Scouts go Dutch

Their timing was impeccable with the Dutch featuring in the World Cup final during their stay. The result wasn't the one the Scouts were after, but all things considered it was one of the best annual camps in many a long year. The landing party was sent a few days early to ready the campsite for the rest of the troop, who arrived amid a thunderstorm. The heavy rainfall proved to be a running theme, however in between downpours the weather was very good. On second day the leaders sat about and allowed the boys to put up the dining shelters before inevitably having to intervene and make sure they were put up properly. This was followed by a walk to the pancake house, which proved a popular haunt for the troop, especially Elliott Lyness, who developed an addiction for cheese and ham pancakes. Sporting their orange T-shirts and war paint, the Scouts attempted to watch the World Cup final on the beach that evening, but a full-house meant they had to settle for the village square at S'Gravenzande. They went to a waterpark at Duinrell to well and truly drown their sorrows after the poor Dutch performance. After a day of water-based fun they rather ironically got drenched by a thunderstorm on the way home before the sun came out at 9pm. On day four the troop picked up their bikes and got a very fast ferry to Europort after celebrating Mark McIlwaine's birthday with a roadside picnic and cake much to the amusement of elderly locals. Interestingly the word 'picnic' does not exist in Dutch. First Lurgan toured Europort on bike and visited Future Land which tells the story of how the Dutch will reclaim some of the North Sea for a new industrial area. The tour particularly interested the engineers in the party. On the cycle back the boys took part in the sport of getting lorry drivers to let their air horns off. Day five saw a 25-kilometre bike hike to Delft where they met the Dutch version of pub landlord Al Murray who threw his lemonade counter over to the boys for free. Another thunderstorm signalled home time and another train journey back to the campsite. The Explorers stayed over at the Kruithuis campsite and cycled back next day (into a headwind) to rejoin the Scouts. The troop made a day trip to the local town of Naldwijk on day six then on to beach for swim and burial of Josh Lyness in the sand. Day seven's sports day was followed by another visit to the pancake house. Later that afternoon the cross country challenge brought out the competitive edge in Matthew Hurst and Philip Bingham. The day was rounded off with the best campfire in recent memory featuring 'The Johnny Lyness Show' and 'Dinger's Dance'. Unreal. The tents came down on Saturday morning and the troop bid their campsite farewell and headed for Schipol airport. The winner of the patrol competition was the Explorer patrol inspired by Ben Mac. All in all it was a very successful camp, to be repeated sooner than 20 years next time round.