- Friday 20th July
Collected & packed trailers x 4
- Saturday 21st
Ros, Dave, Stephen & Geoffrey to camp with 2 trailers of kit. Later
than intended setting off as Stephen had been driving a St John Ambulance
around Oxfordshire until after 1 in the morning, helping NHS who could not cope
due to floods. Thought we were lost in Torquay – but actually got to camp site
ok. Found we had been moved off the site we had booked as there was a huge
group of German Scouts arriving later in the week and more or less taking over
the place. Set up mess tents, then went out for Chinese take-away. Got lost in
Torquay. Peaceful night – no scouts!
- Sunday 22nd
Continued setting up site (Stephen went to reconnoitre
letterboxes) until scouts arrived late morning. As minibus drove up the hill
from the lower to the upper car park David made rude comments about the
smell of Sally's mouthwash (she was riding shotgun for Nigel in the minibus).
Ros identified it as burning clutch. Good start to camp! Geoffrey took the
scouts on a tour of camp site; a couple of scouts decided that the camp-fire circle was a wrestling pit!
The scouts pitched their patrol tents (fairly neatly as they had leaders
leaning over their shoulders the whole time), had lunch, then got together
beach things and set off down the track to Watcombe beach. Most scouts enjoyed
the walk, particularly Peter, who took a "short" cut and found it to be a
little steep. There was swimming and attempts at skimboarding and
rock-hopping. Returning on the same steep path some attempted a less steep
detour – the wrong way!
Dinner (thanks to Raffi's mum for cooking it in advance) then in groups
rotating around climbing wall, crate stacking and Jimbo's command (leadership)
tasks.
- Monday 23rd
Started raining through the night and did not stop. Morning wet, windy
& set in for the day. Plainly Monday (climbing) could not occur, so we had
breakfast and then declared it to be Thursday so that we could do a visit.
After various mathematical calculations we decided we could get everyone
somewhere in cars, leaving Nigel (who had spent hours on the phone sorting out
what we should do about the sick minibus) to take the minibus in for repair and
Ros & Geoffrey (no room in cars for him), in David's car, to collect Nigel
from the garage, do shopping etc. Scouts sent off with packed lunches to
Paignton Zoo for the day. Ros, Geoffrey & Nigel, having no idea what sort
of Zoo it was, had images of the scouts being taken for the day to see 2
donkeys, a goat and a hamster! It turned out to be a great success, and the
scouts (even those who were not keen at the start) thoroughly enjoyed it.
Minibus should be ready early Tuesday (sigh of relief from Ros). By evening
it had consented to rain a little lighter and a couple of "tasks" were
attempted, rope circle and human knot (Jimbo declared our Scouts to be deviant
for producing 2 rings instead of the normal 1), then played Buzz, in the park
right next to the camp site. Stephen used modern technology with his phone
to get an internet weather forecast – tomorrow would be the best day of the
week. We'd better make good use of it!
- Tuesday 24th
Weather fine – so it was declared to be Monday (Tuesday was put on hold)
and all scouts were transported to Haytor for climbing, Haytor Quarry walk
(with commentary from Nigel on the legend of Bovey Tracey ) and letterboxing in
rotation. Nigel collected the minibus then joined them, as did Ros &
Geoffrey after shopping. Up on the hill at Haytor it was windy – but not
raining.
Those who tried climbing generally succeeded, though Harriet did need
reminding that she was trying to go up. Some scouts did really well, completing
2 climbs graded "difficult" and another graded "severe" (we'll have to find
them some harder climbs another time).
Detour on the way back to the beach at Watcombe for a BBQ – plus swimming
& rock-hopping. After walking back to camp there was a late dinner
(pre-cooked by Harley's Mum – thanks) which Harley nearly missed because he was
tidying his tent.
- Wednesday 25th
Forecast said this would be better than Thursday – so we considered the
programme (having done Monday and Thursday and unfortunately could not declare
it Friday) so we went for Tuesday. Drizzly and quite windy, so we took the
more able canoeists to Stoke Gabriel to canoe the Dart towards Totnes and back
(with the tide both ways).
