It's one hundred and sixty miles from Waterford to the small village of Castlecove in Co. Kerry which was the venue for our Annual Camp 2005. It took place from the 30th of June to the 3rd of July 2005 and it began as ever with the inevitable long road trip in the Waterford VEC minibus. It was easy going at the start and we took a break in the somewhat grim Macroom but by the time we hit the road from Kenmare to Sneem, Darragh and Eoin were talking to each other in the voices of Yoda and Mr. T; Graham Kerr had started to look as green as Yoda and Lisa had made a big enough mess to ensure that she would get stuck with cleaning the bus.  When the road finally hit the edge of Kenmare Bay, the bus driver was heard to comment that he hadn't driven on roads like that since he had been in Mexico.

Above: Members of the 3rd and the 7th at the opening of Camp 2005 at Castlecove.

Billy had tailed the bus the whole way down with the trailer load of gear, which we quickly unloaded onto the football pitch in Castlecove which was to be our campsite.  The 'site manager' certainly hadn't been expecting us but seemed happy when we assured him that we weren't there to steal anything from his caravan graveyard. Getting the campsite up was slow as usual and for a while the 3rd averaged at one tent peg every ten minutes.  Meanwhile Billy and Colm merged Paschal's huge old tunnel tent with an even older house tent to create the camp headquarters.

Above: A view of the campsite at Castlecove.

Finally, the tents, dining shelters and tables were up, allowing us to take a break in the river beside the campsite before dinner. Meanwhile, catch of the camp went to Paul Power who netted a fine specimen of a blue dragonfly.  We kept the cooking simple for the first day with burgers and sausages for the dinner and after the clean up we had the flag break and official camp opening. Late arrivals included Roddy as well as Sid with David Tritschler who had slept it out apparently. There's always one.

Above: Paul dishes up a good helping for David and
Below: Members of the 7th get stuck in to the sweet and sour.

It looked like a good night for a hike, so we headed off at about 9.00pm for the famous Staigue Fort which was 4 kilometres away. Staigue Fort is one of the largest and finest ring forts in Ireland and it stands on a low hill in an amphitheatre of rugged hills which run down to the sea on the south. The walls are up to 5.5 metres high and 4 metres thick and it is thought that it was built in the first century B.C. and so it is over two thousand years old. Little is known about its builders or indeed what it was used for. It may have been built for religious reasons or to protect cattle but it may also have been intended for some regular spectacle or ceremony, a place of religious worship, an observatory, a symbol of wealth and status, or a place of defence and security. Local lore has it that the inhabitants were small in stature and they came there in search of ore.

Above: At Staigue Fort.

We weren't quite in search of ore but having braved Captain the Dog on the approach to the fort we were pretty impressed when we got there. We managed to leave the place without doing too much damage and spent the long walk back keeping an eye out for the many swooping bats. There wasn't too many arguments with lights out after the long walk and the long day.  The question was, would it rain the next morning?

Above: Emlyn with yet another of his hats on Camp 2005.

Well of course it would, it was our second year in Kerry after all and since the sun had shone last year, we were due some real Kerry weather. After breakfast and out of the rain, we had our annual odd one out quiz which was won by Emmet Power after some controversial time keeping by Billy Collins, however while he won that quiz, he couldn't quite finish the Soduku that evening.

Above: Emmet and Graham prepare to be zapcatted.

By 11.00am we were all down at O'Carroll's Cove for the activities which included Zapcats and rafting with Canadian Canoes. Zapcats are apparently "more fun than a human deserves".  Measuring 4.1 metres in length and with a beam of 2.1 metres, Zapcats are fast, high performance inflatables and were definitely designed to get your adrenaline pumping. The seas were rough and moving across and up and down the swells at great speed while holding on for dear life is not something that you forget in a hurry. There is nothing quite like a bit of wild terror.

Above: A race to the shore on the Zapcats.

There were two groups for the activities and while half were zapcatting with instructors, Andrew and Peter the rest were raft bulding using canoes with the lovely Caroline. The first raft in the morning did not launch well and with one good wave became inundated with water. Once everyone was really wet from both the mist and the sea, we stopped for lunch and thankfully Billy and the lads had arrived with a cooker and had stuck on some soup.  By the afternoon it started to clear up and it seemed to inspire Cian who come up with a better raft design.  With the aid of some strong lashings and combined with good oar work and a well balanced crew, the mark two raft had a successful launch and skillfully completed two circuits in the bay.

Above: Headed out from O'Carroll's cove on the raft and
Below: Excellent oar work by members of the 3rd and the 7th.

