Alton Towers Saturday

Up at 630, put on the water as soon as we could.
Windy. Very Windy. So windy in fact that the tents were happily nearly blowing away...
Cooking took a LONG time, there has got to be a faster way to cook breakfast for 17 people, one massive frying pan on a small hob just doesnt work, I might have to look into using the massive wok hob we have...

So we didnt actually get out until about 840, (meant to have left by 8), and drove like a mentalist- (apparently my driving was the worst thing about the entire weekend, the only time at which any of the kids threw up...hmmm.)

Got there just at the right time, Braddles, who came up by train that morning was standing in the queue as we got there. I took the executive decision to go to the express parking- for an extra tenner, I really didnt want to faff around with everyone else in a battle tank of a mini bus.
Got our tickets, told everyone where to meet at the end of the day, gave out the tickets and told them to get lost.
4 leaders together- we then ran over to the far end of the park, did Sky, Nemesis and Ripsaw in quick succession, went over to Rita, then Oblivion, then a little pinball thing which was the longest wait in the whole day, then over to a log flume, an expensive burger and chips, mine train ride and back to Sky for a last ride of the day where we caught up with the kids and walked them back to the bus.
Perfect.

Drive back, and set Braddles up to cook pasta bolognaise thing, while Chalky got the kids dragging wood around, lighting fires on the altar fires, which kept them busy for long enough.
I then did a bit of stealth dinnerage- getting them to go up in 2s or 3s to get food, instead of having them all bundle up there at the same time.
Chalky was very impressed with a couple of them who have never really made fires before, who really persevered, and had a good deal of success.

After food, I organised wide games. as it was dark I used tea lights under small cones which lit up brilliantly and made excellent bases.
First game was putting out the other teams candles, which was a fast and frenetic game, but turned a little violent, so we didnt really pursue it. (some of the explorers really werent into the whole thing, so we changed and used the candles to a different effect)
Second game was- what I know as Touch Can In. basically, stealth and speed to get back to base before the catchers catch you.
the base was set out with the candles, as was the area where the catchers werent allowed to hang around, (which probably wasnt big enough) and the games commenced.

Once we had a couple of games with the leaders being the catchers, we changed over and let volunteers catch, others who had opted out earlier came in and joined, and by the end, even those who had no luck at the beginning of the evening, were getting it and had success.
And they were totally knackered out at the end as well. which was a bonus.
Explorers dead to the world after a quick hotdog supper at about 11.
nice.