THE PLOT
The plot was to:

• run a multi-activity week in three x 2 day phases, with a "day-off" after Phase II, giving experience in Caving, Single/Multi Pitch Rock Climbing, Mountain Biking and Canadian Canoeing. Canadian canoeing was chosen as it was different to most people's experience of kayaking and hence a different skill-set, and the craft is more suitable for journeying.
• be self-catering, which would necessitate the participants having to cope with a different language and interface with the local population - and encourage them to look after themselves.
• get County-wide friendships going with a younger age-group
• start to establish an Explorer Scout culture.

TRAINING WEEKEND
There was an awareness that with a two-year lowering of the age range to 13, it was right that there should be a far greater interface with parents than hitherto the case with Venture Scouts. There was also an awareness that Belgium would be too late to find out that you had a fear of heights, claustrophobia, an inability to paddle a canoe………….. and piles! So a training weekend was held of the weekend of the 4th/6th April. This started with a briefing and getting to know-you session at GT, during which parents had the opportunity to meet the Leaders, and gain re-assurance that their little cherubs would be brought safely home!
After breaking camp on the Saturday, two groups canoed the length of Windermere from Moor Crag to Low Stott, just above Lakeside, and climbed on Whitestones - changing over at lunchtime. With a camp fire on the knoll and wild camping for the night on John Hesketh's field, the group travelled to meet the caving team in the Yorkshire Dales and experienced the Runscar, Thistle and Roger Kirk systems followed by a Bernie's chip butty in Ingleton.
Three participants couldn't make the training weekend, so a special evening was arranged for them on the 16th May when we took then down the Valley Entrance to the Kingsdale Master Cave.
They all arrived on the training sessions either not knowing each other………….. or maintaining existing friendship/unit groups. This was in stark contrast to their relationships at the end of the main event.

TRAVEL & TRANSPORT
Training West Lancashire Ltd (a subsidiary of Skelmersdale College) kindly loaned a minibus for the training weekend.
Original ideas for Belgium involved a coach. But at the end of the day the transport make-up was ideal in that it allowed the right flexibility in-country. Lancashire County Council Youth & Community kindly loaned their VW superbus and a Transit Hi-Top at no cost: Skelmersdale College let us use their Transit (minus 5 seats!) and which also towed the Canoe Trailer: and the Range Rover took the Mega Box with all the rest of the kit.
Whilst previous trips have consistently used Sea France, via Alternative Promotions, Norfolk Lines gave us a deal with the trailers we couldn't refuse. All vehicles left Lancashire independently around 4/5pm on Friday 23rd May, coming together in Dover for the 1:45am ferry on the Saturday………….. and the short 3hr journey from Dunkerque got us all into Mont by 08:00.
The return journey left Mont at 08:00 on Sunday 1st June………….. and everybody was back home by 8pm.

EQUIPMENT
Participants supplied their own tents, camping equipment and basic outdoors gear. All the caving gear was supplied at a nominal maintenance charge by the County Caving Team & Jon Abbey. The County Climbing Team supplied all the climbing equipment, and the Canadian Canoes also came from County resources, at no charge. We had to hire in the 8 mountain bikes……………. This being the major equipment expense and at £500 was quite high. We perhaps need to address this for the future.
Other minor bits of equipment, such as dry bags, were purchased out of the funds.

ACCOMMODATION
Originally we planned on camping outside a mediaeval fortified farmhouse in Courrière, near Namur. This is owned by the Belgian Catholic Scouting Association, and run by Maurice & Chantal Goethals. Unfortunately they had some large conference bookings that week, so we stayed in their Scout House in Mont-Goddine, about 5kms away. Whilst the original idea was more aesthetically atmospheric (!), in reality Mont-Godinne was far better as we were independent, the Explorer Scouts could camp and self cater, but there were indoor facilities for the staff, for sorting cleaning and storing equipment, for group catering and, importantly to be able to swill down caving suits and mountain bikes. It would have been difficult to do this at Courrière. The only downside were that Jon and Dick had a running battle with maintaining a clear sewage system! At a cost of under £19 per head for eight nights………. less than £2.50 per head per night…… it represented good value.

