes later than planned, however we descended quickly and swiftly to arrive down within around two and half hours.

 

When descending we saw a wonderful view of an inversion (which is when you are above all of the clouds, and is only seen rarely in the UK in a lifetime). We walked down with no complications whatsoever when we arrived at the Oeschinensee we had a skimming contest in which Broady and Cannon scored 20 bounces across the beautiful blue water. We arrived 1 hour before planned in Kandersteg and therefore had an hour of shopping in the village. We got back to our building at around 11am in the morning and all scurried to our beds for a few hours before the High ropes course which began at 2pm.

 

The high ropes course was brilliant; there were 4 routes of difficulty which all thoroughly tested our strength and will power. Unfortunately for the over 14 year olds they were able to attempt the Level 4 route! The whole course consisted of plenty of zip wires, bridges and other complex obstacles. In most opinions the cargo net appeared to be the hardest part of the course with most people coming out with minor scuff and scrapes. This involved swinging off a platform and hurtling towards netting which we had to grapple on to with all of our strength otherwise you would be sitting on an uncomfortable seat suspended several meters above the ground.

 

 

Mark -Today we did the high ropes and it was very good their were four levels to do but the scouts could only do 3 levels it was good it had zip wires and platforms to cross and ladders to climb it was good but we spent most of the time clipping ourselves on to obstacles the best part was the zip wires  and the crossing platform

 

Liam & Nathan -It was so good and we were on it all but todd sayin how bad he was and that he was having a crisis on the zip wire as he broke his clip. also every time phil jumped off the zip wire he shouted “chocks away”

 

 

Leigh & Ryan -8 o’clock came and its time to strut our funky stuff at the international discotheque. During the disco we had some pretty funky geezers (meeky and andy) with their hair in some cool styles. Unfortunately they couldn’t charm the ladies to the full potential of their hair! But on the way back we managed to make the girls in front of us giggle by singing row, row, row, your boat. Once we had all chilled after the partay we hit the sacks with big thud ready for the enormous day ahead.

 

Thursday 13 August - Oeschinensee and Tobogganing – Leigh & Ryan

Cockle doodle dooo (otherwise known as mini Payne coming shouting “wake up first Bedworth”) and we woke up. We trudged downstairs to start a full and ‘inspiring’ day swimming and learning about the hydro-electric plant at the Oeschinensee at 1500 ft. After munching a hearty breakfast we gathered outside ready to ramble to the Oeschinensee.  Off we went we walked 5m to the bus stop hoped onto the bus and started to ramble 50m to the nearest cable car station (mark decided to tell us that he bought us tickets onto the cable car). ON TOP OF THE HILL!! ETA was about hour and half with the help got took down to 20 minutes. On the way to the lake Mr Goode gave us a ‘mind opening’ lesson on the environment within the alps apparently it is Africa’s and Europe’s fault the alps where formed.

 

Once at the lake we got stripping for our swim in the geo thermally heated lake (Or so we were told!). It was a tad chilly to say the least! Once we had dried up and ice cream and chips in our bellies we started the trek to the tobogganing. Once tickets where in hand we jumped onto the t’bogans, whizzing to and fro either side we where having a whale of a time. In all the excitement aunty Linda got bumped in the back of her head (She didn’t go on again pansy :P). Myself and cannon decided to go on together and leant into the corner the wrong way and fell off my off, my oh my there some crazy heat burn on our arms :D. A final jump onto the cable car took us back to Kandersteg to do some last minute shopping, I bought my little sister a cow bell :D. Back at the hut time to clean up and what a job it was the floors was shining until the scouts turned up for their buffet and what a buffet it was. Time for bed now, night guys.

 

Mark - It's been a long, tiring, but immensely enjoyable camp. To finish things off on a high we had a presentation evening after dinner this evening. We showed off all the Scouting awards everyone has earned as well as giving out some extra-special awards to Ashleigh, Gemma, Charlie for their outstanding efforts throughout all the bag packing, and of course to Jo for sorting out all of the bag packing bookings. Without the hard work of these four individduals and everyone else who worked so hard it would have been a very different camp altogether.

