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Well, hopefully, by the time this
article is produced most of you will have had a good summer camp.
Ours was to be with other members of our group in Austria.
(This consisted of 3 Cub Scouts, 20 Scouts and 6 Venture Scouts, plus
numerous adults.)
Last year, plans were put into place for a camp with Jeka
Group Holidays in Italy, unfortunately, there was not a house available for a
large group such as ours, so changes had to be made and we settled on the Lech
Valley in the Austrian Tirol. There
appeared to be many good activities that would keep everyone amused for the
whole week!! What an understatement! There
was not a minute of peace or rest for the group or the poor coach drivers.
I think we managed around 35 hours of sleep for the whole week!!
Day 1
Coach arrives and off we go. 40
of us in a 49 seater coach, a little cosy but what the heck, we’re all
friends. We arrive in Dover for the
9.15pm ferry. Once over the Channel we all settle down to a video and
hopefully some sleep.
Day 2 After an uncomfortable and restless night, we stopped for breakfast somewhere in Germany. More videos and finally at 2.00pm, we arrived at our destination. What a lovely sight, a very nice house in a very pretty village in the Tirol!! The kettle was our first priority, NOT getting everyone off the coach for a stretch!! That evening, we explored the village, not much to see, except the lovely walk down by the river. The River Lech runs right through the Lech Valley, and consists of glacier melt water, so is normally a beautiful turquoise blue colour. However, when it rains, it is a rather mucky brown colour.
Day 3 A day to hike and bike. Today the coach was not available so we hired bikes and cycled the river path to a rather rickety bridge, which spans the Lech river and is some 75m in length. Instructions are not to have more than 5 on it at any time, and not to jump on it!! Did the scouts listen, yes, but the ventures didn’t, and what a wobbly bridge it was too. Dave Densham, VSL, took the precaution to walk it alone, sensible man!! In the evening we all went 9-pin bowling. Yes, just 9, and what a difference it makes to the game. However, everyone had a great time, and vented their frustrations out on that tiny little ball. Well, some of the adults did, mainly Dave Gilder, who tried so hard to get them all down in one throw, that he never could manage it!! We soon learnt that it was better to plan and throw with accuracy than hard and fast!!
Day 4 An early start for an excursion to the Bavarian castle of Neuschwanschtein. If you had to visit one, then this has to be it. This castle was used by Walt Disney to base his Disney castle on, and also the film “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” was made here. This is a wonderful area with 3 castles and a tourist trap of shops, bars and cafes. Once we had climbed what seemed like a mountain up to the castle, we had a guided tour with an English-speaking guide. At lunchtime, we headed to the nearby lake, where 3 Scouts were invested into the Delta Venture Unit. Thanks to Outdoors, they were invested wearing the new Scout Network shirts that only arrived on the day we left. On the way home, a short detour took us to Biberwier and the outdoor toboggan run. (1300m of track down the hillside) Great fun if you made it down in one piece. Unfortunately one of our leaders had a slight mishap and ruined his £80 Rohde trousers – his wife was not amused!!
Day 5 Another early start for the journey to Haiming for the White Water Rafting. Two groups set out, the Juniors (under 14s) and the Seniors (over 14s) over a steady flow of water on the River Inn. Many large people struggling to get into wetsuits was certainly a sight to see, but definitely slimming once you get in them!! Not everyone wanted to take part in this activity, so we had a game of beach volleyball during the hottest part of the day, and yes, we got burnt! When everyone returned, they all agreed that this was the best activity so far. Bearing this in mind, we booked another session for Friday. After dinner, we headed down the valley for a Tirolean evening; a bit of culture if you enjoy watching thigh-slapping Lederhosen clad Austrian men whilst drinking the local ale!!
Day 6 Advice from the Jeka Rep made us alter our programme and we took another early excursion to visit the Zugspitze. This is the highest mountain in Germany, reaching almost 3000m. There are 2 ways to get up it, the cable car and the train. I am a coward and took the train with 1 scout and another leader. The rest, well they took their life in their hands and took a ride on the cable car. It reached the top in less than 10 mins. Ugh!! There was not enough time to get acclimatised, and a couple of the leaders did succumb to the altitude!! One had to be rushed down within 20 mins but the other managed to stay and go down on the train with a small group, with the rest descending using the cable car again. On a clear day, at the top, you can see both Germany and Austria, but guess what, the clouds came down and it rained, hailed and snowed. However, we did go out onto the glacier, and I did promise the scouts a snowball fight if there was snow! This we did, and I came down absolutely soaked. Not everyone can say they had a snowball fight in August!! It was a good job it was hot at the bottom so I soon dried out. After dinner, rifle shooting in the building across the street. The organisers held a competition and was it good, or perhaps not so good, that the winners were not the RAF leaders!! Worrying!!
Day 8 The last day, and yet another early start for our final visit to Haiming for rafting. The previous evening, it rained and rained and rained, and yes, the river was swollen. In fact, it was 1 m over Tuesday’s height and 10cm off the cut off for the river. It was very scary. I had chosen to go today since it looked so nice on Tuesday, and wished that I hadn’t said I would. However, after squeezing into a wetsuit with the others, we set off on what should normally take 1 hour and 30 mins, to be at the end after just 45 mins. The rapids were enormous and there were many occasions when I thought we would tip over, but thanks to the excellent guide, we didn’t. However, I don’t think I will participate in that again! Once we arrived home, we sent the coach drivers off to get their rest for the journey home. We couldn’t believe our week had almost ended. A final hike in the evening to make sure that everyone would get a good nights sleep, finished off a brilliant week in Austria.
Day 9 Up a little later than normal, 7.00am for breakfast and the task of leaving the house clean and tidy. Once that was achieved, a last minute chance to do some souvenir shopping before our final meal, after which it was time to leave. Sad farewells were said to our friends the Harveys who traveled down from Bruggen to be with us, left everyone in tears.
Well, that was our account of our summer camp, I do hope you have enjoyed reading it, and if you are planning, or wish to plan something similar, please get in touch.
Angie SL 10th Lincoln Scout Troop (Waddington)
Read Delta Ventures Report On This Journey!
On Behalf of all who went on this adventure I'd like to thank Angie for her organization and massive contribution to this event as it would have never of happened if it wasn't for her!!!
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