Core Hill Camp 2005

A grand total of 20 Scouts, the largest party we have had on a weekend camp for some time, met up for hike to, and a camp at, Core Hill on the north side of the Garioch - the site of the new Mackies wind turbine. Unfortunately the weather started out rather drizzly but the lads made the hike in a little over an hour on Friday night and soon had the camp pitched. With time for exploring the site and having a light snack, the remaining hours were soon filled and the lads trooped off to bag for the night. As usual it was the older ones who got to sleep first, followed progressively by everyone else - once the "poker school" had played out it's final hand.

By the next morning the clouds and mist had mostly disappeared and the lads were able to see for the first time the magnificent view across the Garioch which included Oldmeldrum in the East to Huntly in the West. The older Scouts had obviously enjoyed their sleep because they ended up missing breakfast from sleeping-in too long. Still, there were enough left-overs to keep them happy!

After breakfast, the morning was spent on site preparation (fire and slop pits), more site exploration, and the planning and preparation of the lads' bivvies for the night. The turbine site is bordered on two sides by a fairly young, managed fir plantation, which proved ideal for the construction of the bivvy night shelters. Within a few hours the individual sites had been walled, roofed and floored and ready for habitation later that night.

At lunchtime our host, Maitland Mackie, arrived to give us a "tour" of the wind turbine. Inside the mast(?) itself seemed very Tardis-like as there was more room inside than it appeared. Apart from a control panel, all the machinery (generator and gearing system) is housed in the box at the top. A long ladder provides access to the 70 metre tall structure and Maitland and some of the leaders made the ascent and decent in turns (only 2 persons may ascend/descend at any one time). It was hoped that all the lads would make the climb, unfortunately the full harnesses, with which the turbine is equipped, were for adult size only and it was not possible to fit them tightly enough for the Scouts. It is hoped that we might return some other time with our own abseiling and climbing harnesses and let some of the older Scouts at least have a try. Meanwhile Maitland had given a very interesting explanation to the Scouts on how the turbine was constructed and how it worked to supply Mackies Dairy with all the power it needed.

After lunch we went for a short hike, via the array of TV and other masts on Core Hill itself, to an area of land which, although derelict, may prove to be another alternative future camp site. We had to negotiate our way carefully through a herd of inquisitive young Jersey cows - it was hard to judge who were more curious, the lads or the cows. After the hike, some of the older Scouts, having noticed fresh droppings, made up and set a number of rabbit snares in the hope of catching tonight's supper.

On our return from the hike, the Scouts were given the ingredients to prepare and cook a backwoods-type meal consisting of a potato, a carrot and some steak, to be chopped up and put inside a foil pouch with some water and stock to be cooked in the embers of a fire as a stew. Unfortunately no-one was able to construct a leak-proof pouch but a second layer of foil soon rectified the problem. Memo to leaders - buy thicker foil next time! Memo to Scouts - fold the bottom corners in first before the sides! Nevertheless, the results turned out fine. Later a "second" dinner of mince and pasta was cooked in the marquee to supplement the backwoods meal. Sadly, the rabbit snares were unsuccessful.

The evening consisted of our camp fire sing song. Although the fire took a long time to get going - memo to Scouts - damp straw is not a good fire starter! - the fire caught up as did the volume of the singers and entertainers. The burgeoning fire generated so much smoke in fact that a "nearby" resident (about a quarter mile away) thought that some trouble makers had set light to the woods and called the police! About ten minutes later he heard our singing (we were warmed up by then) and, having been a Scout leader himself in Manchester, realised who we were. Luckily after a call to the Dairy by the police, they were also told who we were and didn't need to send the cavalry after all.

Anyway, unaware of the potential crime chaos we had unleashed, it was eventually time to put out the fire, have some supper and get to (some of us) our bivvies for the night. The lads must have had an eventful day as the woods seemed unnaturally quiet soon after turning in which seemed to suggest sleep had come easily.

The next morning - absolutely no wind, even the wind turbine had come to a halt - Mike was up at 6.30 but saw nary a Scout until around 7.45. Needless to say the lesson had gone home and the older Scouts who'd missed breakfast the day before were first up for theirs this morning. Although a few Scouts had retreated to their tents in the night, of those who had decided to bivvy, about 9 were found by the leaders still sleeping peacefully at 8.15 and had to be woken up for breakfast!

The remainder of the morning saw more and more of the sun and the temperature became hotter and hotter. We did some badge work which involved demonstrations of the correct use of hand saws and axes and practical map reading and navigation. Unfortunately after that some real work had to be done and the camp site taken down and packed away, along with a clean up and taking down of the marquee. The hot weather was not particularly kind to us while doing this and it took a bit of effort to get the lads motivated but remember guys, we're a Scout Troop and we work together. With everyone contributing all the time we would have got the camp broken and squared away a lot quicker leaving more time for games etc. Next time eh?