CATERING
The main concept was for the participants to self cater to force them to interface with the local environment………….. and to be self sufficient. We conceded with breakfasts, which tended to be communal within the house in order to make sure they were all out of bed, had eaten, and were ready for prompt starts each morning.
Helen ended up acting as interpreter/adviser on the food buying runs to Spar & Carrefour. We had an end-of scheme BBQ sit-down meal on the last Saturday night. For most of the younger Explorer Scouts, this will have been the first (semi) formal dinner they would have attended…………. with after-dinner speeches, etc! . I was very impressed how there was no eagerness to drift away and they all stayed at the table until the end.
The concepts seemed to work very well and, as noted in the feedback, was a good experience for many.
This was the first real experience of getting to grips with the alcohol thing and Explorer Scouts. We decided, WITH SPECIFIC PARENTAL PERMISSION, to continue the Venture Scout policy of allowing limited consumption of "long" alcoholic drinks such as beer - but not spirits. In the main our trust was rewarded, apart from one occasion when just one member went OTT and we immediately called in ALL bottles for specific issue……………. And I think peer pressure took care of the rest! In the main they were sensible, and several of the younger Explorer Scouts had no wish to even try beer "coz of the horrible taste"!

FINANCIAL
The cost to Explorer Scouts was £195, but a final surplus enabled a £10 per head to be refunded. Staff paid a lower sum (£75) just to cover their costs of travel and accommodation. The finances were greatly helped by the use of two LCC minibuses free of charge and the College minibus at low rental. A Polo/T shirt was supplied as part of the overall costs. It should be possible to maintain the same figure of £195 for 2004. A final surplus of £38 was achieved.

SCOUTING ETHOS
formal Opening/Closing Ceremonies. Uniform was not appropriate whilst on the activities, but we did require polo/T shirts and neckers when away from base at other times.
We had hoped to interface with local Belgian Scouts on the final Saturday night, but were told that they had problems with their main school exams starting on the Monday morning.

THE ACTIVITY LEADERS
All activity leaders were fully qualified for the activities undertaken, with the appropriate Scouting authorisations. Only Linden Dougall was not previously connected with Scouting, but she received clearance and Scout authorisations in time.

CANADIAN CANOE EXPEDITION
Activity Leaders:-
Sara Withall - Scout Leader, Preston
Linden Dougall - Open Canoe Instructor
Three successful expeditions of between 33k and 41k were run with a variety of games being introduced to build up water confidence and to reinforce skills being taught. The learning experience also included poling as an alternative to using a paddle, performing rescues on moving water, tracking and lining a canoe as well launching a canoe from a height (some 20ft!). All participants surpassed the standard required for the British Canoe Union 1* award for tandem open canoe.
The two-day expedition consisted of one day on the River Lesse, a grade 1 /2 river, with a number of easy rapids and two weirs.
There were two main concerns with respect to the Lesse:

• The river was not as expected! Due to a heavy amount of rainfall the river was in spate, which meant that there were no beaches or eddies where we could pull in to coach the first group, Phase I. The water level had dropped rapidly by day 2 of the first expedition. By Phase III the water was bordering on being too low to experience the thrill of white water paddling.
• The second concern was the over laden canoes. The heavily laden boats caused the canoes to sit very low in the water. This contributed to the capsizes, which were caused by the overhanging trees catching the gunwales.

• Instructors should have the opportunity to paddle the Lesse before the start of any future expedition, to establish what the potential hazards are and how they can be avoided, particularly if the river is in spate.
• Specific preparation regarding expedition gear, the weight of the gear and the impact of over laden canoes should be undertaken prior to leaving the UK.
• Acquisition of two 5hp Seagull engines for the open canoes to supplement the paddling on the Meuse.

