Hello Dear Reader
I have gone for a bit of a cop-out with today’s post I thought I would show you a selection of photos from my trip to Germany I hope you enjoy them.
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Kiff
©ChrisMeadows2012
Category Archives: Traveling
Avon/Hannover Twinning Diary Part 3
A Statue in Radolfzell am Bodensee
Hello Dear Reader
Well in the last instalment of my travel diary we had completed the walking element of the trip (you can ready PART 1 and PART 2 if you have not done so already)
Wednesday 28th July
I woke up early on the Wednesday bloody freezing, I had been intelligent (for once) with my packing, knowing that for the walking part of our trip we would be sleeping mostly in building, and the fact that is was summer in Germany I had brought my 1 season sleeping bag (if you interested go HERE) and a cotton liner for when we were in the tents at the end of the camp. However all the best plans and all that, one of the scouts in my walking group has also brought a thin sleeping bag and I had therefore donated my liner to him (Still maybe shivering will burn a few more calories and make me slimmer).
However being awake I decided I might as well make the most of the early morning and headed down to have a shower ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… (You don’t need to know the details of that) heading back from the shower the sun was trying to come out but was fighting a loosing battle, it was going to be a wet day.
Today was a transition day, getting to know the camp site, putting up the tents, trying to keep dry, welcoming the remaining members of the group back from their walking and hearing their stories. I also managed to prove that I was a better table tennis player than any of the guys who went on the trip (it was not that hard a challenge really).
Camp Fire
We closed Wednesday with a campfire and each group had to do a play or a freeze frame or a song to convey to the rest of their group how the three days of walking had gone.
So we tucked into our sleeping bags with the hope that tomorrow would be a better day (weather-wise) I had been to the site shop and bought a fleece blanked with Whinie the Pooh on it and I was feeling much warmer as I snuggled down to sleep.
Thursday 29th July
I was woken early by the sound of heavy rain drumming on canvas, it was nice to hear it, and it’s a sound that I have not heard for a long time. as an adult I have predominantly camped in a small tent with a Nylon flysheet and the sound is very different. There is something very calming about the sound of rain drumming on canvas (or maybe that is just me).
I lay there listening to the sound of the rain with the big decision of the morning in my head, could I wait for the rain to stop or was I going to have to get wet running to the bathroom five minutes later I had decide I was going to have to get wet, so packed up my shower bag and put on my coat and headed outside. With impeccable timing the rain eased to a light spatter making it a dry walk to the showers.
We had been informed the night before that the plan for today was to head to the town of Radolfzell am Bodensee where we would play the game Apple or Egg in the morning the have a picnic before going swimming in the lake in the afternoon.
Now I was given a little insight into the Apple or Egg game and I have to say I did not believe it would work.
The premise is you split the YP’s up into groups of 3-4 and you present the group with an Apple and an Egg they take these two items and head off into the local town. They then must barter with the apple or the egg or both to gain the best item possible; they barter with shops or by knocking on house doors etc. So for example one group swapped the egg for a chocolate bar they swapped the chocolate bar for a can of nuts and two chocolate bars they swapped one of the chocolate bars for some cereal, then the other chocolate bar for some tinned tomatoes, then the tinned tomatoes for a bag of crisps and two chocolate bars. They were quite disappointed no one wanted the apple. I thought they had ended with a really good haul of goodies. One group went into a shop and the shop keeper said I will take the apple you can have anything you want from the shop they took some Pasta.
An Apple traded for Custard
It was an amazing display of trust and respect, the shop was a fine example the YP’s took 1 item when they had free reign of the shop [TRUST] and they took something that was not to expensive but useful to the camp as a whole, pasta [RESPECT]
I was trying to see a situation in the UK where the same game would work, ok if you did it in your local village and you had done a leaflet drop letting shops and locals know that the scouts were doing this. But we were in a large Town and at the other end of the country it would be like scout from Bristol going to Carlisle and playing this game without any prior notice given. Maybe I am jaded but I think if you had ten groups, eight would come back with the apple and the egg and two would have made a trade.
However in Germany every group came back with more than they left with they had all managed to make a profit on their apple and their egg. Each group was then challenged with selecting one item from their haul and discussing with the group why this item is the most beneficial to the camp.
Presentations
While the YP’s had been out bartering their way round the town the adults had been trying to work out if there was somewhere we could swim in the lake. We established that there was but as we gathered to have our picnic the heavens opened the rain came. It was the kind of rain that even though you were in to of a second you looked like a drowned rat.
We eventually found a leisure centre in a nearby town and we headed there for the afternoon.
There was a plan for the evening however, due to some confusion with trains and buses we ended up about 4km away from the campsite with no mode of transport except Shanks’s pony so off we headed. It was nice walk and the weather was kind keeping dry. I spent most of the walk discussing English language, German language and International Scouting with one of the German Leaders.
