I arrived at the end point of the route, parked my car, and walked the whole route back to the start point, then waited for the minibus to turn up with the youngsters and their youth workers. It was a teeny-weeny bit late, and I was rather early, but it was a pleasant sunny morning, so I idled about in the sunshine, watching the world go by.
Eventually they hove into view, and when they had all disembarked and sorted themselves out, I went through some preliminary matters with them, including making sure that their rucksacks were reasonably comfortable (or at least, not actively uncomfortable), and establishing on the map exactly where we were. To my annoyance, the map, which I had downloaded from OS Maps only a day and a half earlier, did not show two well-established footpaths nearby.
The youngsters navigated us via the various way-points, with me helping them to brush up their skills as we went. At one point, when we were practising taking bearings along a path and checking back against the map, a group of young women, all in shift dresses and wellies, came past, on a hen weekend, the bride-to-be indenifiable by her white dress, tiara, and sash.
At the destination, a campsite, we practised putting up and taking down the tents, much to the bafflement of some people staying there, who thought we had come to stay the night then changed out minds.
Much as time spent on reconnaissance is seldom wasted, when it came to the practice expedition as few weeks later it was clear that the time spent on this practice hike had been well spent.
