We were hardly over the bridge in Waterford before Ciaran had burst a bag of Haribo over some unsuspecting scout's head to mark the official start of Camp 2006 for the 3rd De La Salle Scout Troop. There was of course no more food thrown after that but all 99 verses of 99 bottles of beer on the wall were song and yes that song does get on your nerves.  Our destination this year was the national campsite at Larch Hill in Dublin and it was going to take a hot bus trip to get us there.  Could it be also that we were going to experience that most rare of species - the hot dry annual camp? When we pulled into Larch Hill it certainly seemed like that was what we were in for and after Paschal arrived with his van which was stuffed with the gear, we started carting it all up to the Dolmen Field which was to be our base for next four days.

Above: The 3rd De La Salle Contingent on Camp 2006 with their Hourglass Tower.

The Dolmen Field is certainly a good spot to camp and according to the guys at Larch Hill: "The dolmen or cromlech is one of three that can be found in the locality, the others being on Tibradden Mountain and at Mount Venus. A dolmen was a royal burial plot and is made up of two upright granite blocks supporting a third crossways (here it has slipped out of place) and backed by a solid upright some ten feet high. The dolmen is sometimes referred to by locals as "the druids altar" or the "druids seat". An inner ring of partially submerged boulders and an outer ring of sycamore trees surround the whole feature. It is uncertain if the dolmen was ever actually completed, or whether it once stood and the top stone slipped. Some expert's credit an earthquake recorded in the area in the 1800's with dislodging the stones from all the dolmens in the area".

Above: Our campsite in the Dolmen Field at Larch Hill.

After a bit of lunch which included certain people eating mini roll sandwiches we got stuck into getting the tents and the site up.  The "White House" as our new mess tent was christened was also given its first ever airing.  There was of course no instructions but after a few false starts we eventually got it up and were pretty impressed with what we saw.  No more of that two leaky old house tents stuck together lark for us. The next step was getting a flagpole and a gate up.  The gate was quickly transformed into a table and seating after it was decided that having something to eat off was more important than having something we wouldn't walk in or out of. Better keep Cian happy by mentioning what was in fairness an impressive quadropod lashing but everyone put in a good effort with the result that the table looked like it would actually stay standing. New word for the day was "lame".

Above: The Day One Cooks about to create a magnificent sweet and sour.

Sarah, Emlyn, Simon and Aidan were nominated as first cooks for the camp and rustled up a fairly tasty sweet and sour.  After that was devoured the shop was attacked for dessert and it was discovered that Colm was quite afraid of bursting open a packet of Flumps (extra long flogs).  The midges also did a bit of attacking and later, our volleyball court saw its first round of badminton and volleyball.  As a bat or two circled overhead, we headed for the White House and the first round of the Megaquiz.  There were three rounds - general knowledge, famous people and odd one out and Cian's patrol took an early lead.  We also had the first of the sketches with Lisa's Camp Coffee sketch going down very well, aided by Ciaran's perfect delivery of his line "There be me socks".  Ginter had also arrived and after a good look out over Dublin from the top of the cub field he took over leading the midnight hike convinced we would get a better view from the Melvin Field but alas things were not as they had been when he and Paschal were young lads as the trees had grown, the gaslights and the horse drawn carriages were gone (although the trams were back) and that old view of Dublin was no more.

Above: Backwoods Cooks, Emlyn and Kevin.

Those lucky enough to be in Icelandics stood the morning heat longer than those stuck in small domes. Perhaps we should have camped closer to the trees - there is certainly no shortage of them at Larch Hill, indeed Larch Hill is so called as it is reputed that it was the site of the first ever planting of the European Larch species in Ireland.  Anyway, it took a bomb to shift a few from their tents while Lisa and Sarah had been up since dawn for same mad reason.  After a long breakfast we had our first flagbreak where we were warned that we must not bring our cars into the field and that we must also control our dogs at all times. We then got stuck in to our first pioneering project of camp - a monkey bridge across the chasm at the side of the field. The two A frames, the dead man and the three two one picket set up looked about right and after some head scratching with the block and tackle arrangements and some acrobatics with the handrail, we actually had a bridge that could be crossed.