We finally made it back to the campsite about 22:00 and enjoyed a very tasty pasta with cheese & ham sauce.
Well I think that is enough of my diary for now Part 4 will follow shortly.
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K
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Kiff
©ChrisMeadows2012
Hello Reader – Are you new to Jabbering All Day Long can I suggest that you check out our Starter for Ten Page which will hopefully give you a guide as you take your first couple of footsteps around this site.
Avon/Hannover Twinning Diary Part 2
Hello Dear Reader.
Well where had we got to that is right end of Sunday
Monday 26th August 2010
After a nights sleep in a tent we packed up camp, with a reminder to the YP’s that you only need to carry Water Lunch and a rain coat [they still did not listen]. With the camp packed away and our kit stowed back in the van we had breakfast in a bus shelter to avoid the rain.
Breakfast in a Bus Shelter
If you have not been to Germany, breakfast is predominately very dense Rye bread with cheese and cold ham, and some fruit. We had also been given some chocolate spread similar to Nutella which the young people devoured with much relish. We also has to use the left overs from breakfast to make lunch.
One Tip here if you put a chocolate spread sandwich and salami and Cheese sandwich in a sandwich bag together and then put it in your rucksack you will end up with chocolate spread on you salami and cheese sandwich.
With a wave to Martin [who was driving the van] we set off for our second days walking, the aim was to get to Engen some 19km away. The morning went well despite the frequent burst of rain and we head from Randen to Riedoschingen. As we started to climb out of Riedoschingen one of the YP was struggling again and although had partly heeded my advice to lighten his load still has his wash kit and clothes in his rucksack. the German Leader who was with me suggested that he swapped rucksacks with the YP to give him and easier load to carry. This made a marked difference and we then heading cross-country to the north of Berghof and Watterdinging. The YP’s even had the energy to climb up to a deer hide and pose for photos. We stopped for lunch under a tree (to shelter from the Rain) at about 13:00 having completed about 10km, which for three and a half hours walking was pretty good.
I see no Deer
As we set off after lunch the rain appeared to ease and it looked like we were going to get a dry afternoon, no such luck about 10 mins after we set of we got the heaviest down poor of the day it is the kind of rain fall for a short period but make everything very very wet. Thankfully we were not out in the open for long as the path went off in to the forest and thus giving us some cover.
It is always difficult to keep spirits up when walking it is even more difficult to keep spirits up when the rain is dampening everything. However as a group we started to play a guessing game. In turn a person selected Book, TV programme, Film, Scouting Badge, the rest were allowed to ask questions to try to establish what the person was thinking about. It is basically the YES/NO game but we were not strict on the answers being only yes or no. It was very interesting to see how by playing this game they YP forgot about the walking and just kept putting one foot infront of the other and as we came out of the forest the rain stopped and we had completed 7 of our 9km in about 2 hours.
We were now on the edge of Engen and just had to walk our way down into the town to find some where to stay. We called into the first church we passed on our way into Engen and they suggest trying the other church in the center of town. With high spirits we started to sing camp fire songs as we made our way to the centre of Engen and to the Church.
Our luck was in although we could not sleep at the church there was a community hall associated with the Church [similar to those you might find the Sunday school in or where tea and coffee is served however this one was not attached to the church like most are in the UK].
The raised part of the Town
We were given directions, go down in the lift [that statement confused me until I saw the view in the photo above] and it is up the road past the school. We found the accommodation with ease and set up for the evening. The real bonus was the centre has a full working kitchen so not cooking on Trangias and washing up in a public toilet [That was the night before].
The fact that we had made it to our accommodation early was nice it gave the YP’s a good long break before our last days walking which on paper was to be a 26km slog to get to Singen by 18:00 to catch the train which was about 16km away by road and probably only 13km as the crow flies.
As we bedded down for the night I looked over the route and identified some places where we could shave some km off and make the walk more enjoyable and less of a slog for the YP’s
Tuesday 27th August
We woke up on the Tuesday morning and started to pack away our sleeping stuff, this time I told the YP’s the only things I want to see in your day sacks is you water bottles (full), your lunch and your rain coat and I will be doing a kit inspection before we leave. Just before we sat down to breakfast we were greeted by a visit from the minster who brought fresh croissants for everyone which I have to say was a very good start to the day.
He also brought news that the weather was to be nice for the day and it should not rain. With bellies full of croissants and the joy on the YP’s faces when I said I was going to make a few minor edits to the route we set off for the last days walking.
The E1 is not a distinct path and uses a lot of local routes and path ways, for most of our journey we had walked on the a local walking route and our plan was to stay on this local route when the E1 diverted off to climb 300m in 1.5km and instead we would take the path that contoured round the hill.
