Cubs do backwoods

We had planned a backwoods day with the Cubs and the day finally arrived. We rocked up to the Fingal Field/Campsite formerly known as Bog of the Ring with 15 cub scouts and four scouters.

We had been keeping a close eye on the weather forecast. Rain was forecast but not till the afternoon. We quickly got to work getting some form of shelter up for our gear. Martin showed the kids how to throw up our make shift shelter whilst the kids took all the gear from our cars and placed them on wooden pallets that they salvaged from the wood pile which they put under the shelter. The wooden pallets got a lot of use this Saturday!

Whilst some of the cubs were making the shelter, our older cubs were pioneering a little altar fire with help from Mary and Andrea. I have to say we were very impressed with their lashings. Works of art!

We then decided where our fire would be based and our chopping area and we placed boundary poles around the area just so the kids didn't run into an axe or a fire pit! We got some sighs and groans when the odd cub tried climbing over the boundary rope as a short cut only for them to be told to retrace their steps and come into the area through the actual entrance into the roped off area. Sigh...it's tough....

It didn't take the cubs too long to build the alter fire. Once the main part was ready they carried it into the fire area and finished lashing the half barrel to their gadget. We made sure to have plenty of aluminium foil on the poles ... this time...

I ran through axe and knife safety and then we all had a turn at making a feather stick and chopping some wood with our axe.

Mary had brought a bucketful of yummy food for the kids to experiment with. Stuart and Jenna took great pleasure in chopping up peppers on a makeshift table which the cubs made from more wooden pallets. Abby, Eve and Niall prepped some chicken. Potatoes were wrapped in silver foil and placed in/on the embers of our fantastic fire and left to cook. Fish, also lightly seasoned (cod and salmon), were placed in aluminium parcels and placed in the fire. We skewered the lightly seasoned chicken and cooked them on the grill.

At this point most of the cubs cleared off to build a fort with the wood pile even having a water source on site. Imagination.. you can't beat it. And we leaders took a little break....

...before we were joined by a cub to keep a close eye on the food situation.

At some point Martin sorted out his drone and did a flyover with it.

Once the food was cooked the cubs came back to have a taste. The fish and chicken went down well (better than Jamie Oliver apparently) and they were impressed with the fluffy baked potatoes. We made some char cloth whilst we had access to fire. Tried some cotton batting and it wasn't too bad. Might use different shaped tin next time.

The kids continued with their fort battle but soon it was time to start wrapping things up.

The cubs had been divided into two sixes upon arrival so now it was all hands on deck to dismantle everything and get it packed away before parents arrived. Divide and conquer.

We did a final walk of the site and made sure we left nothing behind. We gathered a bag of general rubbish and felt very good with ourselves!! #leavenotrace. They tidied up the wood pile and left it in pristine condition!