Night Hike

An intrepid nine Scouts with 4 leaders congregated at Whiterashes village hall on Friday evening to begin a 16km evening/night hike to Newburgh beach, where we were to camp for the night. The lads were issued with OS maps and route plans and it was their responsibility to navigate us (in two groups) along the hike route. Setting off briskly (as our first couple of hundred yards were on the main road) we soon got onto far quieter country roads and then onto some very pleasant tracks for the first few miles.

Virtually the entire hike took us through rich farmland and weather conditions were just about perfect for walking. Lambing season was in full flood and there were plenty of the curious little animals wondering who these strange upright creatures were passing by their fields. The series of dead crows, deliberately hung up around fields where active lambing was taking place so to discourage the living crows from attacking the newborns, was interesting to see, and gave the lads an idea of some of the less "cuddly" but more realistic aspects of farming life.

The curiosity of the lambs was only exceeded by that of the bullocks and heifers we passed in other fields. Clearly the life of a heifer in pasture must be pretty boring, given the excitement that our appearances generated, and we found ourselves accompanied by herds of the creatures from field to field.

We stopped once of twice for short breaks during the walk and again for about 20 minutes half way through. The stops were, however, built into the plan and we kept to the timetable very well indeed. It was almost completely dark by the time we reached our camping spot just behind the large, grass-covered dunes of Newburgh beach at around 11 o'clock and we were all ready for our tents and sleeping bags (already transported to the site and erected during our walk). By "we" of course, I mean the leaders as the lads themselves still had plenty of energy left for a night-time wide game in and around the dunes. Even Gyp the dog was worn out and passed out for a quick nap as soon as we arrived.

It was after 1am before we all got settled in for the night, although sleep itself was the last thing on the minds of some of the Scouts! During the summer, sunrise is very early in the NE of Scotland and folk began to stir at around 4.30, woken by some beautiful sunshine. Walking back to the top of the dunes revealed a wonderful early morning view of the coast and you could have walked from one side of the Ythan estuary to the other on the backs of the hundreds of Eider Duck who had spent the night there.

After a brisk walk along the beach and some more dune climbing we returned to the camp site to get breakfast going. Nothing tastes better than a bacon buttie in the open air early in the morning - except possibly the chips that were waiting for us when we arrived at camp the night before (thanks Keith!) - and it wasn't long before half a pig was polished off. By then the camp site had been cleared and it was time for the Scouts to be picked up.

The hike went very well and was, as usual, very well planned and organised by Keith & Terry. It would have been nice to have had a few more Scouts take part and hopefully word of the fun that was had on this one will find its way back to the rest of the Troop in due course. Thanks to all the lads for taking part and making the hike good fun, thanks to the leaders and thanks also to the parents who had to cut short their Sunday lie-in to pick the lads up!