Now, way back on my first Challenge in 2000, I had found an impressive little multitool by the track I was walking. I had picked it up, and carried it with me on every Challenge since; but until now, although I had lent it to others for their use, I had never actually had cause to make use of it myself. All that now changed. Using the saw blade, I cut the stick to the same length as my one remaining official Terra Nova end pole; and then using the knife blade, I carefully whittled both ends until they were the same thickness as the Terra Nova pole, and would therefore fit snugly into the little pockets in the webbing which are designed to hold them in place.
As I did this, I reflected on the fact that there had recently been considerable correspondence in the Times on the subject of whittling, brought about by the fact that the Scouts had removed whittling from their syllabus as being a skill which was "no longer relevant". No longer relevant, indeed? As I sat whittling away, I chuckled to think how wrong they were, and just how relevant it was.
When I had finished whittling, I took this photo to show the Terra Nova pole, my improvised pole, and the tool with which I had fashioned it. Then I went and pitched my tent.
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