Wow!!!
What a fantastic experience! Thank you to all involved and all who helped (inc. Charlie and Claire's parents for putting us up and feeding us lovely food) and also our supporters at home (family, partners, scout groups, friends).
Also thanks to all those who signed up for this, you guys made the Explorer Belt what it was.

I promise to try get my photos up soon, there's 1.45G of them so struggling to end them, Charlie looks like you'll get them on disk from me.
Poor Colin has heard nothing else since, he'll be glad he's away this weekend for a break. To think I wasn't going to sign up for it and miss out on the experience.

more news soon re presentations etc.

Home - Bed Calling

Hi everybody,

Well, after a 553 mile drive today, the Jools truck made it back to Andover,
via Nigels to "threw him out the door" as Fran put it,
to Sevenoaks to meet a random stanger called Colin to give him Carla's rucksack and two tents (apparently they were his),
to Godalming to leave loads of kit in the door way of a house reportedly lived in on occasions by Charlie and Claire (and to pick up a lovelly goody back with scrummy bits in, thank you everybody)
to Basingstoke train station (where we managed to wake Fran up) and left Fran and Stephen to catch a bus)
and finally home.

The journey from Mannheim only took 11hr 35mins, and doesn't my right foot know it. My left foot is feeling perfectly relaxed thou.


The other 5 (Charlie, Claire, Carla, Tom and Jon) all had a nice quiet relaxing train, bus and flight home - but the truck still beat them (we did have a 2 hour head start thou).

But this does all mean that we are now all home (well, Carla and Fran may have slightly longer joruneys to get to Gurnsey and Scotland). The main part of this explorer belt is now finished, but, for the friends and relatives there will be the days of non stop listening as loads of exciting adventures will be pouring out.

Of course, there is now the paperwork to complete, and all of the team members will need to be busy preparing for their forth coming presentations.

I hope the blog has been useful. Sorry about the spelling mistakes and typo's (it was a small keypad on the phone - that's my excuse and I will stick to it).

Hopefully the team members will add some comments over the next few days to the blog, when they get a chance to stop talking and to read the blog. (I had better remove those bits that we didn't want them to read now.......)



Jools

XB Team A finished

Hi,

Team A finished today, after staying out an extra night. They went
Rieneck Castle, which is a scout campsite. There was a big camp taking
place, which they joined in with, and were up until 2am partying,
before sleeping in one of the towers of the castle.

Jos picked them up from a train station part way back to Mannheim at
just before 12pm.

The two teams have spent lunch time telling each other of there
adventures, and now we are getting ready to go to a district BBQ this
afternoon. Tonight the teams will have there formal debriefs, and then
at 7.30am the truck will depart for the 600 mike drive back to the UK.

Jools & Jo

XB Day 10

Hi everybody,

Today is Day 10, which means it is the last day of the XB.

Team B have returned to Mannheim, where we collected them from the
cental train station at 3.20pm. They are now relaxing in the Youth
House, sorting through kit and money and telling us loads of stories.

Team A have decided to stay out for an additional night, as they had a
very special place that they wanted to visit -more about that tomorrow.

J&J

XB Day 9

Ho Everybody

We thought we would show our little tent, just to show that we have
gone back to camping again. Mind you, with the downpour that we had
yesterday evening, followed by the high winds, we wished we had
another hotel again!

We spent last night with team B, on a campsite belonging to the
Kuppenheim scouts. Team B were staying the night there, we just went
for dinner and the fire (and the company of team B).

Considering that the teams were split on the toss of a coin, it was
great to see how well both teams had worked out. We have been able to
see the bonding in both teams develop over the last 9 days. Everybody
in Team B had a place in the team, and it was great to see them
getting so well. Nigel was in his element trying to make fire,
assisted by Tom, and dispute the wet wood, succeeded with a great
fire. Claire was organising dinner, along with Fran, which was pork
belly slices, saukarrat and potatoes.