The walking was much better and the YES/NO game that was used to keep spirits up during the rain was continued by the YP’s without assistance from me and we managed [all be it with a little detour when we got lost] to keep a steady pace of about 3km per hour up to lunch time. We stopped in the small village of Welschingen and occupied what appeared to be the park bench and the horse trough with some of the YP’s cooling their feet in the water.
We had come 9km of the route by lunchtime and I judged we had another 15km to go. Now this is where a lack is a lack of a good spoken language [either German or English] had it’s down fall, I had understood that we had to make Singen by 18:00 to catch the train and meet all the other groups at the campsite Tuesday night. When intact we could have slept the night close to Singen and got the train first thing Wednesday morning.
With the knowledge of our walking speed and the lack of knowledge about the trains. I again decided to remove a loop where the E1 departed from the local route and cut another 5km off the route. With the reduction in our route we made good time and arrived at the station in Singen at about 16:00 with plenty of time to catch our train. It was at this point I learned that all the groups were not arriving to the campsite today, some were arriving today some were arriving tomorrow and we could have walked to the evening stayed over night close to the station.
The end - the diamond on the lampost indicates the path we followed
We caught the train from Singen to Nenzingen where we met up [by accident] with another walking group and walked the last 2.5km to the camp site. The rest of the day was used to start to put up the campsite and greeting other as they arrived.
We finished the day with the most amazing sunset over our campsite, and the knowledge that we did not have to get up and walk again tomorrow.
Sunset
I will end here as this ends the walking part of this expedition.
TTFN
K
TTFN
Kiff
©ChrisMeadows2012
Hello Reader – Are you new to Jabbering All Day Long can I suggest that you check out our Starter for Ten Page which will hopefully give you a guide as you take your first couple of footsteps around this site.
Avon/Hannover Twinning Diary Part 1
Hello Dear Reader
Well I am back from my travels, I was totally knackered and for the first two days after returning I went to bed about 20:00 and did not wake up again till the alarm went off at 6:30. However I guess that is the joys of running an expedition of this nature.
I am going to give you a break down of what happened and I think the easiest way is do to this by days almost in a diary format so here goes
Friday 23rd July 2010 – 21:00
The Avon Unit gathered at our county campsite (Woodhouse Park) and set up base in the Training Centre, we have booked the aptly named Hilton (local joke about the bunk rooms) for sleeping (what is that) before heading off to Heathrow Airport. As you can imagine there was not much sleeping done on the first night there never is, the excitement of going and far too much sugar just meant that by the time the bus came there were quite a few tired people getting on the bus.
Saturday 24th July 2010
Our Bus arrived on time at 03:45 and the driver looked very worried at the amount of kit we had, “this one only has a small boot” he commented and he was not wrong thankfully the bus sat 22 and we were only 17 so the whole back seat could be used for bags. The journey was pretty uneventful except for the point were we stopped at Reading services for a pee and an M&S Lorry smacked into the back of the bus.
It did not too much damage just whapped the back corner as he got his turning circle slightly wrong. Gave us all a bit of a jolt but apart from that nothing serious and thankfully the bus was good to carry on to Heathrow.
We arrived at Heathrow Terminal 5 and very posh it is (it is nice to see the Inside as I use to work at the airport when they started building it but that is another story) First call was to unload the bus and make our way to group check in I also had to arrange to phone Radio Bristol to conduct a phone interview about our trip (I am waiting to obtain the clip and when I do I will add it here) nothing like a good bit of scouting publicity.
Check in was great for all the bad press we chose to fly with British Airways and they were great, I will admit there are cheaper ways to fly but if your taking a large group I would strongly recommend giving them a call. The little things they offer make life so much easier, dedicated checking, 23kg hold baggage and 2 pieces of hand baggage all free, group seating so you are not all spread out over the plane.
- Everyone at Stuttgart Airport
After an uneventful flight we arrived in Stuttgart Airport where we were met by Dominik, a leader from DSPG Hannover whose job it was to lead our group from the airport to the youth hostel where we spent one night before starting the walking.
This first 12 hours was a time for rest, recuperation and getting to know the people we would be walking with. The group from Avon had only met three times before and now add to that getting to know 2/3 German scouts as well it was not a trip for the shy.
The time spent in the hostel was used to learn each other names, find out a bit about the groups. from a leaders point of view find out what exactly the young people you were responsible for were going to be doing. It turned out, some what to my relief, that all the groups would be walking with at least one adult. I drew the lucky straw although I ended up with the group of youngest scouts, lots of encouragement needed (more about that later), I was in the group that was to be met each day by the transport van and therefore did not have to carry full kit (Yeah).
