This year the charms of the Old Man that towers over the town of Coniston in Cumbria 's Lake District drew 27 Scout leaders, 4 Guide leaders and 22 Explorer Scouts to our weekend event in February. In fact neither the coach nor spacious youth centre could cope with this year's demand, forcing some of our more distinguished members to very gracefully reside in a local hostelry.

During the coach journey to Coniston all those wishing to walk are allocated into walking parties (usually of 7) for the weekend. Each walking party will have at least one leader with the relevant Scout / Guide walking qualifications and an experienced assistant leader to second. The coach is a great opportunity for those new to IMC trips to meet their newfound friends and for more frequent visitors to catch up.

Each walking party is assigned a duty for the weekend, usually either the cooking or clearing of a meal. So for those lucky few with breakfast duty the day starts that little bit earlier! After a filling breakfast the groups get out onto the hills as early as possible to make the most of the February daylight hours. During the day most parties will visit the Old Man (803m) and depending upon the experience and ability of the party members at least two other peaks. Much to the disappointment of most, the reports of snow-covered mountains were a little over hyped but the clear skies and blazing February sunshine more than compensated for the lack of white stuff. The crisp fresh morning air and sunshine made for almost perfect winter walking conditions that meant you could see for miles in any direction from the peaks. It's common practice for all party members (regardless of age!) to participate in the day's navigation under the guidance and supervision of the party leader and for leaders to take the opportunity to gain valuable leadership experience.

Most parties opted for a full compliment of winter walking equipment for each party member to enable the whole group to participate in any winter walking opportunities that arose. On the whole most groups managed at least a short session in walking with in-step crampons.

After a good days walking everyone sits down for a plentiful evening meal to talk over the days events. For the Explorers a suitably themed video (Cliffhanger) was run upstairs or they had use of the games room complete with bar sized snooker table, table tennis and tale football. The leaders had a brief training session to bring them up to speed with the latest developments in authorisation requirements and the opportunity to go through the recommended walking group First Aid kits. After the training session the leaders can either relax in the centre with the Explorers or pop across the road to briefly sample some local hospitality.

Sunday started earlier for most than they would have probably liked but after a full hot breakfast most people seemed to be fully functioning. The glorious weather we had experienced the day before had, as predicted, disappeared; giving way to cloud cover and light rain. A high proportion of the Explorer Scouts took the opportunity to experience some river walking in Church Beck whilst the remainder went out to do some relatively low level micro navigation training.

I'm almost certain I speak for everyone who went when I say this was another fantastic weekend away that really does emphasise all the great angles of being a Scout or Guide. If you're interested in joining us next year get in touch today, the centre's booked and applications will open early December and places usually disappear shortly after! This year we had a waiting list of around 20!

Hope to see you all next year!