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.

Nord 17. Day 12. The End

Well that's it for now. The end of our trip of a lifetime.
A relatively early start this morning meant that we were all fed and packed with plenty of time to spare.
We had planned to take a walk to see the Swords in the Fell, a local historic landmark, but were forced indoors by the weather. Instead, we spent a couple of hours on some fun teambuilding games.
After lunch,  our lifts arrived and we were driven to the airport.
Many wazzock points were earned when one Scout managed to lose a passport in the 20 minutes between leaving the Scout House and checking in at the airport.
We were within minutes of implementing emergency protocols at a potential cost of £5k to the parents, when a phonecall was received to confirm that the passport was safe and well in the footwell of one of the cars and was on its way to us.
The rest of the trip passed without incident and we arrived back at Cowbridge where our reception party was waiting.

All in all a fantastic camp.
There are comments from the Scouts which will be added in due course.

Nord 2017. Day 11. Stavanger

Well, there it was, gone. The last real day of the trip as tomorrow is all about travelling; although it, hopefully, won't be anything like as long as day 1.

This was our Stavanger day, so after a reasonably late start (although wazzock points were awarded to the Scout who forgot to change their alarm from yesterday and woke half the troop up at 6:45) we caught the bus into town to see the Oil Museum.

Our hosts had worked their magic so we were expected. A separate, secure, cloakroom had been organised, as had a 50% Group Discount.

The museum was fascinating. There was loads of hands on stuff including escape simulations. Lunchtime almost came too soon for some.

After eating our sandwiches on the harbour side, the troop split into pre-arranged small groups to explore the town and shop for gifts and souvenirs.

The Scouts all managed to find their way back to the meeting point at the right time, although one group did wait patiently on the opposite side of the cathedral to everyone else for a while.

Back at the Scout House, packing was started while dinner was being prepared.

Madla's group scout leader, Tor Inge, was invited to dinner to say thanks for all their help and hospitality.

After dinner, it was secret ballot time. The Scouts were asked to vote for their Scout of the camp. Often, this is a close vote but, on this occasion there was no need for a recount as one Scout received over 50% of the vote.

This prize, along with the Leaders choice for Scout of the camp were presented before film night began. We managed to rig up a connection from a phone to the Scout House projector to show a film as a last night treat before bed.

Everyone is mostly packed now with just the sleeping bags left to go in so it'll be breakfast, clean up and off to the airport in the morning.

Nord 2017. Day 10. Priekestollen

After yesterday's showers and a proper nights sleep with the lights off everyone was up and raring to go for today's hike.
Just getting there was an adventure. The buses are all cashless so the leaders have had to download a phone app to use as a cashless bus ticket.
Then there's the fun and games of trying to work out where to get off to change buses.
At least we got to see some bits of Stavanger as we walked the extra distance from the wrong bus stop!
A short ferry ride across the fjord was followed by another bus ride to the start of the hike. The hike was about 4km with 350m of climbing to the Priekestollen or Pulpit Rock. A slab of granite sticking out over 600m above the fjord.
Even though it rained nearly all the way there and back, the Scouts all enjoyed the hike and the awesome mountain scenery.
We were joined on the hike by one of the  Madla leaders, Trygve, who knows the area very well.
After a photo opportunity on the Pulpit Rock and a quick lunch it was back the way we'd come, all the way back to the Scout House where Dave had a fire going and hot Lapskaus waiting on the stove.

After dinner we had some discussion time as a whole troop, talking about the camp and getting feedback to help plan the next one.

Tomorrow we're going to be exploring Stavanger itself before we pack up to head home on Tuesday (just in time for Scouts)

Nord 2017. Day 9. The journey south.

After a very short night it's been another long day.

With groups packing up and leaving site for the airport all through the night, not a lot of sleep happened before our alarms went off at 5am.

There was a bit of a rush to get everyone packed up. Thankfully, Madla Speidergruppe are staying another day so will take care of the tents etc.

All of our rucksacks were packed and dropped at the collection point before we headed back to site for breakfast.

With breakfast out of the way and all the goodbyes done, we set off to walk down to the airport, just under an hour away. Most bought a second breakfast as we waited to board then slept through the flight.

We were met at the airport by more of Madla's leaders who drove us back to their Scout HQ.

After a quick change, a short walk to a local school was met with a surprising amount of enthusiasm. The caretaker had arranged for us to have access to the showers - The first opportunity for some since leaving home 8 days ago.

Dinner was a substantial Spag Bol and was worked around a quiz night, which was a remarkably close fought competition.

The sun has finally set now we've moved south a bit so it's actually dark for the first time since we left Cowbridge.

We're counting on a proper nights sleep before we head off for a sightseeing hike in the mountains tomorrow.