ROCK CLIMBING
Activity Leaders:-
Geoff Lyons - County Climbing Adviser
Mike Penwarden - County Climbing Team Quartermaster
After the heavy rain on Friday night and Saturday morning the rocks were pretty wet and slippery as Mike and I discovered when we visited Mozet on Saturday afternoon for a quick recce. As with all the crags in the Ardennes the rock at Mozet is limestone; the crags are located in the trees on the hillside above the river Samson, a tributary of the river Meuse east of Namur. Despite the conditions we managed a couple of routes to familiarise ourselves with the place.
Sunday saw "Phase I" and we were greeted with blue skies and sunshine. Conscious that Mozet would still be pretty wet, due to the crag being west facing and hidden amongst the trees, we decided to go to a crag called Dave which has an open aspect overlooking the river Meuse. We chose a three pitch route named "L'Aspirant" which had a French grade of 2, that's about "diff" in real money. Splitting into three ropes with Daniel, JamesT and myself on one, JamesG and Ben on the second and Mike and Matt on the third, we set off up the route. Progress was quite slow due to the stances being quite busy with local climbers and communication difficulties due to traffic noise from the road below; despite this and other hazards such as falling rocks and car keys (!) all three parties completed the multi-pitch route in time for dinner.
The afternoon was spent at Mozet which had by this time dried out reasonably well. The crag was very quiet and we packed quite a few routes in, some up to French 5c which is roughly equivalent to VS/HVS. All concerned agreed that the single pitch routes of Mozet were more enjoyable than hanging around in the queues and on the stances at Dave!
Monday was a day off for Mike and myself and we spent it back at Dave, basking in the sunshine and testing ourselves against some of the steeper routes; it's surprising how bold you can be when there's a nice shiny bolt every two or three metres!
Tuesday saw us off to Mozet again with the "Phase II" team of Andrew, ChrisP, Karl, Kylie, Liam and Robert, accompanied by Ray. The rocks were really dry now and we made the most of it, several Explorers taking the opportunity to try their hands at leading. One of the most popular routes was "Soldanella", a twenty metre climb at grade 4, about severe, which finished at a metal cross on the summit of a flying buttress which poked out above the trees; some concerns were expressed about the security of the cross when used for the anchor...... so we sent Ray up first to test it!
The "Phase III" team of Alex, Chris M, Claire, Danielle, Michael and Peter visited Mozet on Friday; the weather was very warm and the weeks activities were noticeably taking their toll with Claire falling asleep below the crag! Despite the lethargy the, by this time, "usual" set of routes received yet more ascents; Danielle showed particular determination on a sustained 5c problem called "Grizzly", finally succeeding despite being dropped a few feet by her belayer!
Mike and I took the opportunity to go down to Freyr on Saturday morning, just to have a look, It was awesome, like a BIG version of Malham Cove overlooking the Meuse; we ran away quickly and went back to Dave where we just had time to knock off a two pitch VDiff classic up the front of the crag. This route, a combination of "Les Autrichiens" and "Le Cheval Rouge" was really nice, much more enjoyable than "L'Aspirant"; one for next year perhaps?