All the canoeists all did very well despite adverse conditions. The rest divided between caving and letter-boxing.
The cavers got lost (in Torquay) on the way to the cave, lost and muddy in
the cave and then met up with Stephen for the swap to letter-boxing. Chloe
showed enthusiasm for caving and a determination to lead the group down every
blind alley she could find (see her report).
Arriving at the letter-boxing, Stephen had lost most of the swap-over group
(& Tim) who were not impressed by the weather. The rest were less than
enthusiastic about caving so Jimbo took them back to camp while Dave collected
the trailer of kit and the second set of letter-boxers and went back to site –
where there was an excess of sausages to cook.
Evening fine – so a low ropes course was set up by Dave and Stephen and
blindfold trail (set out by Geoffrey and Sally) rounded off the day, with Jimbo
drawing the short straw of keeping the other half occupied, with everyone doing
all 3 activities in turn.
- Thursday 26th
Very wet and very, very windy. Only day remaining was Wednesday – so it
had to be – but Stephen had a bright idea – we would do Wednesday backwards -
as the weather was supposed to improve through the day (which it did, it was
much drier in the afternoon/evening than it was in the morning). So the day
should start start with swimming (in the evening). Agreed.
Dave confused everyone by announcing the time (working backwards from 10pm)
at regular intervals. Most of the scouts had got used to days of the week
occurring out of order by now but the backwards time thing threw them (and
us!). Swimming was enjoyed by all as the swimming pool had a wave machine and
water slide. They then (in the morning) did whichever option they had not
previously done of caving/letter-boxing or canoeing. The wind rose to a force 4
gusting 6 - so canoeing was cancelled and a walk on the coast path towards
Torquay and some artwork was selected. On the coast path we passed a sign
about coastal erosion; shortly afterwards Liz declared that the path ahead had
fallen off the cliff so we all had to double back. Great views. The cavers
failed to get lost in Torquay, found a good round trip in Pridhamsleigh cavern
and got very muddy. The highlight of the trip was Sam Hinton almost drowning,
only to be saved by Sally (all the other scouts were disappointed to hear that
he had "almost" drowned). They washed off in the river. Changed and headed
for the letter-boxing. Of those who had just been letter-boxing 2 declared that
they were not going underground, 1 had "forgotten" his clothes and the other
wasn't bothered, so afternoon caving was again cancelled. We were now on early
morning! Returned to sanity and had a camp fire with glow sticks, sausage
rolls, hot chocolate and marshmallows.
- Friday 27th
-
At last – watches running forwards – we set off with 4 groups to rotate
around climbing, crate stacking, nuclear/biological device drop (Jimbo's task)
and tent packing.
Sally had to do a human fly impersonation, climbing a telegraph pole in
flip-flops to set up the crate stacking as the guideline had broken!
Lunch - (and Jack's birthday cake).
The Scouts put all their kit in the F/b trailer and left for a convoluted
journey home (probably got lost in Torquay in the way). Stephen & Dave
were left to pack camping kit and tidy site. Minibus/cars to Totnes. Find way
to steam-train station and catch train (only just) to Buckfastleigh. Met by
Minibus/cars (goodbye to Abbie who was met by her parents) and on to West Bay
for sausage/chips or whatever. Bit of a delay on the way due to an accident
near Honiton. Going to be late home. Lots of phone calls to parents - now
expected back at Scout Centre about 10pm. Inevitably one parent had failed to
note the correct collection point (or did not want her child back) and waited
in Fordingbridge car park!
Ros, Dave, Stephen and Geoffrey, having packed almost everything in the dry,
set off later with most of the kit in the 2 large trailers. Dave, in
the lead, got lost in Torquay again. David, Sharon, Katrina and Brendon were
left behind behind for more adventures before their return on Sunday.
Thanks to all the Leaders and helpers – a fantastic team – and a great camp
Camp Diary and photos by various members of the Team
