Day 7 Romney Marsh to home via WS2013

Not such a nice day and the tent was saturated with dew - no sun and very little wind, typical! We wanted to get away at 9.30am so I had to reconcile myself to the fact that the tent would be very wet and would require drying at some stage rather than being rolled up and stuffed into its bag for 2 days.

Molly was very helpful with all the packing up and we were soon ready for the off. We've enjoyed our 6 nights together but Molly was looking forward to seeing her mum again. Our rendez-vous point was the Gardener's Arms opposite the Sussex County Show Ground at Ardingly - a great pub if you're ever in the area, a good menu and superb service - a popular choice for Guide and Scout visitors to the camp in the afternoon. After Molly and my sister had left I grabbed an hour or so to catch up on some emails and to change into Guide Wear for my afternoon's visit.

WS 2013 International camp is a joint venture for Girlguiding and Scouts in West Sussex (including Girlguiding Sussex Central). This is the 9th camp that they've run over the past 30 years bringing together almost 2,000 young people, supported by 570 leaders and a further 450 volunteer staff running the central camp and activities.  Guides and Scouts from Argentina, Austria, Australia, British Guides In Foreign Countries, Canada, Denmark, Georgia, Germany,  Guernsey, Ireland, Jersey, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, St Lucia, Sweden, Spain and the USA have joined the week long camp of adventure and friendship.

After a welcome from the camp organisers, the VIP's were shown around the Ancient Civilisations themed camp and encouraged to join in the fun and fundraising in the bazaar. I had the great pleasure of presenting some of Girlguiding's top awards to members on the central stage in 'Camelot': BP Awards to Guides, a Leadership Qualification and our very top award for members under 26 - the Queen's Guide Award. Very many congratulations to you all and well done for all the hard work that you've put into achieving your award.

Whilst speaking to Eileen Burbidge, one of my predecessors in my role as Chief Commissioner for Girlguiding London and South East England, we spotted a parascender flying over the campsite. What a great opportunity for a new adventure, Eileen was full of support and enthusiasm for the challenge, everyone rallied round to make it possible and before I left at 7.30pm I'd flown over the camp strapped to a parachute. What an afternoon! Very many thanks to all of you involved in making the camp such a success for so many young people and their leaders and for your warm welcome to all the visitors.

       with Eileen and the two wonderful Guides who showed us around camp


If you're wondering what happened to the soggy tent .... I spread it out over the back of the car in an attempt to dry it off but later decided to pitch it in the car parking field. Just got it down and packed away as the dew started to fall. Phew!

Off home to repack and reprovision and to pick up Nick, my son and 2nd camping companion, for the Sussex leg of the trip.