CAVING
Activity Leaders:-
Jonathan Abbey - Chairman, County Activities & Facilities Committee
Dave Ridout - ACC(Activities)
Jon Abbey and Dave Ridout, the caving leaders, spent the first day sorting out the UBS key which would gain access to the gated caves of the Ardennes. The production of the Caving Team membership card of the British Cave Research Association was helpful in this. We finally tracked down Laurent, the local caving expert, and were also able to discuss access to some of the local caves bearing in mind the weather conditions of the previous week. Trou de Nou Maulin was out as the River, La Lomme, was half a metre from overflowing it's bank and the cave entrance is some 5 metres lower and only a few metres away. Trou de L'Eglise was described as "sporting". This proved correct as Jon, Dick and myself discovered on the Saturday evening. The stream that falls into the cave entrance was very wet and cold as one descended a fixed ladder and a short climb for 10 metres whilst taking this wonderful shower - straight down the back of the neck!!!. Yes, Laurent, we agree with you!
So Sunday was spent discovering the location of Grotte Saint Anne near Tilff, as this was described as an exceedingly good cave and suitable for novices, and Laurent said it was OK in the weather conditions. Previously Jon had managed a recce of Trou d'Haquin, which was only a short road journey from our base. These two caves became our destination for the rest of the week, with an eye being kept on the water level entering Trou de L'Eglise.
All Explorer Scouts had a day out travelling to the Liege area for Grotte Saint Anne which produced a good 3 hour trip, allowing a climb into a higher passage, a good cheese press type squeeze, some angled sliding, the need to not fall down holes in the floor, and a good "Belgian" streamway. All seemed to enjoy the trip.
Trou d'Haquin proved to be a more difficult cave as one descends through a short climb, handline very useful, and has to pick a way through a series of fallen blocks / boulder choke, whilst avoiding the occasional waterfall. However, the reward is a large chamber with nice flowstone and some stalactites/mites as well as a rift extension into a short downclimb and some tight disappearing passages. Several Leaders found this to be a good trip.
Quite a number visited some of the show caves in the area at Han sur Lesse, Hastiere and Dinant.
The activity was very suitable for the Explorer Scouts and Leaders, in the caves used. It may be useful to rotate the caving leaders used in order to increase the pool of experienced people and it would be sensible to try and expand the knowledge of caves in the area in order to build up a greater selection of suitable caves.

MOUNTAIN BIKING EXPEDITION
Activity Leaders:-
Stuart Peat - Explorer Scout Leader, Blackpool Central
Ash Green - District Explorer Scout Commissioner, Ormskirk
"Belgium's flat! ... What's the point in mountain biking?" was the quote that many doubters were saying before we went. I think that my legs (and Stuarts) would strongly disagree with that statement!!!!!
So, saddled up in the new padded cycling shorts, with emergency bike kit (that was to be used up completely), and water container that dripped all over me for 6 days, we prepared ourselves. Before each 2 day trip, we ran a training session covering clothing, food, water, bike maintenance, and also fitted the bikes to the Explorers, so that come the morning, we were ready for the off.
276 km distance, 4.5 km ascent, and MANY punctures gave an excellent 6 days of biking. Admittedly it was more touring than 'real' mountain biking, but the effect was just as striking on the Explorer Scouts. We managed to take in numerous isolated country villages, a few chateaux, lots of countryside and enough off-roading tracks to keep them happy. In our mission to experience both culture and countryside, we made our first stop of the 2 day expedition in Dinant, where the Explorers split up into two groups to go and do some research on the town. It just so happened that the town was a treasure trove of history - with it having a cliff-top fort that was used in both World Wars, and it also being the birthplace of Adolph Sax, the inventor of the Saxophone!
This resting point also gave us chance to make contact with the local bike shop - where we ended up spending quite a bit of time! The bikes that we hired gave a lot to be desired, especially when in a foreign speaking country and we needed them to work. The guy in the shop managed to help us out with potential routes too, and knew enough English for us to get by. The second half of day one depended on the group. We managed to stop at the local war cemetery (which was the resting place of many French and two crews of British Aircraft, shot down the same night in 1939), and then pushed towards the campsite for the evening. On the first and last trips, we decided that the group was finding it a bit tough, so we kept it direct and short, but on the second trip we pushed the route out a little and found some amazing tracks to rocket down. And although when 1/4 mile from the campsite, the bridge that we needed had been washed away a few weeks before ... And we had to backtrack and take in another 500m hill ... With another 4 km distance ... Which seemed to take for ever…….. we managed it, and the Explorers loved it!
The overnight stop with the canoeists worked well, it was handy having everyone together, although it got a bit cramped on the last night. It did have a proper toilet though - which everyone was VERY impressed with! We used the spare time (after getting the Force Tens up right!) to fix the punctures of the day ... Thanks a million to Geoff for the use of his spares!
Day two was a longer slog - all the height was gained in the first morning (particularly when we let Ray navigate and we lost 2 hours fighting through a forest with the bikes!!!), but as soon as we were on the tops we covered a lot of distance, soaking in the amazing views. We toured through woods, past large beehives next to oil seed rape fields, and up the occasional hill before we descended to our dinner stop - a very relaxing pub. The owner was a star and got on great with both us and the Explorers, and after sampling many of their meals we pushed on again, taking in narrow, history filled valleys, and eventually climbing over the penultimate hill (which took it's toll on many people).
The last stretch was a 3 mile downhill rocket, where we shot right down to cross the main river, headed through Godinne and a steep pull up a 1 in 5 hill to our base. Suffice to say not many people made it, and most of us ended up cursing whomever it was that invented bikes in the first place.
The activity was a success, although it wasn't what both we or the Explorers really anticipated. To give them a challenging, 'Mountain Biking' course inevitably means that we couldn't take in too much of the culture that we managed to find. And likewise if it's just touring, then there's little 'excitement' for everyone. It's one that we'll be thinking of before next year, although we do want to keep elements of both in what we can offer to the youngsters.
Oh, and I'll be taking my own gel seat next year. 6 days in the saddle does things to you that you don't want to repeat. As it were.

