Thursday 9th April, Day 13 – 19.5km
We had an early start as we had nearly 20km to do and the forecast was for hot sunshine. Nobody seemed particularly energetic at the beginning of the day as we walked up the road away from Horton Court. We walked through some fields that were gently undulating up and down. There was little signs today of the steep slopes we were used to climbing. The grass was damp, but there was no mud. The sun got stronger and we stripped off jumpers and zipped off trousers. All young people were reminded to apply suncream and put their hats on. We passed through Old Sodbury a small quiet village and walked through more fields. It was beginning to resemble North Essex with cows replacing the sheep we were used to seeing. We walked on into Dodington Park and had glimpses of the privately owned house through the trees as we crossed the parkland. We walked diagonally up a fairly steep slope after we crossed a small stream. Crossing the first of several main roads, we entered the village of Tormarton where there was what looked like a stone fireplace on the outside of a house that had been filled with daffodils.
We then crossed (via a footbridge) the M4. A point that told us we were nearly at our finish as we could see Bath on the blue road signs. We then turned right and walked through some large arable fields with dry stone walls surrounding them. We then crossed the A46 and stopped for lunch with Toastie at some picnic benches. All waterbottles were checked and refilled before we continued after our rest. We were over half way. We passed through a field full of uninterested cows before passing through Dyrham. A small village that had some lovely stone houses. We passed some small ponds and whilst we waited with a scout who needed to redo his shoes the rest walked on. We could hear nothing except birds singing and the babbling of a stream into the pond. Skip became quite poetic!
We then entered Dyrham Wood and began to ascend the steep slope. The trees shaded us from the heat of the sun but we still got hotter and hotter. At the top we rested and then headed on to cross a series of busy roads. We were lucky that a van paused and allowed us to cross. We then entered Cold Ashton where we passed a huge gateway before we arrived at the minibuses. Everybody is now looking forward to tomorrow and our finish in Bath. All the scouts are excited and seem to have grown in confidence over the last two weeks. Let’s hope the weather is kind to us again tomorrow for our final walk.
Friday 10th April, Day 14 – 15km
We had a lovely walk in the sunshine. There was only one hill (well not quite). lots of the scouts took a turn at map reading and some scouts learnt their law with skip! We approached Bath and could see the abbey in the distance. A final push and we arrived singing to the cheering of the adults and families. We were allowed into the abbey where the DC presented two leaders with their wood badges, a complete shock and surprise! Then two senior scouts received their gold award. A marvellous place to receive the awards. Then it was time for fish and chips before we returned to base with some of the parents. A perfect end to our expedition. Thank you to Skip for all your hard work.