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1968 - 1969 - 1970 |
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Although there is a record of where the first three hikes took place and who attended, there is unfortunately no detailed record of the route taken and only a small number of individual memories worth recording. As mentioned in the introduction, the first hike of the Avenue House Venture Scout Unit took place over the Whitsun weekend of 1968.
The destination was Surrey and the key landmark on route was the Tower at Leith Hill, the highest point in South East England. The top of the fortified Gothic tower is 1029 feet above sea level. Apart from the tower itself, there are only a couple of other recollections of the hike. One comes from Phil, who says: ‘I certainly recall our struggling up the hill was also the steepest!’ The other is from Graham who recalls Roy complaining about his progress up the hill – he was taking three steps forward and then slipping back two. He did however; get little sympathy from everyone else who had hiking boots with a proper tread. Although the full Venture Scout programme included trips in 1968 to Scotland and in 1969 to Switzerland, it was not until December 1969 that the next hike occurred, this in fact being the first ever Winter Hike. We went back to Surrey with a target of climbing Box Hill, one of the best-known summits of the North Downs and 634 feet in height. The participants on this occasion were Graham Beevor, Peter Cox, John Haworth, Graham Hicks, Roland Jackson (Bruno), Phil Knowles and Phil Morecombe. We took the train down on the Friday evening and spent the night camping at Walton Firs, a National Scout Camp located near Cobham. On the Saturday the weather turned cold and our route took us through Stoke D’Abernon, Fetcham and Bookham. As the sky got darker we came across a cricket field and decide to pitch the tents by the boundary. We cooked our meal and after clearing up stored some of our gear in the score hut, thereby providing a bit of extra room in the tents. After some refreshment at a local pub we returned to the tents and tried to settle down for the night. The two Grahams and Bruno shared one tent while Phil M & John and Phil K & Peter paired up. It was not until that night however, that we finally realised the real disadvantage of camping in winter – the cold. None of us had got much sleep and in the morning someone shouted that it was time to get up. The response from Phil and Peter’s tent of ‘But we’ve only just found out how to keep warm’ will live in the memories of many of us forever. ‘The Saturday night was bitterly cold and we camped on the edge of the cricket After breakfast we packed up our gear and headed south on our way to Box Hill. We eventually joined the North Downs Way and turned east. The path, that would lead to the top of Box Hill included, at the lower edge, the ‘Stepping Stones’ over the River Mole.
Fortunately the experience of Box Hill had not put us off hiking, but then again the next hike to Hastings was not in the middle of winter but over the Whitsun weekend of 1970. Nevertheless there were only 3 hikers, namely Graham Beevor, Peter Cox and Phil Knowles.
As we approached Hastings on the Sunday afternoon we were ahead of schedule but not far enough to actually return home a day early. An inspection of the map revealed a possible campsite – a small wood close to a small lake. So, just after Silverhill we pulled off the road and made camp out of sight from the locals. On Monday morning there was little else to do but to make our way down to the station and catch the train back to London.
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