Back in 2015, Girlguiding South West entered a team into the Fastnet Face, a yacht race from the Isle of Wight to the lighthouse at Fastnet Rock and then back to Plymouth and to mark the event, they came up with the Fastnet Challenge badge. The Guides my Rangers are kind of twinned with did this badge during the summer term, with all sorts of visits and activities. I didn’t do it at the time but it’s such a pretty badge, all blue with a gold thread rope-patterned border. It’s still available from the online shop. It’s on sale, which means either they’re running low on stock or they just want to get rid of it after five years. So I decided that since I’m not doing a lot else at the moment, I’d do it.
Before anyone complains that “it seems a bit easy!”, remember that I’m doing this at home on my own during a plague to keep myself busy and also this definition of challenge from my old Guide handbook
What is a challenge?
Well, the dictionary says two things. One is that a challenge is “a difficult or demanding task” and the other is that a challenge is “an invitation to take part in something”. Challenges in Guides are a mixture of both, but are more like the second answer than the first!
So this is less difficult and demanding and more an inspiration for things to do during the long semi-locked-down summer of 2020.
The resource with the instructions is here, if anyone else thinks they like the look of this. Obviously it’s mostly water-themed, with a bit of boating, a bit of climbing and a bit of history. It comes in six parts, although the instructions call them Ports, which are Training, Cowes, On Board, Ireland, Fastnet Rocks and Plymouth. Each port has seven or eight activities and they suggest completing ten activities, including one from every port. I started in early July and today it’s October 31st and I’ve just done my last activity.
Port 1 – Training
Activity 7: Learn about the points of the compass and follow a short trail using a compass.
I already knew about the points of the compass but I followed a long trail. I went to Dartmoor a month ago and I used my compass to follow the route I’d planned between Saddle Tor, Haytor, Smallacombe Rocks, Hound Tor and back. That’s a long trail.
Port 8: Have a session at your local swimming pool
Well, I had fourteen sessions at my local swimming pool in August and September. I definitely improved my speed and stamina, got a bit of exercise in and enjoyed the safety of an open-air literal vat of disinfectant during a plague.
Port 2 – Cowes
Activity 6: Have a go at a different type of boating, such as canoeing, windsurfing etc
Back in early July, I went out paddleboarding. I’ve done it once before, a quick taster session with my Rangers last summer but this was the first time I’d had enough time to really experiment with it for myself and it was great. I had the entire boating lake to myself, because it was just cold and grey enough that no one else wanted to go out, I took my own wetsuit & buoyancy aid to save having to wear something a be-plagued person had recently worn and to save the watersports centre having to clean and disinfect anything, and I paddled happily until my arms ached.
I also went out canoeing the other day, the first time I’d ever ever tried it, and that was also great, so I’m double-covered on this one.
Port 3 – On Board
Activity 4: Visit a nature reserve or a local area and make a list of the different sea birds you see
I went to RSPB Arne, a 565 hectare nature reserve made up of a lot of heathland, pine and birch wood, salt marsh, reedbed and seafront, along the edge of Poole Harbour. I wrote a blog post about my visit to their Halloween trail, which was well away from the seafront part. But the reason I knew about that trail was that I was there a couple of weeks earlier and saw the poster and I walked by the sea that first time. It wasn’t a great day but it wasn’t as wet and miserable as the trail day. I admit, I didn’t see many, if any, sea birds but I saw a robin and paddled very gently in my boots and otherwise appreciated being in the peace and quiet of a nature reserve.
Port 4 – Ireland
Activity 4: Watch the film Titanic or find out where the Titanic sailed from on its fateful journey.
Well, I’m precisely the right age to have loved Titanic in 1997. I saw it at least twice in the cinema, and again on its re-release in 2012. I had it on VHS and I also have it on two-disc DVD. So one morning, I rewatched it. I probably haven’t seen it since 2012 – whatever public opinion may have said in the last 23 years, it’s still huge, epic and intense and quite hard work to watch. Adult me definitely watches it differently to twelve-year-old me and it’s a lot harder now (not least because I can’t even think about the “spit like a man!” scene, let alone watch it).
Activity 7: Make a shamrock out of felt, tapestry or embroidery
I have no idea where to start with tapestry and because I live in the 21st century, I’m not a natural embroiderer. But a felt shamrock, I could manage that. In fact, I made four shamrocks. They’re quite small but very cute and I sewed them together into a little bunch. That’s today’s activity, my tenth, and the one that means I can finally award myself the badge that’s been sitting on my shelf for four months.
Port 5 – Fastnet Rocks
Activity 2: Visit a lighthouse and if possible climb to the light at the top
I did this! I went to Portland Bill and did the tower tour and climbed 153 steps up to the new LED lamp. I wrote the blog about it the other day.
Activity 7: Walk 1.126 or 11.26km, which represents the 1126km of the Fastnet Race
Between July 7th when I did the paddleboarding and today, when I did the felt shamrocks, I walked & swam 357km, which is more than three times 112.6km. 1,126km is a bit much for one summer but I definitely covered a good walking distance.
Portland 6 – Plymouth
Activity 3: Climb Smeaton’s Tower on Plymouth Hoe, or climb your own high point where you can see the landscape around
I climbed Hambledon Hill, which at 192m is definitely climbing to a high point. It’s an Iron Age hillfort, quite a substantial one and one which deserves its own post later on. I stopped at least half a dozen times because it wrecked my calf muscles and then when I reached the top, a huge wave of cloud and rain rolled over the landscape. Good landscape.
Activity 4: Visit an outdoor swimming pool or lido and swim, or have a paddle in the sea
All my swimming from port 1 was in an outdoor swimming pool but it didn’t seem in the spirit of the challenge to use it for two activities. So I went to the beach the other day specifically to paddle in the drizzle of October, because if you’re going to do a challenge as simple as ten minutes paddling, you might as well up the other factors, like the unpleasantness of the water temperature. So I paddled.
And there you go. Ten activities completed, and I have a shiny Fastnet Challenge badge to add to the pile to sew on my camp blanket!