We had a great evening chatting, and it was very clear how much each
one of them had already got out of this expedition, and, it's not even
finished yet!

Team A checked in ok last night. They had managed to get an overnight
stay in a sports pavillion in Altheim. They were rather pleased at
this, as it was tipping it Dow with rain, with thunder and lightning!

We have spent today visiting the Rhine and watching the big barges go
through the locks at Iffezheim. Back to our tent for the last night,
before returning to the youth hostel in Mannheim for the end.

Jools & Jo

XB Day 8

Hi everybody

Well it's day 8 of the XB and after 2 nights in Buchen checking up on
Team A, we thought we had better check on Team B. Considering the
teams started just 5 miles apart, it is now nearly a 100 mile drive!

Team A reported in last night and are wild camping just outside of
Boligheim.

Team B spent last night on a campsite at Pittersdorf. This is the
second night that they had actual paid to camp somewhere!

We caught up with Team B in Kuppenheim this afternoon. All were in
very good spirits and have been having some great adventures. Tonight
they have already been invited to a Scout meeting, and are camping on
a Scout campsite. Nigel is insisting on a big fire, so we have been
invited along. Our campsite us about 15 mins down the road. We got to
cook our own dinner thou.....

It's hard to believe that the teams finish in a few days time

Jools & Jo

Day 7

Hi everybody

I tried to do a video today but it looks if didn't work so I only have this photo if Team A from a distance.

We had a very nice meal in our little hotel in Buchen last night and a fantastic breakfast. We then thought that we had better go and do some work!

We drove to Limbach to find team A. On the way we happened to pull into an Aldi and managed to find waterproof trousers for Charlie and Jon (who had forgotten them) for just 10 euros.

We caught up with A as they were just finishing a minor challenge. They had stayed overnight in the office / garage of a driving school! This came about after completing there minor challenge of taking part in a local sport, and one of the locals offered to put them up. Very kind gentelman, as he then took them down the pub, brought them dinner (all meals were local specailties) and a few local drinks! Good job there project was about local food, and that they only had to walk home from the pub!

Team B were camping by the Rhine last night, on a camping site. I think that both teams have only paid for one overnight camping / accomocdation so far.

We have now made it back to our little hotel for our second night - please remember not to tell the teams this as we are truely camping the whole time!

Jools & Jo

Sent from my iPhone

XB Day 6

Hi everybody

Well it's been another damp wet day here. We were not scheduled to
meet any teams today, so we had a quiet day moving to Buchen. On the
way we went up to the top of a tower in an old castle and got this
view of the river Necker. This is the area that Team A have been
walking through.

We decided that we had had enough of damp tents and have checked into
a lovely warm hotel for two nights - just don't tell the teams.......

Both teams are making good progress on there projects and the explored
belt requirements.

Jools & Jo

Day 5

Hi everybody,

We had an early start this morning as we had to be in Manmheim at 9 to
pick up two Mannheim Scouts (Alex and Hannes) who were going to join
Team B for the day. After a 50 mile drive we caught up with Team B in
the hills above Gaggenau.

Team B had a good night last night. They stopped at a factory to ask
if they could have a look around to complete
One of there challenges. The boss said that he didn't have the time,
but his sister factory down the road would, and the person who would
show them around was a scout leader. The scout leader showed them
around the factory, then fed them, gave them overnight accomodation,
and took them along to a local scout meeting. Sounds exactly what the
explorer belt is all about!

Team A checked in last night at Eberbach where they had also met up
with the local scouts.

Anyway, we are now off to pick up Alex and Hannes to return them to
Mannheim.

We have had quite a bit of rain last night and on and off today. Don't
mention the forecast for tomorrow.... I think support team will be
looking for a B&B for tomorrow night.

J&J

Day 4

Hi everybody

Welcome to a wet Gemany!

Yes it's started to rain which is now set in for the next few days.
Mind you, it was snowing last week!