ORGANISERS SUMMARY
To quote Hannibal…… (Hayes of the "A" Team!) ……"I love it when a plan comes together"!!!!!!
Of all the trips I've done over recent years, I think this was one of the most satisfying. From a germ of an idea driving back 12 months previously I realised we'd hit on something really good. From a disparate group of young people who met for the first time in April, by the end of May they had welded into a coherent, confident team - friends - almost different people. Being an ex-Venture Scout Leader of many years standing, I don't think I've ever seen as great a distance travelled, developmentally, before.
Yes, I gave them grief from time to time…………. camping standards, tidiness, lateness, etc - but I think they all understood it was directed at their actions, not them personally! "Minimalism " became the watchword after Phase I………….. keeping kit to an absolute minimum when on activities!
The 2 year drop in age range for Explorer Scouts (compared with Venture Scouts) IS important. The average age of all 17 participants was 14 years 9 months, with the oldest being Kylie, 17 years 5 months, and the youngest, Michael, at 13 years 6 months. We do underestimate the ability of the 14 year-old…… we forget that nearly 90 years ago, 14 year-olds were killing and being killed in defence of our Country. I think that this trip has shown just what this younger age range is capable of.
We cannot really hold the event at any time other than Spring Bank Holiday - so the event is practically out for Years 11 and 13 due to GCSEs and "A" Levels. So the potential market is for years 9, 10 and 12 (3rd, 4th & Lower 6th in old money!). My current view is that this is the ideal experience to ingrain the adventure and international experience into younger Explorer Scouts, and get them used to working with others outside their local area. If we were to confine the event to Years 9 & 10, we perhaps need to look at something similar (more advanced?) for year 12s. However, the presence of one or two older participants really did add to the dynamics, and this is acknowledged by several of the younger Explorer Scouts.
Logistically, another 9-seater minibus would enable us to take a maximum of 30 (5 groups of 6). This, I think, should be the cap.
The Staff did a wonderful job, for which I thank them, and for their support and camaraderie. In particular I really felt for Stuart and Ash on the mountain bikes, doing those distances over six days! It was also good to get other leaders involved in this type of international event. And we perhaps need a couple more next year in order to give more opportunities for a break…. as after all, this type of activity generally forms part of our all-too-short holiday entitlement.
So, a good event which I hope will become fixed in the annual Explorer Scout calendar for the next few years.
Dick Griffiths
County Organising Commissioner
(& unpaid travel-agent!!!!!)

Where to start over ... the trip was "fantastic"(a word often used in conjunction with the trip), and all went smoothly. The only downfall was that Helen had to spend so much time in the damn supermarket!

We set off for (what we thought was) sunny Belgium at 4 o'clock on the Friday. In the mini bus which I was travelling in were 4 leaders : Sara, Linden, Grandad aka Dave and Uncle Ray , plus 3 Explorer scouts : Myself - Kylie, Michael and " Jim bob " aka James. Off we set, and arrived at Dover after an interesting half way meet in the service station near London. Everyone got to meet the people who were not on the training weekend! We arrived at Dover in time for our 12.45 departure, and caught up on as much sleep as possible. On the ferry as many people including myself were quite ... lets just say "GREEN" , and after a 3 hour journey we arrived in rainy France - a nice welcome - it felt just like home!

