The final couple of days

Wow, we finished on a high! Met two Scouts, Otto and Leo who took us out on their 6 berth boat sailing to an island off from Helsinki. We moored up for the night, enjoyed a good laugh and a couple of beers. 10 of us managed to squeeze onto the boat, two of us outside until it rained at 6am! Morning wash was had in the sea before heading back into Helsinki. Took a good few hours to sail and the boat was tipping nicely into the water. For the majority of us this was rather scary but we all got back safely. We renewed our promise once safely back in harbour and it’ll be a night none of us ever forget!

Leo kindly put us up in his one bedroom (well two room) apartment for the night, the most people he’s ever had in there. Had a traditional FInnish meal to end before buying 3 litres of ice cream to ensure we hit 100! Eating this in a local park at 9pm under sunlight was amazing until a large cloud appeared, out of nowhere. We ran for our lives as the wind got up, the rain poured and thunder and lightning was all around. From Leo’s balcony we watched this awesome storm across Helsinki harbour.

Our flights home went smoothly, as did our transport to Blackwell. On arrival we ran across the finish line and screamed like girls. We had completed the trip of a lifetime. We put together our display beofre ‘dressing to impress’. Whilst other teams wore pretty dresses we dressed as Leeky Daffodils (of course) with massive daffodil headdresses. After champagne and canopes we were all seated and awards began. We had to wait until after dinner for our success….Rhodri, our beautiful mascot who had looked after us so well won the best mascot and Sarah won the ‘Best Comedien’ award for all her entertaining dancing.

Fireworks followed. We loved what we saw but there was meant to be a bigger display to music which unfortunately was caught by a technical hitch. After photos with the Chief Guide and much hyperactivity we spent out final night as a team. By 11am this morning we were all disappearing off back home.

The last two weeks has been a blast, the team has been amazing and there are memories that will last a lifetime. Happy Centenary to all involved in Girlguiding UK and a massive thank you to those in Girlguiding Midlands who organised this challenge.

Helsinki here we are!

Another night train, this one with cars on and everything. We travelled through the not so dark night from Rovaniemi (Lapland) down to Helsinki arriving just before 7am this morning (yawn). We managed to orientate ourselves easily to the hostel, dumped our bags and found the Guide/Scout HQ. Cups of tea all around, a few phone conversations and tomorrow we’re being met by Scouts with mumblings of sailing and camping, excitment!

We decided to spend the day on one of Helsinki’s islands (we like to call it Semolina, it’s easier to say). It was an old fort from the years of attacks on this coast and was very pretty. We lunched on the beach, basking in glorious sunshine (and yes Mums we did apply suncream). We wandered the day away, ate as many ice creams as we could (our tally is low at the moment) before sailing back on the ferry to the main town.

The hostel we’re in is in the 1952 Olympic Stadium so is pretty cool. Just had a good feed and it’ll be bed soon to catch some much needed sleep before meeting this Scouts tomorrow (here’s hoping for lovely Scandanavian Sea Scouts to whisk us away for the day).

Hope all is well in the UK and we’ll try our very best to update you before we leave for home.

Much love, the Leeky Daffs xx

Sat 31st July – Thurs 5th August

On Saturday we traveled to Auschwitz which took about 7 hours.  Auschwitz was very moving especially with our lovely tour guide and his soft moving voice!  We had the luxury of a nice hotel in Oswiecm, which made a nice change from the floor of a Scout hall or the night train. 

The sunday was a traveling day throught Poland, Lituania and into Latvia via train and night bus. 

Once in Latvia we completed our challange of finding the first recorded Christmas tree whilst singing ‘We wish you a Merry Christmas’ and then spent the rest of the day exploring Riga and making an attempt to add more ice creams to our tally.  at the end of the day we met some Latvian Guides who took us to their spooky beach house with animal skin rugs.  After an amazing dinner of hand picked salad they took us the the beach where Bec had a nice little swim in the not so cold Baltic sea. 

the next day we went in to town and kayaked down the river and along the canal to see the sites of Riga.  Whilst kayaking we encountered a very heavy rain storm and the whole took much longer and much harder than expected but it was still good fun.  We then ran to the bus for our flight.  we were slightly concerned by the plane as we didnt know it was stopping half way, and thought that was a very short flight!

Yesterday we met Santa sang to him, touched some reindeer and crossed into the Arctic circle.  It was a very exciting day and everyone bought lots of souveniers. 

