Having Fun On A Winter Camp
With extreme winter weather closing schools and bringing the United Kingdom to a near stand still it may seem surprising to hear that around 2,500 hardy scouts have just enjoyed (or endured) a weekend of winter camping fun in East London.
If you, like me, need a warm, comfortable bed at night then you will find it hard to understand why anyone would want to spend several nights sleeping under canvas in sub-zero temperatures.The old scout motto of ‘be prepared’ could never be more appropriate than when winter camping. This means having the right camping equipment and some good quality, warm outdoor clothing and plenty of layers.
Organisers had laid on no less than 70 adventurous outdoor activities for the boys and girls to have a go at over the weekend. They were given the opportunity to do a little zorbing in the snow, climbing, abseiling, trampoling along with snowboarding and skiing.
Ensuring participant safety was a top priority. Organisers carried out risk assessments regarding the journey to the Gilwell campsite in East London as well as the dangers of sleeping out in freezing conditions.
To keep warm at night, when temperatures plummeted to minus six degrees Celsius (21 degrees Fahrenheit), the hardy scouts doubled up on sleeping bags and squeezed together with fellow scouts to share body warmth.
When interviewed the scouts told me that the key to staying warm in these unusually cold conditions is wearing plenty of layers. They told me that they were padded out with no less than 7 layers, at least two pairs of gloves and very thick, warm winter socks. They also recommended wearing a very warm hat as a great deal of body heat can be lost from the head.
Although I could see that these boys and girls were clearly having a wonderful time in the winter snow I was glad to get home to my warm, centrally heated house and to sleep in my comfortable bed rather than wrapped in sleeping bags in a field somewhere in East London.
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