First camp of the year, and our first with cooking on open fires. None of this gas bottle and 2 rings simplicity, proper fires. We had thought that we might get time for a bit of a walk and maybe a night time wide game but the fire lighting, preparation, cooking and cleaning cycle filled the entire time.
Assuming that all the Scouts were being honest they had a good time and learnt a few things. I really enjoyed it as well, despite the odd moments of vocal crowd control! Life was lived at a different pace for a couple of days.
Plenty of tent pitching and packing and pitching again.
Will they be able to do this in the dark in Wales in a few weeks time?
Lets hope they remember what goes where.
No TV! No games console! No internet! The art of conversation is reborn.
Saturday lunch
The area neatly sectioned out for the patrols
After an age getting the right size of wood, the fires are lit.
Saturday dinner - Chilli with rice and bread. It was quite a warm chilli, but it was good.
It did get a little smokey at times.
Look how black those pans are, I bet they will take some scrubbing.
Of course the leaders section had the neatest wood pile, the least mess and the most organised prep area!
Sunday morning the fires had to be lit again before any breakfast could be cooked.
Sausages, bacon, eggs, beans
Inspection and tents packed away, then time to start lunch.
Chicken Stew with mash, followed by baked apple stuffed with dried fruit and sugar.
After lunch we had to scrub all the pans until they were silver again, there are no photos of this as the memories are too painful.
The sun was out all weekend and as camp broke we invested 6 new Scouts. 3 new to the troop and three coming up from Cubs.
Thank you all for a good camp.
