A THREE-day trip to the Capital has been hailed a great success by the 2nd Troon Girl Guides.

They left on a dark and gloomy Friday at 6am to drive to London and arrived at their destination 13 hours later.

On the first evening they competed in a wacky races challenge with a French group and were victorious.

The following day they headed to Girl Guiding headquarters for Walk London challenge books and badges and strolled past Buckingham Palace into Trafalgar Square and on to Whitehall, where they saw the guard change at the household Calvary museum and saw the new memorial to women and their contribution to both world wars. Then they strolled to Parliament Square.

Another highlight was a visit to Westminster Abbey, the Palace of Westminster and Big Ben. There was then a boat up the Thames, passing the London Eye, with Waterloo Bridge a great source of interest.

They passed the Tate modern and disembarked at the Globe theatre we then walked over the Millennium footbridge with Tower bridge in the distance as They walked to St Paul’s Cathedral and drove back to the centre and then abseiled before tea.

On Sunday morning, feeling refreshed after an early night the girls headed out to the Chistlehurst caves. These caves are hundreds of years old and were mined for chalk and flint.

They also learnt about the 15000 people who lived down there during World War Two. Mushrooms were also grown there and jazz and rock and roll concerts took place, featuring the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix.

They then drove to Eltham palace where we were greeted by a Scottish manager. This was a royal palace in medieval times and fell into disrepair until it was bought and restored by the Courtauld family.

There was a campfire that evening, made as only Guides or Scouts can do.

Sunday morning saw them head into Greenwich where they visited the Observatory and learned about time.

They spent some time at the planetarium before heading down to the Queen’s House for a picnic lunch in the sun. Then we headed over to the Emirates Airline cable car over the Thames.

This gave them a spectacular birdseye view of London. They saw the Thames barrier, the Olympic stadium, the Tate and Lyle syrup factory, Canary Wharf and the O2. The Guides then went to the aviation experience and sat in a cockpit simulator.

The last night involved a disco for the girls and tea and biscuits and rest for the leaders.