After we had dried out, it was off the Derrynane house.  The house is the ancestral home of patriot and statesman, Daniel O'Connell and contains many relics of his life. Known as The Liberator or The Emancipator, he led the fight for Catholic Emancipation and as we discovered in the video, bore a striking resemblance in his later years to scout, Emlyn Farrell. Meanwhile Roddy is the image of his uncle, Maurice 'Hunting Cap' O'Connell.  We resisted the urge to climb up on his huge celebratory chariot and didn't lie down on his bed which we reckoned was a bit small anyway.  Instead, we took a stroll down to his beach and hunted not very successfully for crabs.

Above: Members of the 3rd impressed with the camp cooking.

Back at the campsite, it was sweet and sour for dinner, followed by plenty of junk in the shop.  We were worried when Sarah got two stings of an unknown insect but even more worried when Betty wrapped her up in a blanket and carried her out of the tent.  She didn't recover in time for the quiz which was won in a tightly fought contest by Emmet, Laura and Conor. The next morning there was more of the misty rainy stuff going on but undeterred half of us were given air rifles for shooting while the rest set out off up the Kerry Way for some rockclimbing and abseiling. 

Above: Graham prepares to descend.

The crag overlooked Kenmare bay and at first looked very slabby and hard to climb but there was more good holds than expected and almost everyone made a good effort at getting up and abseiling back down. The speed climbing competition was closely fought between Graham Kerr, who topped out in 58 seconds and Eoin 'Strong Arm' Kelly who succeeded in getting up in just 52 seconds. Most stylish technique went to Lisa Rea while Simon Gaffney had the most inspiring abseil.

Above: Cian prepares to top out and
Below: Ciaran shows good abseiling technique.

Back at the shooting, Sid proved once again that he is not to be messed with by shooting a bullseye while the Kellys also proved that they were superb marksmen with two good shots, right in the black.  If it had been a man they were shooting, those three would have hit the heart and he would have been dead. Having avoided shooting anyone's car or any of the leaders, we got stuck in to getting dinner ready and on the menu was a good old mince stew.  To make things easier the rain disappeared and the sun came out which allowed the cooks to really show their style.  It is safe to say that the plates were licked.

Above and Below: Darragh and Billy take aim.

After dessert and clean up we went for an easy hike to the White Strand where Paschal as usual had the first and last throws in the annual rock throwing contest.  When we got back to the campsite, the annual camp award ceremony was held and this year the prizes were of exceptional quality.  For example nobody should be without a Mysti cute clipboard set. The T-Shirt worn for the longest continuous period award went once again to Cian O'hOgartaigh while Emlyn Farrell took the prestigious most exciting hat medal. Emmet Power, Laura Collins and Conor Roche were designated as the official Brains of Camp while brothers Eoin and Ciaran Kelly were officially confirmed as Best Marksmen.

Above: At White Strand.

The Best Wellies and most wet clothes gong went to Richard Smith while David Tritschler took the "I forgot to get up and go to camp" trophy.  The Leader's award for the Best PL of camp went to Darragh O'Callaghan while Paul Power was out on his own with the Best Chef and Best Stew awards.  The Most Stung camper was of course Sarah Kennedy and Simon Gaffney was on hand to pick up his abseiling award.  Lisa Rea was gracious in her acceptance of her graceful climbing award while Eoin Kelly and Graham Kerr accepted their speed climbing awards.  Eoin Kelly also picked up a related award for most chin ups on the goal post. David Collins later returned to pick up the "I hit the ground after Ken nicked my seat" award.  After that the night was a haze of glow sticks and acoustic guitar.

Above: Ciaran displays his bullseye.

We actually had a lie in on Sunday morning, followed by a leisurely breakfast before we were faced with striking camp.  At least it is easier to knock a tent than it is to put it up and with all hands on deck, everything was back in Billy's trailer in an hour and just as he fastened the groundsheet to the top of the trailer, the heavens opened. We went for cover and a coco pops battle in the weird toilet and washing/drying room and only emerged for a quick dash to the shop before the bus arrived.  It was a sleepy return journey, broken by a visit to the Mahon shopping centre in Cork for junk food.  With the definite McShakes, we finally arrived back in Waterford at about half past seven and camp was over for another year. Overall, it had been a good blur of dragonflies, rocks, bats, zapcats, waves, guns, forts, rafts, roses, stews, mists, sun and coco pops.

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Above: The Camp 2005 contingent at Castlecove.

Above: The last night of Camp 2005.

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