Parc Le Breos Day 5 (The last day 😓)

Well that's it for this camp.
It's a novelty for us to camp this close to home, meaning a short travel time and therefore a decadently late lie in. 9am we sat down for breakfast!

After spending an hour packing up, our nicely dry tents were suddenly soaked by a short, heavy, shower so we abandoned them.

A quick check on the weather showed clear sky's and bright sun following the shower so we decided to leave the tents up to dry for a bit. Since we've been passing it all weekend without going in, the obvious place to go while we waited was the Gower Heritage Centre a few hundred metres from the campsite. It's a great place, much bigger than it looks from the road with loads to see and do for kids of all ages (even the grown up ones).

After a tour around the centre it was back to camp to strike and fold the tents, load the trailer and head for home.

We've had a great time at the Gower Scout Campsite with a great bunch of Scouts. Back to basics, or Greenfield, camping is physically hard work but they've just got on an done it all, usually with a smile. In between the hard work and even alongside it, we've had great fun and some great experiences.

Everybody learnt something new and everybody, leaders included, got to try at least one thing they'd never done before.

Most importantly, every single participant said yes when asked if they would like to do more "working" camps.

Watch this space!

Parc Le Breos Day 4

Today was the big activity day. The rain was forecast to stop overnight but was well and truly still in when we got up, dampening spirits a little and slowing down the getting up process.
In the end, we got away on time for a drive up into the Brecon Beacons for a morning of Gorge Walking led by some excellent instructors from Hawk Adventures
The Scouts and Leaders had a great time, jumping into pools and climbing on waterfalls. All of yesterday's rain made the rivers really fun and the sun came out half way through making the gorges around Dinas Rock look really spectacular.
After a late, well earned, lunch, we made our way slowly back, stopping at the supermarket to stock up for the camp fire BBQ in the way.

Before we could BBQ though, it was all hands to wood collecting to build up a big enough supply for the evening.

With that done, the fire was  (eventually) lit and the BBQ commenced. There's really  something about burgers cooked over an open fire.

The big advantage of a BBQ of course is that there's little washing up so the Scouts were able to have an hour or two to run a wide game while the cooking fire was being upgraded to a full on camp fire.

The camp fire began with something special. It's not often we get to invest new Scouts on camp so it was really nice to invest 3 in one go tonight. I hope it's something they'll remember for a long time.

After the camp fire entertainment, out  came the marshmallows and a new campfire treat. Our 2 vegetarians can't eat marshmallows because of the gelatine so one of the leaders had done some research and discovered that marzipan makes a good alternative.

I think toasted marzipan smores  (a sandwich of chocolate digestives and half melted marzipan) may be my new favourite camp food!

Despite the relatively early hour, the Scouts are all in bed, quiet, with the lights out. There's obviously something good about a back to basics working camp!

Last day tomorrow. Although I'll be back camping at Gilwell in 10 days time.

Parc Le Breos Day 3

We must have tired the Scouts out. Despite all the excitement of sleeping out in their own bivouacs they were soon off to sleep last night and stayed in bed until just before the planned getting up time.

With breakfast sorted and kit packed, the Scouts were off on today's activity, a hike along the coast path to Port Eynon.

The plan was that they would hike while the leaders did a few jobs around the site and went shopping to top up on perishables before meeting them at Port Eynon with the minibus to bring them back after some time on the beach. However, even though the navigation seemed simple enough - " keep the sea on your left til you find the minibus" - they managed to make in into an epic 7 hour trek. Apparently the need for all 9 Scouts to stroke every single dog they met may have had something to do with the delay, along with the unplanned stop at the chip shop in Oxwich.
The end result was that the leaders spent 4 hours sitting in Port Eynon waiting for the Scouts to arrive. There's only so many cups of tea you can drink so we all ended up having an afternoon snooze in the minibus, after partaking in what is becoming a camp tradition. The leader team has managed to find a Cream Tea on every UK summer camp for the last 4 years!

Since the time and tide had caught up with us, there was no beach to play on by the time the Scouts arrived so, after an Ice Cream we headed back to camp.

Our Patrol Leaders put a great deal of thought into the menu and were not going to let the small matter of torrential rain stop tonight's dessert being cooked on the fire so it was all hands to fetching wood. We did cheat a bit. Due to the late start and some rain enforced delays getting the fire going, dinner was cooked on gas but dessert - chocolate orange cakes cooked inside the oranges - went on the fire as planned.

While the cooking was happening,  we did a quick check on the bivvys. We'd placed 2 sheets of newspaper in each before we went out to see how much rain water the collected. Surprisingly, one of the bivvys was still dry. Probably even dry enough to sleep in although there were no volunteers willing to test this.

Bed time came with a minor disaster. A tent door had been left open and one sleeping bag was now far to wet to sleep in. After some tent reshuffling and the loan of a spare sleeping bag all is well and the Scouts are asleep, getting plenty of rest ready for tomorrow's adventure in the Brecon Beacons.

As for me, I'm enjoying the sounds of a forest on a rainy night writing this from my hammock in the trees.

Parc Le Breos day 2

We changed the programme today after a review of the weather.

We had planned to hike today and build bivouacs tomorrow but it looks like tomorrow night is going to be wet so we we brought the bivvying forwards.

After having a full safety brief on knives, saws and axes along with some supervised practice, we had a short walk to Parkmill to check out the shops and visitor centre before heading back for lunch.

After lunch, the Scouts set off to find their bivvy sites and start building. It's taken all afternoon but they've come up with a pair of pretty impressive shelters.

Things happen much slower on a back to basics camp - 2 hours to prep dinner allowing for lighting the fire and keeping it up to temperature long enough to boil the water and cook the spuds - but in the end we had another great meal from the excellent menu designed by our Patrol Leaders.

The last hour and a half of light was put to good use adding the finishing touches to the bivvys before heading back to the fire for cocoa and biscuits.

After a few games around the fire, the Scouts have now got themselves settled in their shelters.

Hopefully they'll overcome the novelty and get enough sleep to prepare them for the hike tomorrow (unless we can find another reason to put it off!)

Parc Le Breos - Day One

Welcome to 1st Cowbridge summer camp part two.
We're a little closer to home this time,  on the Gower peninsula.
So far it's been pretty laid back. The Scouts, when we held a planning meeting, asked for a "back to basics" camp so that's what we've got. It's over a quarter of a mile from our site to the toilet block so we're using Elsan toilets on site - a first for this group in this millennium I think.
After arriving and unloading, our 2 patrols made short work of pitching the site before being sent out to find wood. Not many of them have cooked a meal over an open fire before so it was quite an eye opener how much wood you need to cook a meal for 13 people. With dinner cooked and eaten, we made our way over to the neighbouring site where we'd been invited to join in the camp fire to find that they were still running a wide game. Our Scouts lost no time in showing their expertise at "capture the flag" before we headed back to the camp fire for some cake and a sing song with new friends.

We'll be up nice and early to get ready for a hike taking in some spectacular Gower scenery.