Our party was made up of 15 Scouts, 2 young leaders and 3 experienced
leaders ( there were two girl scouts and one female leader) The journey down
through England was long and every hill slowed us down to under 40 mph. The
scouts kept themselves amused on the journey and were rewarded by a visit to
the local McDonalds near the ferry port. We slept overnight on the ferry -
drivers in cabins, Scouts and other leader in couchettes.
In the planning stages it is worth considering and
getting ferry prices - quotes for ours ranged from £2,200 down to
£360 for Bus and 15 occupants - guess which we chose!!!!!
Next morning, Sunday, we arrived in Belgium - breakfasted in Breda, just inside the Dutch border - the patrol leaders were given an amount of Dutch money and told to feed their patrol in the motorway restaurant - a quick introduction to Dutch money!!
We arrived at camp to be met by the Dutch Scout Leader, Eric van Schaik and Paul Vale in full uniform. We parked the vehicles and changed quickly into full uniform - including kilts and set off walking to the campsite.
The campsite was about a mile from the entrance - for the next 10 days, every time we went off site we had to walk that mile to the car park and then on return the mile back - closer to nature!!
The Dutch scouts had set up their camp but left spaces between their tents for our patrols. The Scots Leaders camped next to the Dutch leaders. The Dutch troop was made up of 28 Scouts and 5 leaders - all male.
Whilst the Scouts set up camp, the leaders discussed the
plans for the next week. It was decided that all activities would be joint and
that food would be bought for everyone - based on the Dutch menu and costs
allocated afterwards - a Dutch treat!.
It was agreed that our GSL, Douglas Shearer would accompany the Dutch ASL,
Willem Broos in the late afternoon to purchase food - a true learning
experience for our GSL!!!!!
| Cay-Noya Scout Group (Leusden) |  |
| 2nd Asfordby |  |
| 10th Fife (Cupar) Scouts |  |
Within an hour of our arrival we discovered that the woods
had wood-wasps living there, which liked occasionally to sting - the sting
however cleared very quickly as the amount of venom must have been very low. We
soon got used to them and the Scouts made traps of jam jars and water.
By late afternoon the Scouts were chatting together and some had become friends
- it happened remarkably easily and we put this down to total sharing of food
and activities - at no time through the week did we have any animosity between
any of the scouts of different nationalities.
In the second week we shared the activities and menu with the
English Scouts and their Leaders.
One day we visited Amsterdam, took a boat trip round the canals
and walked around the streets - in groups of 3 - a wonderful experience for the
Scouts
Later in the week we met and shared games and a campfire with a
troop of Austrian Scouts from Vienna ( male & female)