Mouse hates walking

Mouse hates walking. He has told us this on numerous occasions - usually when we are forcing him to come walking with us. Handsome has been a Duke of Edinburgh leader since before Mouse was born, and I started assisting when he was about eight, so we walk a lot. And Mouse hates it. Unlike his elder brother, who took part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award, Mouse has shown no interest whatsoever, and in fact a fair amount of antipathy.

So, we were absolutely stunned when, at dinner last night, he asked if he could join the new bronze group that were out for their first walk today... After we had picked ourselves up off the floor, and actually talked to him, we discovered that he'd actually been thinking about this for a while, and had already decided about his voluntary, skill and physical elements.

We did some quick rucksack packing, and then brought him along this morning to meet the other twenty-two thirteen and fourteen-year-olds who were mug enough to go out for a walk in the pouring rain. They walked in the rain, put up tents (and took them down again) in the rain - Handsome and myself had to put up tents four times because we were demonstrating - they made themselves a hot drink on trangias in the rain, and then they did some orienteering in the rain... They all survived, and they all had fun.

Mouse came home full of his day, chattering about what had happened and the new friends he'd made - looks like he might be a walker after all.