SAINT LEU CAMP 2019 (PARIS)

We met at the airport at midday. After a smooth flight, we rented a 9-seat van to go to Chantilly, the village where we would meet our hosts. They housed us in a nice room next to the church that hosts the Chantilly Scout group.

We had time to go buy food for breakfast and our lunch for the following day. Coming back to our “accommodation,” we had pizza for dinner with some people from the Chantilly Scout group.

We had the pleasure to meet Tony Dunn, Graham Bell and David, who we shared accommodation with. Tony and David just arrived from London, after more than 8 hours driving (amazing).

The next day, after breakfast and preparing the lunch pack, we headed to “Le Tillet”, the village where the Explorers were meeting. This was the starting point for a long hike to the camp, going through the forest and swimming through the river. 

Once together, we headed to the camp in Saint Leu. The Scouts were divided in patrols and each patrol was given a place (big area) to build their own place.  Each patrol had to pitch their tents, build their kitchen and cover it in case it rained (which it really did on Saturday). The weather was quite chaotic / weird, for it rained heavily and then the sun showed up heating hard every 30 min.

All scouts were involved in a competition, to see which troop worked best together, to be the best one pitching, building, and cooking.

In order to cook all the meals of the day for themselves, the scouts were given the necessary elements, like a stove, a grill, charcoal, pans … and a recipe for every meal.

Apart from the basics for the camp, they had to build a gate for their area, and different gadgets to complete it.

In the afternoon, we had time to have swim and play some games on the beach.

After dinner, we celebrated a nice camp fire, with lots of songs and shows.

The day after (Sunday), Scouts made groups to work/learn different skills like:

–        Making wood gadgets with a knife, and sharpening its blade.

–        Using an axe.

–        Splicing a rope.

In the afternoon, we came back to the lake to swim and play some more wide games.

The weather was much better on Sunday, so swimming and games were more pleasant.

Dinner followed swimming in the lake. This time, the troops had to invite an adult for dinner and entertain him while having dinner. In this activity, which counted for the competition, we were giving points for:

–        Quality of the food.

–        Presentation of the table.

–        How much interesting the conversation was during dinner.

–        If our plate was taken.

–        How comfortable we were with them.

–        Punctuality. Dinner was at 19:30. 1 point was taken off for every 5 minutes late.

Though I had a wonderful time and dinner, some of us had to have dinner again in secret in the camp kitchen.

 Another camp fire followed dinner, and then, a game in the dark (with torches) before going to bed. Sorry for not haven taken pictures here, but is was completely dark. 

 

The day after, we woke up early to get our breakfast ready and head to the airport, back to Madrid. Everything on schedule, without any problems or delays.

  

As for the Explorers, they run their own activities, which were mostly related to water, like building a canoe, building a spear for fishing …

Watch this video to see what a good time they had!