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Here, you'll find longer reports of what some of us have been up to.
I'll put in a piece on my trip to Norway by Friday (12/9/2), promise!
  Claire's trip to Norway After meeting at Stansted at 5.00, we landed at Torp only 5 min late. After a coach and taxi journey, we fell into bed at the youth hostel at 1am (and it was still light) The next morning, we left after breakfast to get to the station. We spent the next 7 or so hours on the Oslo-Bergen train line, with spectacular views. We stopped briefly up in the mountains to take pictures of a glacier, I must have looked strange standing on a platform, taking a picture of a glacier with no shoes on, eating an ice cream! That night we spent in a lovely hostel in Bergen. Yet more travelling followed, with two boat trips. We then visited a glacier museum while waiting for the bus.

One change, and we were at Sandane, our home for the next four nights, where we would be staying with families. I stayed with the leader and her three daughters, with two others. Our first night there was midsummer's night, so there was a gathering at the local museum, followed by a bonfire on the shore of the fjord. During our stay at Sandane, we walked to a glacier, went to the museum, went round town, had a talk on Norwegian rubbish disposal as well as an English evening and a Norwegian evening.

We left them on Thursday morning to travel back to Oslo, so that we could spend a day sightseeing. We visited the Vikingship, Kon-Tiki and Fram museums, before having tea out. Saturday morning, we waited for a bus that doesn't come on Saturdays, before moving on to the station to get a train instead. We waited in Skien, the nearest big town to camp, for a bus to take us to the camp.

We arrived at camp at almost the same time as the Sandane guides and scouts. We instantly homed in on the Union flags in the camp next door. We went off to get wood for building, and quite craftily managed to put it where Sandane wanted to pitch their tent, so then had to move it all! After getting our tents, and working out which poles went where, we settled in, leaving the Norwegians to work on building a table for us (nearly 50 of us as is was shared by us, Sandane Guides and Sandane Scouts) We then decided that we needed to make a gateway, so off went went, this also occupied us for most of Sunday too. We went to the opening service, but didn't really know what was going on, which we demonstrated expertly by singing (and dancing) YMCA when we were supposed to be singing the camp song, to the same tune!!
To get a camp pin, we had to do 10 challenges from a list of 13. One of these was taking a rainy shower, ie standing out in your swimming costume while it rained on you. The first bit of rain came on Sunday, and we all rushed to get our swimming stuff, in case it didnt rain again, and we missed our chance, if only!! Yet another display of English madness, as we stood, getting rained on, singing. Monday was patrol activities, so all the girls were put into mixed Boxford/Sandane groups. The morning was sciency activities, like making a motor and slime. After lunch, we had to build a bridge to get the group across a river 3m wide, where the animals could jump 1m in the air in the middle. Just as we were getting to the crucial stage of trying to attach our long ladder, along came a TV camera to talk to us, so we may have been on Norwegian TV.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we did an overnight hike. We were dropped off by boat, then walked to a checkpoint for an activity. Then it was all uphill to our campsite for the night. We checked in, and found a nice sloping patch! to put up our tarpaulin. We had a very good nights sleep, and to our delight, the way home was practically all downhill. We had a subcamp campfire Wednesday night, and we went up and did two songs, Coca cola came to town, and great big moose. By this point, the whole campsite was covered in mud and trenches, as it had been raining since Monday night, and only really stopped properly for a bit on Wednesday morning. On Thursday the older ones went and did community service. This involved us picking bits of metal and plastic out of wood chips for two hours, then three hours to ourselves, when we played mini golf, then a barbecue, then two more free hours before returning to camp.

On Friday, the camp held a Mission Market, where groups sold things or offered services in exchange for the camp currency, to raise money for charity. We spent the afternoon packing and tidying, as our coach was booked for 9am. At 6pm, we were allowed to start taking down our constructions. We crawled out of bed at 6.30 the next morning, to strike what was left of our site. We all trundled down to the pickup point, our bus was late, but as the hostel was only 40 min away it didn't really matter. We saw a moose on our way there. The hostel in Skien was lovely, with appartments, rather than rooms. We pottered around, visiting the supermarket to spend the last of our money. After an eggy bread breakfast, we got on the bus to the airport to get us home.
  Catherine's trip to Denmark The journey, for me, began at 9:00am on the Saturday, but for some they had to leave a lot earlier to
reach the airport. Everyone was very excited but we were all aware that many hours of travelling lay
ahead of us. On the plane we met a Senior Section group from Wales who were going to a different
camp in Denmark, although at the time we thought we would be seeing them around the campsite. In
Denmark there are three different types of Scout groups. We were camping with the Scout groups most
similar to the English Scout and Guide groups. One of the other types of Scout group is similar to the
Boys Brigade and the Girls Brigade.

