Annual Camp 2015 Day 2

Monday morning came around and it was damp, it was clear from how wet the tents were that there had been a fair bit of rain during the night but everyone was in good spirits. Breakfast was in the wet weather shelter (we were so lucky to have it available to us for the camp). After breakfast it was time to make the finishing touches to our sites and check the tents over ensuring that everything was pegged in and that guy ropes were all tight. Aoife & Ciara’s tent had leaked during the night so we pitched a new one for them but other than that all was ok. Altar fires were made for both of the Patrols’ sites and one for the leaders area too. The scouts all went about the morning carrying out various jobs such as tightening boundary ropes, collecting firewood, washing up after breakfast.

After lunch we walked the short distance to Lough Key Forest Park to do the Zipit Course. There was a mixture of excitement and apprehension, not everyone was bowled over with enthusiasm by the thoughts of high wire antics through the trees. After checking in everyone was fitted with a Harness and given a pair of (soggy) gloves…. Nothing quite like the feeling of gloves damp from other people’s sweat…. Ugghh… We were given a demonstration of how to go about completing the course by Cian and shown how the safety clasps worked.

Everyone had to complete one of the lower shorter courses before they could move onto the long course which was the blue one. Some of the group were very nervous and only wanted to stick with the lower ones but a few intrepid souls undertook to take on the challenge of the blue course which took over 90 minutes to complete.

The activity was both fun and physically challenging and there was a great sense of camaraderie as we went around together.

Brendan and Alan decided that they had to give the Red Course a go (you had to be over 15 so unfortunately none of the scouts were eligible) and there are some very funny videos of their attempts. In hindsight not a great idea taking on the red course after having done the blue one, you need all your strength and energy for some of the challenges on it, that said we struggled through laughing at each other’s efforts as the challenges got tougher. Before coming to the end of the course there was an early bail out option and they availed of that – probably more on Alan’s insistence than anything. They simply ran out of time. A return visit is definitely in order.

Back on site that evening, the rain came down again so dinner was prepared and eaten in the we weather shelter. After dinner, there were some games of cards and then it was Flag Down. Since it was still wet,Ciaran ran a trading game for all of the scouts. It took a while to get the hang of it, but the they seemed to enjoy it in the end.

Our first full day on camp had come to a close. It was brilliant and a great start. Lets see how the rest go.