The Journey/Day 1

After some tearful goodbyes at Central Station (to the sound of parents popping champagne bottles as we pulled away) we setteld in and tried to cram 28 scouts plus kit into one carriage. Inbetween confused elderly folk and violent Londoners we only managed to get everyone sat down about 5 minutes before we pulled into Euston station but at least it passed the time on the journey.

From Euston we jumped on our brand spanking new belter of a bus and off we went. The journey went as smooth as it possibly could, almost illegally smoothly as we didn't get our passports checked as we boarded the ferry. The scouts chose to forgo sleeping for most of the trip, instead spending all their (your) money on energy drinks and sweets. A couple of brief stops, a couple of movies and suddenly there we were at Kandersteg.

Setting up camp was as easy as it has ever been - the company literally put your tents up for you. Baden Powell would be turning in his grave. The boys entertained themsevles by using the drinking water from the fountains to have massive water fights around the site. After a quick tour round the camp from a rep (playing fields,sauna, campfire areas, showers etc.) we grabbed our lunches and headed downtown. It was 20 degrees so the boys were eager to get to the towns water park, where they spent the day throwing themselves head first off a 4 meter diving board (to the delight of the other water park patrons, and the horror of the water park lifeguard). Highlights included Mark Gillies' cartwheel, Josh Adams Batman dive/cannonball and an old American guy who told everyone to "watch his Jack-knife dive" before tripping off the top of the board and faceplanting the pool.

After that we kicked around town for a bit (whilst the scouts eyed up various novelty items to burn all their money on) before heading back to camp dinner and the most epic game of football ever played. It was about 30 of us against the same number of Spanish scouts, who were all unbelievably good. We put up a good fight (with the good old Scottish smash-the-ball-up-the-top gusto) but were unfortunately beat 7-6 in a stunning sudden-death finale. Needless to say the boys displayed a good sporting attitude, walking off and refusing to shake hands with the opposite team amidst accusations of cheating.

Anyway that'll need to do for today, sorry for the quick update but it's 4 Francs (about 3 quid) for half an hour and all the keys are in the wrong place on this keyboard.