Woggleknot.com – An Explorer Scout's Blog

I’ve been priviliged enough to get my hands on a copy of a new book coming out next month: “Scouting Skills: A Complete Guide”. It contains numerous skills that are worthwhile for any scout to learn.

On the front cover the book claims to contain “Everything you need to know for your outdoor adventures”, and it really does. It has so much information crammed into it, and it is all presented in interesting ways – the book is full of diagrams and photographs. Great lengths have been taken to make sure the reader does not become bored.

Every skill mentioned in the book is actually useful and many examples of use are given – in the foreword, UK Chief Scout Bear Grylls writes: “We won’t bore you with the unnecessaries. When we show you knots, we’ll only show you the most useful”. It is worthwhile mastering as many skills as you can – you will soon find that they will become very helpfull within your scouting experiences!

It will prepare you for various outdoor activities – from short day-hikes to camps lasting weeks. And because there are so many things you can do outdoors, there is a broad spectrum of skills you can learn. This book is exremely useful for anybody planning an expedition (such as a D of E expedition) or planning to camp out in the wild. For hiking, there are instructions on how to navigate using a map and a compass, lists of equipment you might need and there are plenty of tips on how to appreciate and care for the outdoors. There are also plenty of ideas that will make campsite life much more pleasant and fun – for example, there are many examples of pioneering structures you could build, from pot holders to bridges!

The book also contains information on basic first aid for many different injuries and emergencies, such as burns, severe bleeding and choking. These skills are essential for anybody who goes hiking or camping out in the wild because there is potentially a lot of risk involved – throughout the book there many warnings of risks involved with specific activities, and these warnings are in white boxes with red outlines to make sure they stand out.

My favourite chapter in the book has to be the one about firebuilding and cooking. I want to get good at building fires and there is one particular idea that’s making me want to go camping – CAMPFIRE SAUSAGE ROLLS:

Cook sausages on a stick. Make camp bread dough and wrap it around the cooked sausages then toast slowly over the fire – campfire sausage rolls.

It would take a long time to go through all the skills in the book so my only suggestion would be to buy the book, read it and get out there and try it! It will be released next month by Random House Children’s Books, so look out for it!

You can pre-order the book from these websites for around £10:
Amazon
Scout Shops

A few other people with scouting themed blogs have also recieved a copy of the book – make sure you visit Jabbering All Day Long and Nick’s Ramblings – both are excellent blogs!

Well I’ve been getting quite a lot of exercise over the last few days with my explorer unit. On Sunday we went for a day hike somewhere around Denby dale. It wasn’t that strenuous and It was more like a leisurely stroll. The main focus on the hike was to allow people to improve their navigational skills with the map – I think some people improved.

Tonight was brilliant fun too! I just got back from trampolining at the sports centre and I feel kind of dizzy. I’ve done trampolining at school and the trampolines aren’t very good there so it took a while getting used to the ones at the sports centre because they’re a lot bouncier.  I think by the end of the night I’d improved a bit.

And because I haven’t officially started my D of E physical recreation yet, I might do trampolining instead. Just a thought…

Next Friday there is a competition called the nighthawk challenge, which Bradley Scouts are entering.

In the competition, the scouts have to hike from checkpoint to checkpoint through the night (and into the morning). The checkpoints are only open at certain times, so Scouts must arrive within a certain time window, or they are disqualified. The walk is usually around 12 miles long. However, the walk isn’t the hard part.

There is also team of Adult volunteers called “Hunters” who split up and search all the areas where scouts could be walking, and any scout troops that get found loses a point. The scout team that reaches the finish point ,and has lost the least amount of points, wins.

Scouts must decide on which routes they should take to each checkpoint, and they should choose routes that hunters are least likely to find them on. In order to win the competition, a lot of decision making and good tactics is necessary.

I managed to win the competition last year with my team, and hopefully the team from Bradley Scouts this year will do well too!

I’ve been thinking about some activities I’d like to do which will help me get achievements in scouts.

For my physical recreation section of my Duke of Edingurgh’s award I’m thinking about doing hiking. I could buy an OS map of the area and think of some routes to do, gradually building them up to be harder and harder. I could also go somewhere a bit further away to hike and camp at least once a month.

For my skill section of D of E, I’ve decided I want to do drawing. I’m not very good but I enjoy it and it’s something I would like to get good at.

If I do drawing for three months, hiking for six months and continue with being a young leader for a year, I’ll get my Duke of Edinburgh Silver award.

I’m doing my grade 4 rockschool electric guitar exam soon and I’m thinking of combining this with the Musician Stage 4 badge. Part of earning the badge is performing publicly so I should benefit from the experience.

Also, I’ve decided I’m going to learn lots of “scouty stuff” like knots and making fire and stuff, just because I’d like to learn how to do it.