Friday 20-22nd
Friday
We all met up at the hut at 5:30 to put the items we were taking into our cars. The first quite major issue I found was the shortage of parent’s cars, maybe it was because my car and Joe’s car weren’t there because our parents were using them for other things, maybe it was that there weren’t the vans, I really don’t know. When we had got the kit in the cars (I was pretty unsure where all my equipment actually was) one of the parents told me that the motorway and A roads were chocker block, so there we go.
On the way to Harry’s Island the roads weren’t that bad until we got into Burley and the roads were almost at a stand still. The campsite was easy enough to locate as there was a big O2 pylon right next-door to it.
When I got there most of my items were unpacked and it was almost nightfall. I laid all our kit on a tarpaulin then we put out another one for the tent to go on.
It was about 10 minutes later when Jake lit a match then dropped it on Adam’s tent next to ours, this was the beginning of what I will call ‘The Hour Of Pure Hell and Unfortunate Events’ (for Adam). This set Adam back along way and Adam and Mitch spent a lot of time conferring with Dave, who refused to help at the time, on what to do.
Meanwhile me, Paul and Tim had got the tent up and, Tim and Paul were almost done putting up the dining shelter while the PL’s discussed things about the hut. When I got back they were done and all the kit was under the dining shelter. Then I asked them to put their personal kit in the tent while I tidied the dining shelter so I knew where everything was.
After that I told Tim and Paul to get a bench from the side of the hut in Harry’s Island while the PL’s talked to Dave about the gas cylinder. Soon after that we got the hotdogs on and we all found out what a good cook Paul is (I still have that luxurious taste in my mouth) the only problem was the darn pan had about at least 1 cm thick grub and filth on it, so my patrol and I spent the next half a hour washing up.
‘It was 10:00pm at the 1st Fareham Camp and all the scouts were by the camp fire made out of gas lamps’ (had to do that, just to show how rubbish Big Brother is). Mitch had planned a wide game for us all to do, ‘Turn That Light Out’ is what it was called. It was quite fun. Wolves and Bulldogs won by far!! Mwahahaha! I think we played this for about 1 hour, it was a running around/stealthy game but it was more running around!
After this we all went to bed.
Saturday
This was the day when we were meant to get up at 6:30 but eventually got up at 7:00, had a wash and started breakfast. Most patrols were just getting up! Here is the time when I again praise Paul for his Pyro personality and cooking skills, the breakfast was amazing.
We pushed on and by about 8:00/8:15 we were done. What I was hoping was that the warden would come down about now with the Letterboxing packs, but no he didn’t and I was left to make the decision for my patrol to have free time. 10 o’clock came and went and there was still no sign of him, so me and Jake decided that we would gather kindling and get wood for the fire, needed for Mitch’s BBQ.
11:00 was the time when the warden got here and eventually gave us the packs and had a little talk with me and Gareth, by 15 minutes past we were away with Martin supervising. He had to because of safety, maybe the warden thought I might get lost. I wouldn’t of course! (Chuckle chuckle)
This was, I think, apart from the cooking, the only actual single patrol time I got. I had planned many activities for my patrol it was just that Mitch had planned loads of troop ones!
Anyway we were out for just about under 4 hours hiking around, it was a good route and I believe all my patrol enjoyed it as well. The principal of Letterboxing for those who don’t know is that you use compass bearings to hike around and find little capsules hidden in many different places open them and stamp a notebook or envelope as we used!
When we got back it was time for lunch with a twist……………..it was 3:00 in the afternoon! We were meant to cook our 3 course meal (Dave does this count as a badge) Salad Starter, Bangers and Mash and Pancakes. By the time we had finished it was 5:00pm!
Another thing I should mention was the weather of this camp, damp, cold and wet……very wet. Luckily the weather managed to hold off for the Letterboxing but still it was just typical to happen on the weekend of the Titchfield Carnival, The Great South Run and our Patrol Camp!
Mitch was getting a tad worried as they hadn’t got the fire started yet, as the wood was all damp and wet, but Paul managed to start it by setting alight to a plastic Asda bag with lots of shavings inside.
The fire just wasn’t going to be big enough but Mitch decided to let it dye to embers anyway ready for the barbeque. It was very wet at this point and by about 7:00 we started the barbeque by putting sausages on sticks and cooking them and then using 3 grates to cook the burgers on. 20 went on and only 8 came off so some people missed out.
We had a big camp fire though and nearly everyone led a song.
Bed time was earlier at 10:00.
Sunday
Packing up day or disaster day some might call it. We spent from 8:00, the time we got up, to 9:00 cooking and washing up then until 10:00 making a fire. It was a big one, no it was, seriously!
Anyway by 11:00 Bulldogs patrol went to see Gareth to finish stage two of the first aid badge, while the others did Mitch’s obstacle course in the pouring rain.
11:30-12:00 was lunch and then it was pack stuff into our bag time. By 12:30 we started packing the kit away in the rain, maybe we should have started earlier as the parents arrived and we were still packing up by about 2:45 we left with all the wet soaking kit.
Back at HQ the PL’s, Joe, Tim and Paul sorted the kit out. At about 5:00, I think we went home.
This camp was a good one, apart from the weather, but I believe that no more patrol camps should be done with 4 patrols in the same camp.
Special thanks to all who have turned out to help in the half-term to help dry and pack the kit away.
soaking kit.
Spud, don’t know what happened in your blog, but there’s a lot of duplication - any chance someone could edit it???
Edited.
Good work Spud - this is exactly one of the reasons that I wanted to start this blog. I look forward to reading the other three before I write my own. Hopefully Gareth and Martin and Limpet can write one as well, but not before we get the Patrols versions of events!
I see there are a few issues that I need to address at some point in the future, Paul’s setting fire to carrier bags being one…..
Oh, yeah - and you spelt Bulldogs wrong as well you muppet!
I have fixed it for you.
Dave - would love to leave a blog, but you ain’t given me access yet!!!!
don’t blame me Mitch was there when he did it I was washing up!!
Gareth - you have author access, which means you can post entries on the blog.
At the bottom of the sidebar on the left of the page, there is a box called ‘Meta’ and in that there is an entry called ‘Admin’ or ‘Site Admin’. If you click on that, you should be able to go to the dashboard (you will need to enter your password) where you should be able to navigate to the ‘Write’ tab - make sure you select to ‘Write’ then ‘Post’ as opposed to ‘Write’ then ‘Page’.
Any problems posting, give me a call and we can sort it out over the phone.
That was a brilliant way to start patrol camp…
unfortunatly, i cant read that much in one go, you wrote more than i wrote for my last peice of english coursework :S
ill also harrass rob to write one
I am making progress on my report, doing it bit by bit.