We arrived at the site late Saturday evening and met the Scouts that we would be sharing a sub camp
with; there were only two of them (Jan and Tine). Although there are a total of around 50 people in
their troop only 3 of them are Senior Section members (The rest of their troop were camping in another
field). The Senior Section had their own activities that were separate from the other Scouts but there
were some combined events. When we first met Jan and Tine many of us thought that they were a lot
older than we were because they did not have an adult leader camping with them. In fact in Denmark it
is normal for Senior Section members to camp without their leaders and as a result Carol and Clare (our
leaders) were encouraged to help us as little as possible.

Before I went I was expecting to be doing more pioneering but not on such a large scale as we did. The
first day of camp was mainly for building the campsite. We built a table, dug a fireplace, and made two
flag poles as well as many other useful things. It was hard work but at the end of it we had something to
show for our efforts. The second day of camp had been set aside to build the activities. There was a
water slide a pothole course and a mud pit. I went down the water slide, which from the look of it didn't
seem too safe but I felt safe enough. After having made many things; things that I would not have
thought possible using poles and string, some people became very ambitious and wanted to build a bath.
Unfortunately we never found the time to even begin making a bath.


The opening ceremony was on the Sunday evening and after having been told the official language of
the camp was English I was surprised to find how little of it was in English. In the evening the wood for

our fire was so wet that we decided to use torches instead but ended up joining a nearby Danish group
after they had seen our fire (torches) and invited us to join them. I found it very strange that it only ever
seemed to be British groups that sang around their campfires; the others tended just to talk or drink
beer.

Alcohol was something that surprised me most. I had been to camps where alcohol was available (only
to over 18's) before but never in such vast quantities as were available there. During the camp there
were a couple of nights where the organisers had arranged for a van filled with alcohol to arrive so
people could buy themselves drinks. The only rule concerning alcohol was that you could not take any
onto the fields where the younger Scouts would be.

We had a 'free' day on Tuesday so we decided to go swimming. The decision was partly because we
wanted to have showers. The showers at the campsite were hosepipes with cold water. There was also
a chance to go shopping afterwards. In the evening we encouraged the Swiss Scouts camping near us to
dance round the maypole we erected in our sub camp. Many people were swapping scarves and as a
group we gave them a signed flag and they gave us some chocolate, which we ate later in the week.
On Wednesday we were supposed to be walking to the beach to have a beach party but the weather was
unreliable so we walked to the nearby Scout Centre instead. There were many activities to take part in
at the centre including man over roof. Man over roof involved 4 people climbing over a steep sided hut
using a rope. It was amazing to watch some of the older Scouts climbing over the roof without using
the rope; just clinging to the overhanging edge of the roof.

The last night of the camp there was a Senior Section party with fireworks. I don't know when the party
ended but it was still going at 4am. On this night to reduce the number of tents we had to put down in
the morning many of us slept in a shelter we made out of plastic sheets, poles and string. The camp was
fantastic but so different to what I was used to. It was sad to have to leave on the Saturday morning but
at the end of more travelling there were warm showers to look forward. For me it was almost like
starting a completely separate holiday because staying in youth hostels in Denmark is very different to
staying at a Scout camp.

A trip to Legoland; this was our activity for Sunday. We went on many of the different rides but were
too old for the driving school. Had we been allowed on the driving school we probably would have
ended up on the wrong side of the road anyway. After more travelling on Monday we went to Tivoli.
There was a wonderful laser display there and Imogen got enrolled just before it began. The lights on
the buildings there were fantastic and the fairground rides that we went on were well lit. It was a lovely
evening and meant that instead of remembering all the travelling that we did that day I remember our
visit to Tivoli. The campsite that we stayed at that night had a shelter that looked rather like the
Teletubbies house which a few of us slept in.

For our last full day we went sightseeing and shopping in Copenhagen. There were many buildings to
see and we stood by the Little Mermaid (A famous statue). To make sure that throughout the trip we
had managed to use almost every mode of transport possible we went on a sightseeing tour by boat. We
also went on a sightseeing tour by bus. I preferred the boat because you were able to look at the sights
for longer although the bus did give you more information.

Wednesday was the day we travelled back. Whilst away we had missed the hottest day of the year in
England but typically there was wet weather to greet us at the airport. The experience is one that I will
never forget but I have still not managed to take in everything that happened. There are so many things
that could sum up the trip for me but I think what I will remember most is that there was very rarely a
time when I was not having fun.
  Go Global! We met at the Wycombe Six at 8.45, which is far too early for a Saturday morning; and set off waving, all sat next to white, plastic buckets, and attempting to sing the camp song. We arrived sooner than we thought, and were dropped off outside the Guides' subcamp, leaving us to trek down to our site. After pitching our sleeping tents, we then set to work on the toilet tents. After a bit of thinking, the first one went up fine, however, we soon realised that we had a few with the wrong number of legs, so did a bit of shuffling, and managed to get some frames together, and the result was a nice village of little green tents! After lunch, we started on the gateway, and gave ourselves a lot of knotting practice. After the opening ceremony, with more opportunity to perfect the camp song, we erected the gateway, and two windsocks, and had tea. A few of us made it over to the singsong, where we made an enthusiastic bunch of horses during the story of a Prince and three Princesses.

