Kirsten's blog

April 2009

At the start of this month, I had a meeting with the other Gold D of E girls in the area to plan our route for our first walk round the Greenock Cut. I learned how to measure distances and read six figure grid references. We then split into pairs and took part of the route and see who was the most accurate group. Me and my partner were off by 0.2km which is pretty good for my first attempt at map reading. (It also helped that my partner has done it all before when she did Bronze) Then, on the 10th, we did the walk. It was easier than I had expected and we did finish the walk an hour before schedule and half and hour before the Bronze group also doing the walk, and we did it in reverse from what we had planned. The only problem was that I had walked for two and a half hours and my friend was having a ceilidh for her 18th birthday that evening! It didnt help that I decided that I wore my 3 inch heels to the dance. I didnt get out of bed the day after because I couldnt walk.

Everything settled down for the Easter holidays, except for school. My school runs extra revision classes over the holiday and since Maths is not my strong point, I decided to go. Well soon find out how much good it did me when I sit my exam next month.

Also, in non-guiding news, I sat my driving theory test. I was so nervous that I was glued to my copy of the Highway Code all the day before and the entire bus ride to the test centre. But, it did me some good. I passed first time and it wasnt that much of a waste of an afternoon.

After that, I had another D of E meeting to plan our next walk in the Pentlands near Edinburgh. I can now (roughly) work a compass, but my route measuring was a bit off. Instead of the route being 11km, I thought it was 28km and it would take us 9 hours to complete. I want to the meeting hoping that I was wrong. I was completely relieved to find out how off I was.

Finally, the last weekend this month, I ran a camp for some of the Rangers so I could gain my Senior Section Permit of Queens Guide. It was a great weekend and nothing went wrong. On the Saturday evening, we started a campfire and kept it going six hours. Our Ranger leader was quite impressed when she arrived at half 10. One of the Rangers wanted to make her Promise at my camp so our leader came up just as it became dark so it was pitch black and all you could see was the fire and the stars. It was a really nice night to make your Promise, I was kind of jealous. It was great fun setting fire to marshmallows and eating blackened sugar. The only thing I would change about the camp would be the weather, it was a bit cold on the Friday and Sunday and really sunny on Saturday but during both nights it rained and rained and rained. But I had booked a solid shelter at the campsite so we just spend all our time in there and moved to the tent once we were too tired to do anything.

Next month, I have my exams and the walk in the Pentlands. At the end of the month, the Brownies are having a sleepover and I am going away for a trial weekend with the D of E group. Lets hope it doesnt rain.