 

Once the awards were all done we handed over to Woody and Matt who ran a spoon awards to recognise the extra daft things that were said and done during the course of the trip. A good spread of awards were given across the age ranges on camp, including one award to a parent for something that happened back in Bedworth! A big BRAVO finished off followed the laughs.

 

So, I'm sitting in the darkened reception area at KISC wrapping this up before our early start tomorrow morning for the long journey home. As the kids have said throughout what an experience this trip has been for them and I can't help reflecting on what a great camp it really has been. Young people from 1st Bedworth have achieved things in these last two weeks that very very few of their peers will ever attempt in their lives. They have made friends with young people from many countries and realised that actually, they really aren't that different - music and fashion being pretty good starting points.

 

Physically they have not only taken on new challenges but grabbed them and owned them. Before this trip I had a few people say they were concerned about their personal fitness. Not a single one of them wasn't able to complete the tasks before them and only rarely were words of encouragement needed. Words of high praise were always forthcoming both from the adult team and each other.

 

All in all, this was a great trip. One of the best ever. Thanks to all of you for allowing me the honour of organising it for you.

 

Friday 14 August - The Return Journey- Mark

1300- Due to our very early arrival at Geneva airport we have a few extra hours to kill before check in. Whole party is now properly fed and watered after our very quick breakie this morning so that we could get out early for the coach. From the number of people who were asleep on the coach you would think people we'd been busy or something!

 

1430- All through Geneva customs although there were one or two minor checks needed. For some bizarre reason, Richard W had a tent peg in his hand luggage. The question here of course being why? At least when Paddy had his knife, fork and spoon confiscated in 2005 they would have been a little useful in Kandersteg, but a tent peg when we were staying in a wooden building????!!!! Please feel free to suggest ideas on the comments (clean ones of course).

 

1830- All forty six travellers now sitting on an air conditioned coach, steaming back up the M1 into the sun and back to Beduff. It's been a long day, and the camp is almost over. Looks as though we are on track for 8PM at the Scout HQ though.

 

As usual on this camp, the kids have been absolute stars all day. As parents you can be proud of each and every single one of them for the waya they have conducted themselves over the last two weeks. They are a fine example for Bedworth and Scouting.

 

 

A Few Big Organisational Thanks-

 

We'll do these in order of appearance:

 

* The management, staff and customers of all the Sainsburys, Morrisons, Asda and M&S stores who supported us so well at every bag packing.

 

* Harrington's Coaches for their great price and excellent service - we'd still be stuck in Bedworth without you and we'll be recommending you to everyone we know.

 

* Terminal, Security and Easy Jet staff at London Luton airport. A massive thanks for helping us get through the check in, security and boarding processes as smoothly as possible.

 

* Bergmann's coaches of Adelboden and our regular driver, Hans. We're not sure how much sleep Hans ever got but he was always bang on time for all of our pick ups and drop offs. A super efficient service.

 

* All of the staff at KISC and Swiss Adventures, especially Geoff and the other guys in the Programme Office for their excellent organisation in booking the fantastic activities that made this trip the enjoyable adventure it was.

 

* WCVYS (Warwickshire Children and Voluntary Youth Service) for the very kind donation which helped fund the environmental parts of the programme and the overnight hut visits. Thank you for sharing our vision for the trip. Without this kind of investment in the group these trips are even more of a challenge to run and we hope from the comments posted to this blog you can see that the money has been very well spent.

 

* To Ivan of Swiss Travel Bureau for the great deal on the Interlaken excursion. It was the only wet day of the trip but no less enjoyable for it.

 

* STC/Swiss Rail for the monumentally efficient service on the Jungfraujoch excursion and for creating the 'Payne Train'! Your superb service allowed us an extra 30 min on the top which we made full use of.

 

* Terminal, Security and Easy Jet staff at Geneva airport. A massive thanks for helping us get through the check in, security and boarding processes as smoothly as possible.