We welcomed them all after their epic all night drive from the middle of England just after lunch. We were looking forward to catching up with some old Camas friends who were leading and young leading the group as well as getting to know all the new faces too, and what lovely faces they all were, old and new!
The week was full of all the usual Camas activities with a nice northern English twist. We kayaked and capsized (a lot) in the bay, abseiled the quarry wall (including some impressive climbs too-I've never seen anyone get as high as some of them last week!), constructed sturdy shelters in the garden, built the most impressive (and successful) rafts (which I'm sure had absolutely nothing to so with the 2 past, abseiling Camas staff on the teams...), a trip on the B Marie brought home a couple of fish and we had a record breaking round of "The Pirates of the Hebridean" the treasure hunt. We also spent a brilliant afternoon competing in Camas' very own Highland Games. Four teams (including a Camas staff team of Autumn, Rachel, Hamish and Adam) competed for honour in four different events including the classics: welly throwing, a sheaf toss, a tug-of-war and a special relay race to dress a blindfolded team member in kayaking gear and guiding them to sit in a kayak ready to go. The event was won by the aptly named "We are top of the league" (closely followed by Team Camas I might add...we need to work on bulking out our tug of war team me thinks).
We were impressed on many counts: firstly by the bravery of the early morning swimmers and a speciall congratulations to the "Iron Persons" among you who made it in the sea EVERY morning; secondly we've never haad so many "brews" consumed, some were enjoyed in special mugs and some in not so special mugs (we'd never thought to go and ask a man in a shop for a "cup that would keep me brew warm", inspired, we will now though); thirdly by the amount of fish caught off our own island by a team of very dedicated and skilled fishermen-we definitely enjoyed the steady supply of Camas Bay Mackerel, thanks guys! I have also never witnessed (or taken part in) such competitive and vicious games of jungle speed and articulate but they were a brilliant way to end the days around the fire with some beautiful guitar playing and singing in the background.
The week was perfectly finished off with delicious food in a dazzling common room, followed by a lovely chapel of the nets' reflection and rounded off with the most amazing candlelit ceilidh with a fantastic band, who knew you could dance the Gay Gordons to "Rocking all over the world"? We do!
It was a pleasure to have you all and we are already looking forward to you all coming back. We are very grateful for the one you left behind who has been super useful around Camas before he disappeared off to Iona...
Hoping you all survived the loooong trip home-I'll be seeing you there very soon!
Rachel
