Early Wednesday morning the intrepid adventurers of Tile Barn 1 set off on a two day survival epic. The first challenge was an 11 kilometre hike across the wilderness of the New Forest. Here’s the catch – the adventurers had to navigate themselves back to Tile Barn! After some map reading guidance, a few misdirection’s, all groups arrived back at Tile Barn. The instructors were impressed by the skill in which TB1 navigated home, maintained a quick pace, AND assembled the stove to make their own hot chocolate! All without setting fire to anything!
After the hike we had to build shelters in which to spend the night. The wind was getting stronger at this point… After wrestling with some tarpaulin, finding some trees that wouldn’t fall down, and avoiding the lashing rain and wind, all shelters were built. This could not have been done without the amazing effort and teamwork put in by all – it’s not easy building shelter in a gale!!
Once our homes were secured we went to make dinner – enter the rabbits… After some initial reluctance, all members of TB1 were able to help out in preparing the rabbits for our dinner. They did an amazing job! Suddenly it was announced – we couldn’t sleep in our shelters! There was a serious risk of some trees falling down due to the howling wind and lashing rain. The night was not spent in comfort though – a rock hard floor replaced the inclement outdoors.
The next morning we went to investigate our shelters – sorry, our paddling pools! While still standing, they were full of water! All members of TB1 were grateful we had an indoor spot for our sleep! Kayaking next time, what will the next adventure bring?