Ctt2018 Day 2

And here we are at the end of day 2.

It's been a long day but loads of fun.
After a 7am start to get breakfast cooked and cleared away, the Scouts set off for flagbreak armed with 100 or so clothes pegs, all marked up with our #followthedragon hashtag.

The idea is that you attach these pegs to someone's clothing without them noticing. Our Scouts certainly have plenty of enthusiasm for the game. The necessary finesse may develop as the week progresses 😂

At activity sign up, the Scouts get to choose their 4 activities for the day.

Choices for today included: Pedal karts, Gyroscope (Just watching makes me feel sick!), zip wire, zorbing, climbing, inflatable obstacle course, trampolining, laser tag, Kayaking and swimming.

In between activities,  our Scouts have been getting to know some new friends in our joint group for the week, 1st Melbourne Scouts. Football is always a favourite but Bottle Rockets is proving quite popular too.

Tonight there were a few more "drop in" activities including a cinema and pedlo racing. Or, less organised but certainly popular was chilling around the camp fire.

It obviously all worked as the site went quiet much earlier than last night!

Hopefully that means there'll be plenty of energy for tomorrow's activities.

Tolmers 2018. Day one. Three wheels on my wagon

Look who just got back today.....

It's the third time at Tolmers for some of us and we're definitely glad to be here.

We arrived a little later than planned thanks to some minor difficulties with the minibus. We had to change a tyre before we could set off but found that the spare was flat too. Thanks to the parent who took both wheels to Barry to get the tyres changed.

The M25 was much kinder today than on previous trips so we made good time and arrived in time to help 1st Melbourne Scouts set up our joint campsite.

The scouts have all been fed and watered and are either asleep or at least talking quietly enough not to bother anyone.

Camp starts for real tomorrow with the first of 5 days full of activities.

Oh, and we've got the first batch of #followthedragon pegs marked up and ready to go. 😁

Nord17 Day1 - The Longest Day.

What a day. We've been travelling since 0530 bst. 20 hours on the move.
We've had a little minor wazzockry but no serious mishaps.

After a nice early start, we made our way to Heathrow and on to Stavanger where we were met by the ever helpful leaders from Madla Speidergruppe. Our bags safely stowed, we had a leisurely stroll to Solva Beach where dinner was served. After a few hours playing on the beach, we made our way back to check in for the onward flight to Bodø (pronounced Booduh apparently).
The sun was just thinking of setting in Stavanger as we set off but we soon caught it up and were treated to a fine view of the midnight sun over the Lofotens as we came in to land. Our bags were ferried for us and we had a gentle 3k walk to camp.
Unfortunately, the registration team had gone to bed so it took a little while to work out where we should be but we arrived at our site to find that the Madla advance party already had our tents up.

Time for a few hours well earned sleep before the camp starts for real tomorrow.

Hopefully, when they've had some sleep, we'll be getting a few Scouts to contribute to the blog this time!

Scarefest 2016: Closing thoughts

Well, that's another excellent Scarefest done. Thanks to the Scarefest UK team at Gilwell for a fantastic event.

Despite being given the option to take advantage of the extra hour in bed with the clocks going back, most of the Scouts were up early packing their bags before breakfast.

Once it became obvious that the mist really was mist, not just excess smoke from last night's fireworks, we decided to delay taking the tents down in the hope that the mist would clear and the tents would dry out a bit.

This gave the Scouts another 2 hours to enjoy some more activities. It also gave the few who went to bed early last night to write up their thoughts on the weekend.

Thomas: I enjoyed all the mazes. All of them were very scary. The favourite maze was the Escape. All of them were very cool. If we go next year, I would really want to go.

Joseph: All the mazes are really good. The scariest of them all for me was the Escape. Someone got so scared he had to leave halfway through.

Dylan: I enjoyed the fireworks, they were outstanding! At the end there was an explosion and you could feel the heat hit your face.

Sion: I enjoyed the fireworks and the scary mazes. My favourite maze was the Factory. I want to go next year.

Having given up on getting tents dry, we packed up and headed home. A nice easy run around the M25 and M4 took a full 90 minutes less than the trip up on Friday.

Then it was all hands on deck to empty the buses and hang the damp tents out to dry.

We're not sure what the cubs had planned for their next meeting but it looks as if they'll be learning how to fold tents now instead ;-)

A fantastic end to our camping season. Loads of fun and a great first camp for the guys who joined us this term.

Got to check the dates for next year to make sure they fit the holidays but we'll definitely be back if we can.

We'll have plenty of activities going on over the winter, but this camping blog is going into hibernation for the winter.

Scarefest 2016

Well it's the end of the day (actually the start of the next one) and, although there are a few more activities tomorrow, it's pretty much the end of the camp.

Saturday got off to what is by camp standards a decadently late start. It was 8:30 before everyone was up and heading for breakfast.

The on site catering was excellent as usual and stoked us all up for a day of activities.

The day's activities, before and after lunch, included Crate Stacking, Caving,  Grass Sledging, Rodeo Bull Riding, Laser Tag, Archery, Caving, Total Wipeout and Fairground Rides. Everyone had their favourite and some Scouts managed to get 10 or more rides on the Cage.

Before dinner, we met back at the campsite to change into our Halloween costumes for a group photo then, with darkness falling, the camp really came to life.

Most of the activities were still running with the added excitement of the dark on some and spooky lighting on others. There were also a range of scary mazes now open for Scouts to really get into the spirit of things.

At the end was the spectacular finale, an amazing display of Fireworks, music and laser lights before heading back to our campsite for bed.

It's been a long, but very enjoyable day but, before they went off to their tents, the Scouts had time to write down their thoughts on the day.

Isaac: I enjoyed the three mazes and all of the activities.

John: I enjoyed the firework display that lasted 15 minutes and the cage.

James: I enjoyed the fireworks and all the mazes because the fireworks were well timed and the mazes adrenaline flowing. I also liked the radio. Watch our broadcast at scoutradio.org.uk/scarefest

Matthew: I liked the cage

Aiden: I enjoyed the the fireworks display as it was not only amazing but also in time to the music.

Dan: I enjoyed the firework display and all three mazes. The leaders were great for making this happen.

Evie: I enjoyed the fireworks and the laser tag

Lewis: I enjoyed the firework display and the mazes.

Ellie: I enjoyed skipping through the creepy mazes.  I hated all the stupid boys.

A few had snuck off to bed without leaving their feedback but we'll get them tomorrow and include it in the final camp blog.

Ctt2016 Day Three

Well we've survived day 3. A bit of light rain overnight didn't cause any problems, by the time we were having breakfast,  the sun was back out and normal service was resumed.
We armed ourselves with the first 60 of our branded pegs, all bearing the hashtag #followthedragon, and headed up for flagbreak and activity sign up.
Activities for today included, trampolining, climbing, gladiators, giant slides, backwoods cooking, sailing, bungee running and shooting. The leaders had a strenuous time photographing these activities so we're forced to adjourn to the coffee shop for a game of darts. While dinner cooked, 1st Cowbridge took on 1st Melbourne in a closely fought England v Wales football match. Wales just kept their heads up for an 8-7 win.
A combined leaders quiz team narrowly missed a podium finish, being beaten into 4th place by half a point.
Keep on eye on our Twitter feed, @1stCowbridge to see tomorrow's adventures.
If you’re lucky enough to receive a #followthedragon peg at flagbreak tomorrow, tweet a pic, with the hashtag and let us know.