Annual Camp 2015 - Day 6

Again we were heading off site today. We were going to go kayaking with a local adventure centre. A small Land Rover showed up to collect us from the site. It was going to take a while to get all 17 of us to the adventure centre at this rate. Brendan and Alan went with the first group. The most exciting thing on the journey was when Sophie spotted a spider in the back of the jeep. You know the way you tell people that the animal is more afraid of you than you are of it? Let’s just say that was not the case with Sophie and the spider. More on that later. They were dropped off and the vehicle returned for the next group.

We won’t go into too much detail, but lets just say that the facilities in the “adventure centre” were less than spectacular and the staff seemed a bit hapless. We got changed into our wetsuits and walked to the lake where we were to haev our activities. First up was White Water Rafting (on a mirror like lake). We jumped in and got the hang of paddling together. The instructor Eoin took the group to the far side of the lake and they played a few balance games on the raft. By the time they were out on the lake the second group arrived with Ciaran for the kayaking. Fiona wasn’t with them. Unfortunately the Land Rover didn’t have enough space for everyone and Fiona had to wait for a third trip.

After an hour or so, it was time to swap over. The group that had been kayaing went in the raft and the other group went in the kayaks. The kayaking instructor was young and didn’t really engage with the group at all. Eventually Brendan decided to run a game where everyone made a raft and had to name their kayak and then kiss it on the bow. Sound stupid we know, but it was a bit of craic. When we got back to the centre we were informed that there were no showers. This on top of the rest of the substandard facilities and instruction was simply not good enough and Brendan had words with some staff members about it.

In the afternoon we started to prepare for heading home tomorrow. Awwwww Sad Face :-(

We split into teams to get some jobs done. Ciaran took a group down to the woods where we hammocked for the past 2 nights and started to gather all of that gear up. Alan took a group to collect firewood for a big campfire tonight. Brendan took a group to get all of the cooking gear cleaned, and Fiona took the last group to help her prep and cook the dinner for that evening. They weren’t exactly pretty jobs, but they all needed to be done. The Hammocks and Cooking pots had all been borrowed and needed to go back in pristine condition to make sure that we could get a loan of them again in the future if we needed them.

Carolyn, Jessica, and Sophie scrubbing the pots. They had never seen Brillo Pads before.

When all of the jobs were done, it was time to sit down and eat. It was a lovely meal. We had Fajitas, which are super tasty and so simple and healthy to make. We were all stuffed afterwards. It was great to sit around the table as a whole group and enjoy our last night on camp together.

The Last Supper

Following dinner and wash-ups we started to get our personal gear organised for going home tomorrow. We tidied up the mess tent and made sure that we had everything that we were supposed to have. When it got dark, we pulled out the benches and sat around our campfire to sing songs and give out prizes. Everyone got a prize as listed below:

James – Best Flash Photographer

Adam – Best Story Maker Upper

Luke – Best shot with the AK47

Jack – won juggling balls for, well we’ll leave that up to your imagination

Aoife – Best French Toast Maker

Ciara O Reilly – Best Balance

Selina – Ninja Cat award

Carolyn – Fastest book reader in the west

Ella – Best tent exit on camp X 2

Jessica – Squad Leader

Sophie – Bravest Scout

Ciara McCann – Quietest Scout

Ellie – Hear her before you see her award

Everyone also received a commemorative woggle to tell people that they were on the first ever 89th Bremore Summer Camp. The campfire went on into the small hours of the morning. Jack, Ciara, and Carolyn kept us entertained with skits and jokes and funny voices until the fire had burned down to embers. It was a lovely way to spend the last night on camp.