This was a trip that the whole course took part in. It was intended as a bonding exercise and also an introduction to camping and cooking on Trangias as some members of the course had not spent many nights in a tent before. Each country also had to deliver some teambuilding/group development games.

We met at the campsite in Jegersberg and pitched the tents just inside the tree line and then started the activities.

The games that we ran were the helium stick and the human knot, I felt that these went well and were challenging and engaging for the group. Whilst the other activities were good fun the majority of them were just games and did not really bring any group development into them.

Once we had completed the team games we cooked dinner. The twist in this was that it was a competition to see which tent could make the best meal with the limited ingredients Len provided. My tent team was Steven White, Jolinda de Jong and myself. I did not help with the preparation of our meal as Sven Heaps and myself were collecting wood and preparing the campfire. I did however contribute the tabasco sauce which Steven used liberally.

After the judging (apparently Tabasco can’t be the main ingredient and so we didn’t win) we lit the campfire and cooked our actual dinner. The rest of the night was spent around the fire, some of the group walked back to town and returned with marshmallows and biscuits so it was time for a couple of smores and then bed.

In the morning most of us woke up early, some of us cooked breakfast, took the tents down and walked to Specherin for a debrief and lecture.

The trip was good as an icebreaker and forced the group to be in close proximity for a prolonged period of time which is important at this stage of the group development.