A few hours and coffees later we arrived at our"minimalist" campsite with which we shared with some delightful animals (including many sheep and goats) . After a short briefing we pitched our tents and had our opening ceremony. The flag was raised by our youngest Explorer on the trip - Michael Doyle! This night was just aimed at people getting to know each other, which Liam obviously took full advantage of. By 10 everyone was shattered and opted for a early night, as we had a jam packed day ahead of us.

Everyone woke up at about 7:30 to a clear sky (which I might add followed throughout the whole of our stay). Everybody got all their gear which they had sorted out the night before in the activity briefing (Dick had ordered prompt starts to prevent a lot of rushing around in the mornings). 9:00 came and off we set; myself, Clare, Danny, Chris, Karl, Stuart and Ash on our bikes up the Belgium slopes.

I was very misled when i was told that Belgium was a flat country! Cycling through Belgium's picturesque countryside was one of my many "high points", looking at all the cultural buildings and talking to the French-speaking people (which proved to be quite simple) . We arrived at the half-way campsite at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, pitched our tents and then met the canoeists (they were staying at the same campsite). We then cooked our range of exotic meals (boil in the bag Lancashire Hot Pot), and after cleaning all our pots and pans we headed for the local town for a drink in the Bar. This was a well deserved drink after the hard work put in on the first day of our activities, and you could see the glee on the leaders face as they took there first sips of Jupiler local beer and a synchronised "ahhh" as they slumped in to their seats.

The next morning we woke up at about 8, had a continental breakfast and set off again. I unfortunately had to swap with Alex as I had had a slight accident on a down hilling session (taught me not to shut my eyes in future when on a bike), so I swapped a saddle for a more comfortable seat on a canoe. Off we went down the beautiful flowing waters of the Silest. We had about 200 meters of rapids to go until we hit the busy flat running water, flowing past all the main towns. It was pretty (but slightly grubby) - needless to say we stayed in our boats for this section of the water. We paddled down the river for about 4 hours until we hit a suitable lunch spot, and an hour later we set off paddling again. About 400 metres away from our pickup point was a strategically placed island (with a cafe on it!), and we had just enough time for a coffee before we had to be back for Uncle Ray and Dick to pick us up. We loaded up the trailer and off we went back to the campsite.

After all our gear was sorted out we were shuttled off to the shops to get supplies in - I just felt sorry for the leaders having to keep going back and forth to the supermarket! When we all arrived back on site we all had our dinner and a briefing and were allowed to doss for the rest of the night! This was good, and most people just chilled out, talking and falling asleep outside under the stars! Just perfect!

7:30 came far too soon for my liking, especially when it arrived with the clanging of pans and a holler of "get up you lazy bunch" (that's being polite!) from Stuart. Up we got, and after we had cooked our breakfast we set off for another day of fun and frolics!

Climbing was on today's agenda; something I had really been looking forward to. We travelled for about 1 or 2 hours into a remote part of Belgium which was even prettier than the area we were in, got all our climbing gear on and trekked off into a little forest. After we arrived at brilliant set of rock faces, we set up about 9 different climbs, and this occupied us for the whole day! I don't know whether it was a high or low point, but seeing Uncle Ray trying to dance to Night Fever was defiantly different! We set off back to site at about 2pm (remembering to stop off on the way at a diner for chips). We arrived "home" and ate (yet again) . We had our dinner, and then chilled out until our activity meeting. We all saw this as a good chance to catch up on some sleep whilst the quieter bunch were off site, and all went to bed in reasonable time.

