Monklands Explorer Unit Camp at Meggernie - 12-02-2010

Monklands Explorer Unit Camp at Meggernie

We left Coatbridge early on Friday night for the trip to Meggernie expecting a two hour drive to the campsite. However on the Ben Lawers road we encountered a few patches of snow on the road which turned into a bigger patch of snow where we were stranded on a 12 inch pile of snow on ice up to the axle of the mini bus. We spent the next hour digging through ice and snow trying to dig ourselves out. We were luck that a woman was also following us on the road and allowed us to borrow her car mats to help us get out of trouble. Nice to see there are some good people in the world still. Cue a long detour to Meggernie and we eventually arrived on site at 11.30 pm. Set up tents and settled down for a very cold nights sleep as temperature dropped to -7 overnight.

On Saturday the Explorers took part in the Tyrolean crossing over the river which involved pulling yourself on a rope over the river and then being pulled back in at speed. Then archery indoors because of the cold, where Rachel shot a balloon and beat Chris in fact everyone beat Chris. The rest of the day was spent doing GPS and compass work and we finished off with the water rocket. Followed by a warm dinner four Explorers spent the night in the bivvy where it was an almost warm -2 overnight. On Sunday we spent the day working on site and tidying up before taking the long way home.

William Ewart

ESL