Our first camp breakfast went well, with, to my delight, porridge! I had been remembered from Odyssey, the Anglia SS camp last year, for eating porridge, along with the rest of my Ranger unit. Sunday saw the start of our routine, with the question of just who would be first on the woopsie wagon? Not me, I spent the morning cleaning out hedgehog cages at St Tiggywinkles, along with three others. I'm sure many of you will have heard of the 'dropping the toilet down the drain' story, but this, luckily for its star, was not repeated. Others were on activities with the Guides, or were doing service, such as the rubbish run and helping at the creche or on the hike. That afternoon, our Ukrainian guests arrived, after several long days driving. That night, we started a nightly tradition of looking a bit stupid at the evening entertainment. This was our most 'normal' night, and what we lack in coordination, we make up for in enthusiasm.

On Monday, we had a group make up a team for the incident hike, who came first by overtaking a few Guide teams. I had to man the last station on the hike. We were set up by two, and had to wait a long while for the first team to come through, as all the teams had been misdirected. It was, however, great fun watching a team of eight, with legs tied together, trying to work out why 'left, right, left, right' doesn't get you very far! That night, we entered the Soft Rock cafe for the first time, to participate in the quiz, which would lead to our victory. We managed to 'Surpr!se Ourselves' by naming, or getting close to the names of all 13 GFIs. Then we headed off to the beach party, where we really started to get going, with classics such as 'Saturday Night' and 'The Macarena'.

No porridge! Tuesday I spent down on the river at Longridge. I was persuaded to join the group with my Guides, which turned out to be a good choice, as our activities got progressively wetter; bellboating, then kayaking, and finally raft building. We were kept amused during the first half of our kayaking session by various attempts to retrieve a spider from a canoe, it was eventually removed when we stopped on the 'beach'. I managed to stay relatively dry right until the moment I tried to get out, when suddenly I found myself waist deep in the Thames. At the International evening that night, we did a lovely rendition of Old Macdonald for everyone to join in with.

Wednesday saw a break from the normal activities, with the inter-subcamp competition and circus skills workshop. Wednesday also saw my first go on the woopsie wagon, which was nowhere as bad as I'd thought, in fact, the worst bit was the rubber gloves. Riding on the wagon itself is good fun, you've just got to hold on over the bumpy bits. I had some time between this and lunch, so off I went for some activities. I did welly throwing, and got the first four of the day, as well as a football game, carrying water and a team relay race. I did a few more of these after lunch, including stacking 100 plastic cups. After showing around some guests, I went and did some circus skills, I still can't juggle; and I almost broke a light and killed the instructor with a diabolo, but I can throw and catch one now. Again, we danced and got strange looks at the karaoke/binbag ball. We did eventually get to do karaoke, singing the penultimate song of the night, before returning back to our subcamp to play cards underneath a lamppost.

Thursday had come very quickly, and I was to help at the creche, which was great fun, as I got to make a Rainbow from fimo, who I have to find some superglue for, as she didn't survive the journey home too well. In the afternoon, I got to do some crafts, so I now have more additions to the hat, including 'Baby Go Global', the alien bead man to go with 'Mr Cosmos' and 'Miss Essex 2000'. As it was Janet's birthday, we had a barbecue for tea. Someone decided it would be a good idea to put them in the marquee, it's not! We soon had difficulty seeing the roof of the tent, and some of us still had a smokers' cough on Friday. Still, the food was very nice, it must have been good, as some of our visitors came back again on Friday. The Ukrainians had also made us some very nice borsh, a beetroot based soup. The grand disco was our last chance to party and our theme for the night was teatowels; we all wore our nice dry teatowels that hadn't quite made it out of our bags yet! It got us noticed, as some of us got to dance up on stage when YMCA came on, along with the only man in the marquee.

Friday morning, and I was on the woopsie wagon again, and following lunch, I did backwoods cooking, making a very nice, if slightly runny, sponge. We had more borsh for tea, as the Ukrainians had made us a very large potful. At the closing ceremony, we had the performance we had all been waiting for, our subcamp leaders performing from ‘Grease’, the subcamp also discovered why I'd had to carry a wooden spoon with me to it: to beat out the heartbeat of the subcamp. It's helpful if your subcamp name has less than 13 syllables. We then slowly walked back through the magical nightlights that lit a path back to camp. We stayed up later, as it was the last night, talking and laughing, mainly laughing at some of the things we managed to come up with.

Saturday saw the last run of the woopsie wagon, along with striking camp, many visits to the photo room to order pictures and swapping email addresses. We left by coach again sitting next to our white buckets, and the odd birdbox, but without the camp song, although by now we'd got the hang of 'We're going global, we're going global'. I arrived back smiling, and fell into bed at eight.