Next it was Granddads (Dave Ridout's) turn to look after us little cherubs for the day! Off we set on a 3 hour journey to a beautifully preserved set of caves, kitted up, and down we went. We dropped into a big chamber which led off to a number of small passages. Disappointingly the caves were very dry - but hey- never mind, we still had an ace time. Playing on a slide we found inside the cave was defiantly a high light for me! After a few hours down the cave we came back up to the van and had what proved to be the difficult task of getting changed on a roadside (without showing anything to anyone). This was quite amusing, as just as I was changing a bus went past and Rob showed them his glowing cheeks (I don't mean the ones on his face!). 3 hours later we arrived back at site, sorted all our kit out and still had time to get a shower before the other groups got back! After we had all cleaned up and had our tea the whole team had a briefing telling all the high points and low points of their 2 days. I'm glad to say that there were far more high points than low points.

Finally the day which we had all been waiting for came - the "rest day". Well at least, that's what we thought it would be. 8:00 clock came, and then so did the subtle tones of Stuarts fog horn! Up we got, had our brekkie, and set off on our own separate activities for the day. Some went off to the European Space Centre and a show cave, others went round some historical War Graves, and myself and a few others went off into "Manure"(a misquoted version of Namur) for a day of cultural exploration. As we travelled through the town, we realised that it was defiantly a good day to go, as it was a bank holiday and the whole town was full of markets and fun fairs. We all took our swimming kit to go and get cooled down when the midday heat set in, but unfortunately there is always a down-side to bank holidays (i.e. not many places are open), so that idea was scrapped. We exchanged the cool waters for the cool breeze you got when going at about 100 mph on the waltzers … it's never a good thing after a fizzy drink-trust me!. Anyway, 5 o'clock came and we were picked up and off we went back to site, to prepare for our dinner and an early night for Fridays and Saturdays activities.

We were all woken up at the normal silly hour, and had the same morning routine. Today, myself and a few others were off canoeing for 2 days. I was looking forward to this as I got to spend 2 days with my lovely mother (ahhh) and Auntie (trust me, when they're together there's trouble-a-brewing!). We were on the water by 10 and I had a cool time paddling with Dan. We set off at a steady pace, taking in all the beautiful views of castles and amazing valleys. We then came to the next launching point and hit what appeared to be the M25 on a bank holiday. It was utterly manic … full of kayakers from all over the place - it turns out that the Belgians like to take to the water on their bank holidays! We carried on through the crowds and came to our first weir (where I would like to add that everyone went through safely and no one capsized!). This is when Sara (mum) had the idea of trying to capsize people. She told me to go over to a boat, jump in and rock it over … so I waited until she paddled off, and then decided that she needed a taste of her own medicine.

When she wasn't expecting it we paddled up along side, I jumped out, landed in her boat and tipped her out:-) We arrived at the last weir at about 3, and stayed there for a few hours playing in the water. It was really fun watching all the novice kayakers trying to paddle down the steep fast flowing weir! When we arrived at site, we set up our shelter for the night. This consisted of 2 canoes, covered in a shelter to keep us dry (as it decided to shower when we were setting it up).

Next morning we set off on the water again, ready for a nice relaxing day. We paddled down the calm waters until we arrived at a local town (Dinant), and we bound our boats to a jetty. Off we went exploring Dinant - it was really beautiful with a huge cathedral and a castle right at the top of a really steep hill. After lunch we set off down the river, and we arrived at the island just before the pickup point. Of course, we left time to have a cool drink and a play in the water! When we arrived back at sit,e Clare and I went off with Ash to go and find petrol for one of the buses, and when we were in the van talking about high and low points of the holiday, it suddenly dawned on me that just 5 days ago we hardly knew each other, and now we were all a team of Explorer Scouts - and more importantly - a group of really good friends.

A couple of hours later we arrived back at site to the smell of a barbeque … this was our last night and also Helens birthday! All of the Explorers pitched together to get her a small gift for both appreciation for all of her hard work and greetings for the special day! A lamb chop and a few sausages later we were all ready for packing our tents away, ready for a early start in the morning. After flag down we all slept outside under the stars, making the most of the last night which we all had together as: "the first group to go on the Ardennes Adventure holiday".

An early start was had on the Sunday, and after an uneventful minibus and ferry journey, we arrived home at 8 o'clock that night.