Platinum Chief Scout Hike

A weekend that will most likely be remembered for its Saturday night antics round the camp fire also saw 8 Explorers complete their Platinum expedition and our two Gambian friends take inspiration for a similar event back home.

Setting off from Chigwell Row at 10 on Saturday morning saw the first group consisting of the two Chrises, Alex and Matt forgetting which way they had entered the car park. It didn’t get much better over the first leg, when met by Team 2, they were walking entirely the wrong direction. Tom, Elliot, Callum, Dobbie and Helena of Team 2 however had only a little more success arriving at the first checkpoint way behind schedule as well.

This however was not the theme of the day as both groups made good headway, Team 2 even beating expectations and arriving at Crow Camp on time. Team 1, deceived by some very hard map reading and rarely walked paths, arrived a little later, though significantly more fatigued.

When it came to dinner, without mentioning names; hopefully next time someone will remember to drain their pasta. Round the campfire there were ‘s’mores’ and ‘dampers’ to enjoy. The highlight of the evening without doubt though was Paul’s ‘chimney fire’ which created a spectacle leaving us grateful that we weren’t sharing the site with anyone else.

Both teams had clearly learnt from the mistakes they made early on Saturday and made exceptional progress on the second day. Racing ahead of schedule both teams arrived back at the den well before 4 o’clock. Sainey and Abubacaar walked the last stretch with the Explorers. Team 2 almost threw it away with Helena and Elliot helping a lost tourist however.

Both teams made a commendable effort walking around 32km, what was particularly applaudable was how when faced with difficulties rather than phone for help both teams stuck at the problem and then learnt from their mistakes; congratulations and well done.

For those that missed this weekend, and hopefully those that came and had such a good time, there are going to be a number of walking expeditions over the next 12 months. This will include the Southern 50, Dragnet, which can count as your Platinum Hike as well, and next summer; the Diamond Chief Scout Expedition.

Thank you for reading

James