Niall Tyler
Part 1 – Before the event:
When my younger son announced last year that he, a couple of other Scout Leaders, and some of the Scouts were planning to cycle and walk from John O’Groats to Land’s End during the then next summer my first thoughts were “really?!”, followed by “that’s a long way!”, and then rounded off by a “how’s that going to work, then?”.
But with the overall plans gradually taking shape and the route becoming clearer (avoid the A9!), thoughts turned to the logistics of the 8-to-9-week journey and the support that would be required throughout.
I was one of a collection of parents, grandparents, and the ex-Scout District Commissioner who, with some juggling by Jennie and Phil, managed to agree a schedule of at least one support person being with the team for the whole of the journey. Somehow, I found myself agreeing to be the support for the first week – so from Chandler’s Ford up to John O’Groats and then with the team as they made their way by bike and foot to Inverness. It all sounds so simple written down like that…
The support work started well before the journey itself did, with many of us and our wider families helping to seek out suitable accommodation en route, assisting Phil in identifying the local Scout Groups and contacting them to request use of their facilities for a night along the way. I’ll come back to the accommodation later. Other questions such as “how many spare inner-tubes will we need” came down to a finger in the air guess and a hope for the best!
Hendy Ford had been kind enough to lend us a Transit Van for the adventure (even wrapping both it and Phil & Jennie’s car with Woggle Joggle logos, QR Codes, and, of course, their own business name) and Phil did an amazing job constructing some wooden racking in it to hold the many and various crates and boxes that seemed to keep growing and growing in number. The whole event would have been impossible without this, and we are very grateful to Hendy’s for their support.
As the day of departure grew nearer, and the mountain of kit grew ever larger, thoughts turned more to food and other essentials. With various dietary requirements to cater for shopping was a bit more involved than perhaps it might have been, but I think that we managed to provide suitable food for everyone so we must have done something right.
Eventually, the early evening of Friday 7th July arrived and the Great Woggle JOGLE team, accompanied by their support team (me) assembled at Brickfield Lane, to be seen off by a large gathering of family, friends, and other well-wishers on our way to our overnight stay near Nottingham.
The Great Woggle JOGLE had begun.
End of Part-1.