When we arrived at our campsite last night, the warden was looking for
our caravan as he didn't believe we were going to camp. I said that +
8 was very warm compared to the -8 that I camped in three weeks ago.

Anyway, we meet up with Team A today in Hirschhorn. They were all in
good spirits, despite it having just started raining. They have
already completed some of their minor challenges, and spent last night
in a youth hostel in Dilsberg.

Team B finally got their tent and trangia out last night as they were
camping last night - on a scout campsite!

We are now off to try and find a campsite for the night .

Julian & Jo

Fwd: Team B day 3

> Hi everybody,
>
> The support team were feeling a bit lonely, so we thought we would
> try and catch up with Team B.
>
> We found them just outside of Moosbroon having lunch. They were
> intending to camp tonight after spending the first two nights
> indoors. Yesterday they met up with Scouts from Karlsruhe and ended
> up attending a leaders meeting, playing some wolfgang scouts and
> staying the night I'm the scout hut!

We will be trying to track down Team A tomorrow. They were heading for
Heildelburg today.

We have changed campsites today, but will still be camping tonight.

Jools & Jo

XB Day 2

Hi everbody.

The picture is of the support team at our campsite last night. In the
picture is our tent, and our combined utility of working top, cooker,
storage, seats, table, and office unit (also know as Jools Truck). We
were looking forward to hot showers this morning, until we found out
that the workman had turned the hot water off!

The weather is lovelly, sunny, 18 deg. Ideal for walking in, until it
starts to rain which is forecast to on Thursday.

Team A were dropped at Ubstradt yesterday, and spent last night
camping at Ostringen.

Team B were dropped at Neudorf Graben and found indoor home hospitaity
last night at karlsruhe.

Since the picture was taken, we have had the cleaners in!

We have spent today in Heildelberg, and are just heading back to our
tent for the night.

Jools and Jo

Team B start XB

Hi

Team B (Claire, Fran, Nigel and Tom) were dropped at their start point
at 10.15. whilst looking at the map a man stopped and helped them work
out their route to the first overnight stop!

I think they will be ok at getting people to offer help!

The support team has to now work out where to stay ourselves!

Jools and Jo

Team A set off on XB

Hi everybody. Team A (Charlie, Carla, Jon and Stephen) were dropped
off at there start point at 12.00 thIs morning. All were in good
spirits, although wondering why they had agreed to this!

Jools and Jo

All arrived safe and well

I have just had a text from Julian to say that all the team has arrived in Mannheim safe and well.

They are staying in a nice building and have had dinner.

Mike - Home Contact.

Sunday Evening!!!

Well, by some miracle, we have made it through to the Sunday evening of our departure.

I have just picked up the kit from an excited group at Godalming (Charlie, Claire, Tom, Jon an Carla), so that they can travel light whilst flying.

Now at home with Fran and Stephen, eating Pizza, whilst trying to unpack from z Zambia weekend, and before packing for Germany.

Now looking forward to a 4.30am start tomorrow......


Good luck to us all,

Jools

Less than 100 hours until we leave!

Hi everybody,

Well, its another late night, and I have just realised that it now 100 hours until we leave. OMG, just how much work I have to cram into 100hours......

All sorts of panics going on, but just think of it as a graceful swan on top of the water, and don't look at the mad paddling underneath!


Oh what would I give for some maps - they are not that important for a hike are they?


Jools

Less than a week to go!

Hello! I'm exhausted but want to say that I'm really excited about the Belt. It's been a very short but hard process planning it, and I know we're not there yet but I can hardly wait! Really has the potential to be the best experience of my life.
There's so much yet to do before we go but I'm enjoying cramming it all in and hope that it lives up to my hopes and expectations.

Scouts and Guides of Germany: WATCH OUT!

Welcome to XB2010 Germany

Hi everybody,

Welcome to the Explorer Belt Germany 2010 Blog.


Jools