Sunday 25th July 2010
After a long flight and a full day I could have slept anywhere, thankfully I had comfortable bed and I fell asleep when my head touched it and did not wake till the alarm went off at 07:00.
The morning was very fraught, people getting breakfast, whole group photos to be taken, individual walking group photos to be taken, Kit to be packed up and sorted (in some cases they young people (YP) were not going to see their bags again for 3 days) and then in most cases heading off to the train station to catch a train to the start point. There was only one group who were starting from Pforzheim walking. My group had nearly a three hour train journey to get to Blumburg to find our start point. We did not start walking on the E1 until about 15:00 by the time we had got to Blumburg, then walked from the train station to the start point.
- Stunning Views from 860m
The first day we made very slow progress partly because the YP’s did not listen to me when I said “Guys we don’t have to carry anything but lunch, water and a rain coat” one of the YP still brought Mess kit, wash Kit, clothes, shoes, in their rucksack. Partly because they were tourists and wanted to take photos of everything from the roadsigns to the views and partly because it was a pretty steep climb we had to tackle to start the route and for a couple this was the first serious walking they had done. So after completing 7km and reaching a hight of 860m (2800ft) [OK we did start at 700m] it was coming up to 18:00 and time to start to look for some were to stay.
- Walking through the Forest
We had made it to a small village called Randen with a few farm a small hotel and a church, the first farm we went to was full the farmer had people in working his fields and they were sleeping in the barn, Next stop was the church which was lock and although we looked about for the minister’s house it was not obvious. Second farm we went proved not luck either. however the last farm we went, with all the YP’s thinking we would have to hike on to the next village, the farmer said we could camp on the small patch of grass out the back which considering we were being met by the transport van with tents, this was an option available to us.
So we pulled out a small hike tent for the leaders and a Kohten for the YP’s (for those not familiar with the Kohten they are the very cool black German tents http://www.kohten.com/)
I have seen the Kohten and the larger brother the Jurten(Yurt) before at Jamboree (for those who have the Black Magic Tent () is a very large Jurten)
There is the First three days the next three are coming soon
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K
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Kiff
©ChrisMeadows2012
Hello Reader – Are you new to Jabbering All Day Long can I suggest that you check out our Starter for Ten Page which will hopefully give you a guide as you take your first couple of footsteps around this site.
Avon/Hannover Twinning Expedition
- E1 Route Map
Hello Dear Reader
I will be taking a weeks break from Jabbering all day long – Ok Ok you can stop cheering now.
The reason for this is I am going the Germany with Avon County, (I did briefly mention it here) to continue a twinning link with Hannover Scouts.
It started back in 2007 when DSPG Hannover contacted the city of Bristol via the twinning link to look for home hospitality before the 21st World Scout Jamboree. We made some arrangements and managed to host the group from Hannover.
Following the Jamboree I was looking to take my jamboree unit away to have an “International” experience, or maybe an out of country experience would be a better term. So we followed up on the link between Hannover and Bristol and went to Hannover for four days.
Thus the link was developed it has continued, in 2009 a group from Hannover came over to the UK and went camping with an Explorer group from Bristol at Gillwell park and now in 2010 we are going to back to Germany.
This time we are going to join DSPG Hannover on their expedition to walk the international long distance path E1 through Germany. They have been doing this for some time now, walking part and then picking up where they left of the next time they go out. In 2007 when I went to Hannover we walked part of the route that was close to Hannover with them.
However this time we are further south, starting around Stuttgart and walking through the black Forest Region down to near Lake Constance.
It will not be very challenging walking, we have 6 groups and each group will complete about 53km over 3 days, however the total distance covered will be about 318km. The challenge for the young people from the UK will be in the way the Germany scouts do this sort of walking. As the Leader of the german group said to me “they will walk and in the evening they will find somewhere to sleep, often a church or farmers barn. Scout will need uniform as it will aid in finding a place to sleep”.
The groups are mixed 2/3 German Scouts and 2/3 British Scouts/Explorers they will walk 10 miles per day. On route they will buy food for their evening meal and find somewhere to stay. It will be a steep learning curve as they will need to work as a team to decide how far they walk e.g. if they have done 8 miles should they stop at this village or complete the 10 and then have to walk another 2 before the next village. Also we will all start from the same point so some groups will need to get a train to their start place others will walk some will be taken in a mini bus.
Following the 3 days of walking we will all meet up near lake Constance for 3 days in a static camping situation. with visits to local town and possibly a chance to swim in the lake. One of the days we as a large group will walk the last section of the E1 crossing the border from Germany to Switzerland.
All in all it should be a great 9 days of Scouting Adventure.
I will try to make the occasional tweet for those that follow me www.twitter.com/kiff76
and I will see you all in a week or so
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Kiff
©ChrisMeadows2012