Litter picking in Balfron

The Scouts journeyed into the woods behind Coop two weeks ago and cleared the whole place of litter. There was a lot of litter because this wood is used a lot for walking dogs and kids who go down to the stream to play. But there was a lot of very interesting litter as well: a really long tube, a road sign, a shopping trolley (Coop didn't want it back), a children's easel, and loads ad loads of bottles and packaging.

After we'd collected everything we went up to the recycling depot and sorted everything out for the different recycling bins.

Cubs at Barrwood - summer 2015

A few weeks ago the Cubs went for a great weekend to Barrwood. They was a little rain at some points but the sun did shine and when you're crossing rope bridges and toasting marshmallows who cares about the rain.

They did some great backwoods cooking, making a tripod and boiling an egg in a tin can hung from the tripod.

Beavers afloat

This term the Beavers went for a sleepover at the Sea Life centre and then managed to fit in a visit the Loch Lomond Rescue Boat in Luss. They had a great time and went very very fast. The photos are not perfect because the leader was a little worried bout dropping his very phone in the water.

Inchcailloch camp- day 2

At Drymen we picked up the second team of Scouts to camp on Inchcailloch. Unfortunately, rather than ending with a wet and windy walk after which they could go home and get dry...these Scouts had the walk first. But they were all in fantastic spirits and were very happy to get to the top of Conic Hill. 

At the end of the hike, to get dried off a bit, we stopped to have a very well-deserved hot chocolate in Balmaha.

Then it was time for the ferry trip, and the rain stopped so everyone was happy.

We again walked across the island to our beach-side campsite and quickly made ourselves at home. 

The Trangias were fired up again and everyone did a great job cooking their own dinner and had plenty of pasta bolognese.

After dinner the rain held off for lots of beach games, which inevitably ended with a few Scouts getting a little wet.

We went for a walk to the spooky graveyard where absolutely no-one felt Rob Roy's cousin tap us on the shoulder(!) and saw a lot of deer on the island. 

The next morning we packed up all the tents and tramped across the island to get the ferry back. Everyone had a great time and the new tents and trangias were great.

Inchcailloch camp: day 1

A few weekends ago, seven Scouts went across to Inchcailloch, an island on Loch Lomond, for a one night camp. We had the island completely to ourselves so it was easy to grab the best campsite...the one by the beach!

We explored the island, finding the old cemetery and some great old trees.

One of our team came over on the last ferry so we all went down to meet him at the jetty.

Then it was time for dinner, which we all cooked ourselves one the new Scout Trangias. A quick celebration of Taylor's birthday with great campfire cakes supplied by his mum and then we started a campfire...

...and after a few ghost stories, Annabel brought out the smores making kit...which the leaders found a little hard to eat.  

That night a storm hit the island and the wind was very very strong. The leaders thought some of the tents might not make it but they held up fantastically with not one guy rope out of place.

The next day the rain came down...a lot! We had a quick breakfast and packed up all our stuff (leaving the tents for the Saturday night team) and there was just time for a quick photo before walking back across the island to catch the ferry.

Our next challenge was to walk all the way from Balmaha to Drymen, in a howling gale and heavy rain. Luckily the Scouts were completely up for this and didn't complain once. We tramped up Conic Hill and marvelled at the view, and then made our way to the car park just north of Drymen, seven miles away, to meet parents.

Well done to all the Scouts for a great camp and for battling through the weather on the hike.

Global Issues

A few weeks ago the Scouts ran a session on Global Issues. They gave fantastic presentations on a really wide range of issues, from animal welfare and poverty to natural disasters such as flooding, earthquakes and volcanoes.

The talks were great and there were loads of interesting questions.

Rafting, Shooting and Climbing

Again the Balfron Scouts descended on Auchengillan to show off their rifle shooting, rock climbing and raft building skills. Some excellent shooting, climbing and knot tying was done by all, but despite the superb quality of the rafts the scouts being the scouts got thoroughly soaked, giving them a chance to show off their swimming skills too!