We are currently sat in the Arktikum museum where we have learnt about the Arctic people and animals.  Next stop Helsinki.

30th July 2010

Hello from Trencin in Solvakia!!!

We arrived here yesterday after a train journey from Prague and a good nights sleep all round. Trencin is a really pretty little town which is currently holding its Summer Medieval Fair which includes jousting, falconry and belly dancing! We asked in Tourist information and within minutes Girl Scouts started to arrive!! Luckily it seems to be very popular in Solvakia and Trencin particularly which has 2 groups both of which have just come back from a large camp. We were very lucky and they set us up for the 2 nights in their scout hut which is huge and currently being renovated.

Today we went to see Trencin castle, one of the biggest in Solvakia and another challenge completed. The tour was very informative and it has all been rebuilt in recent years after a series of fires and included a gallery and Roman finds from the area.

Lunch was some lovely pizza-stylee traditional fare cooking in a wood burning oven and we are planning on a meal together tonight as it is sooo cheap here! Ice creams are 30 cents!!! So we have made a dent in our 100 ice cream challenge! Also, we managed to sweet talk some men in costume into letting us use the jousting ring int he centre of the square to build sand castles, another challenge.

Tomorrow we are travelling into Polnad to stay near Auschwitz.

Love to all x
Leeky Daffodils

The trip has really begun!

So, we had an awesome evening with the BGIFC group out in Paris.  Tuesday morning we were fed a traditional french breakfast, mmmm warm croissant before being taken on the train and metro via the Arc de Triomph to the British Embassy for the opening ceremony.  The ambassador offered us a warm welcome, let us walk around his beautiful abode and declared the Stampede officially open, woooohhhoooo!  We had a picnic on his lawn, ask Bec about the springy turf it caused great amusement before saying our goodbyes to other teams.  The BGIFC hospitality  continued through the afternoon as we took a tour by the Eiffel Tower and then down to the River Seine for a hour long boat tour that was gifted to us; passing Le Louvre, under many bridges and around the Notre Dame.  Talk about getting in all the sights in half a day, blimey.  Following this there was a rush to the train station, three of us managed to get off the wrong side of the metro train so ended up waiting for the next one and having to dash through the next train that arrived.  We were at Gare du Nord with minutes to spare before our train left, goodness it was a bit close.

Train ran smoothly to Cologne where we changed for the sleeper train to Prague.  Tickets were most confusing and it took a while to find our little cabins but once found we played around like any Guides would before settling for the night.  Not sure anyone slept brilliantly but it was a great experience.  As for Rhodri, well he as out sharing some bevvies with the lads in the corridor before they headed to bed, he’s quite a party animal our mascot is!

Prague arrival was smooth and Sara’s knowledge of the city got us around the metro system and safely to our hostel where we dumped bags.  Exploration time began.  First stop Wenceslas square.  Challenge  duly completed, two verses of Good King Wenceslas sung in our very best voices on the steps of the Wenceslas statue, we even had two ladies join in, hoorah!  The afternoon was spent exploring the old town square before crossing Charles bridge and spending a few hours exploring the castle.  Prague has taken a few of us by surprise, it is quieter than we thought and the city sights are quite spectacular.

I write this as half the team are showering for the first time since the trip began, yes we smell gorgeous; others are cooking (pasta for 8 is taking it’s time) and I have the pleasure of telling you the adventures so far.  Hope this is keeping you all entertained and that they’ll be some more updates on our Ultimate European Adventure in the next few days.

26th July 2010

Greetings from Paris!

Arrived safely and welcomed with dinner, French cheeses and bread, in a rather lovely suburb of Paris. Our hosts turn out to be British Guides in Foreign Countries and we also have the pleasure of their company tomorrow at the opening ceremony.

We look forward to negotiating the RER and Metro ticket barriers again in the morning. Already up to 10 modes of transport (full detailed llist on our return)!

Both Sarah and Sara have had their decency taken away in St Pancras having to flash their knickers in a bag search! No knickers were lost in this process we must stress, but Rhodri was taken a liking to by one of the security guards in the station as he was affectionally sniffed!

Bon Nuit from the Leeky Daffs and Rhodri! xx

1 week and 1 day to go!

With one week and one day to go the excitement is starting to kick in.  The team now has some dashing new red ‘Leeky Daffodil’ polo shirts and some awesome badges.

Hope you all enjoy following us on this blog while we are away.  We will do our best to update it as much as we can

The Leeky Daffodils xx