Beaver Teddy Bears Hike and Picnic
Event Started: 06/04/2008 - 09:45
Event Finished: 06/04/2008 - 14:01
Location: Belmont Tower
Attendees: 15
The Beavers all arrived keen, excited and ready to go, which gave very little time to set up the trail of letters (they all arrived early!).
Started off with a hike covering a couple of miles with lettered markers set along the route for the Beavers to find and record the letter.
Both groups did really well along the straight, but missed the first corner and ended up wandering around for a while before Paul (YL) pointed them in right direction. The group leaders were then a lot more careful about looking out for the markers ahead.
One aim was to spot any wild-life in the wooded areas (deer are common around here), but the Beavers were far too excited to keep their voices down enough so any wild-life was well warned in advance to clear the area.
Part way around the route someone had built a bivvie which the Beavers found, then decided that it was exactly like Eeyor's House in Winnie the Pooh. Even better was the fact that one of the Leaders teddy bears was a stuffed Eeyor.
Carrying on along the trail we stopped for a drinks break inside a giant rhodedendron bush. Inside the foliage the branches created a fantastic climbing frame, with the soft leafy ground coming in very handy at times!
Finally the Beavers reached the last marker on the hike. After a short breather the two groups then spent time working out the anagram of letters retrieved from the markers along the hike, both groups coming up with a long list of potential words and then agreeing on the phrase of the day - Teddy Bears Picnic.
Both groups also spent time measuring the circumference of a selection of trees in the woods, planning for a later activity to look at aging trees.
Lunch was then the order of the day, even some of the teddy bears had their own (appropriately sized) lunches!
After lunch we broke out the parachute and played a selection of games, followed by hide and seek the Leaders.
With a final walk back down the hill to the car park and the snow starting to fall the Beavers went off home happy.