Above: Crossing the monkey bridge.

After lunch which included coco pop sandwiches this time, we headed down to the Larch Hill "Garden" for a bit of shade and some mind puzzles to get our brains going before we headed off on the orienteering.  Richard, Isaac and Jamie all proved that they had their brains wired in strange ways.  Strange also was the return to the starting point of Ruairi and Colm after finding just 5 of the 9 orienteering controls.  They were duly sent back out again.  Even more strange was Cian's return after finding 8 out of the 9 but thinking he had finished.  The letters on the controls made up an anagram which then had to be cracked. Who had ever heard of a golde or a loged or even a dolge? After a painful period of time Cian figured out Lodge with everyone else following slowly behind.  It must have been the heat.

Above: The most lunatic camper negotiates the tyres.

Forget the heat, it was time for the assault course or apparently the politically correct name for these is "confidence course".  There were 9 obstacles including balance, tyre hops, swinging ropes, tyre jumps, over and under hurdles, bridge crossing, monkey bars and tyre swings.  The patrol event went first with Lisa's patrol coming out on top. Then came the individual time trials and the real competition got underway.  Simon took an early lead on 1.59 but Cian snuck past him on 1.58 before Ciaran managed 1.57.  Ruairi must have got lost and even after Aidan skipped a few obstacles he still couldn't catch the leaders.  Richard put in an impressive 2 minutes even while Colm Molloy displayed the best technique on the rope swing and avoided Emlyn awarding him a time penalty. In the end Ciaran's time couldn't be broken.  We would have almost jumped into the Larch Hill pool after that.

Above: Do they like it?

Spaghetti Bolognese was on the menu for our second dinner and the greatest mystery was why do all scouts seem to hate mushrooms? The pot might have been a little bit small for the spaghetti but overall it was another dinner that was well devoured. During dinner we received a text wishing us well all the way from Thailand from Deirdre Guilfoyle' one of our ASLs, who is currently working in a youth project in Bangkok. Kevin Butler arrived then to be well defeated by Sarah in the badminton but along with Ciaran bluffed his way to a win in the volleyball. At the megaquiz Richard set a new record in the Odd One Out Round of eleven.  The scores were tighter but Cian's patrol just about hung on to their lead going into the final night.

Above: On the monkey bars.

After another late breakfast we started our second pioneering project which was transforming the monkey bridge into the infamously tricky Hourglass Tower.  It's one of those towers that can go disastrously wrong but after some inspired lashings and ropework, project managers Cian and Ciaran had it looking like a structure you could actually stand on.  There was an interval for a huge lunch cooked backwoods style.  What a day for lighting fires but we ploughed on.  Bananas were mixed with mars bars, mars bars were mixed with cooking apples, rashers were coated in peppers, kebabs were wrapped in cabbage leaves, potatoes were baked and we even attempted (not very successfully) to make some bread. It was a good feed anyway and the extra weight helped in building up speed for heading down the water slide.  Constructed with all of our groundsheets and a handful of pegs it worked well with Colm Mullally again proving his No Fear attitude with the fastest descent of the slide.

Above: The project managers on their Hourglass tower and
Below: The Tower at sunset.

All eyes were on Cian, Emlyn, Ciaran and Kevin who were preparing our last dinner this time without mushrooms.  A beef stroganoff that everyone would eat was the mission and it was accomplished. Thanks to Richard finally becoming a teenager that day we even had dessert. Despite how long it took Richard to spit and blow out the candles, the chocolate cake was devoured while Paschal and Colm seemed to eat the whole vanilla cake between them. The ladies from Dun Laoighre invited us to a joint campfire at the main campfire circle at about 9.30.  They turned up a bit late of course but we were fairly impressed with their opening.  We came back at them with two sketches - the old enlarging machine sketch followed by the one about throwing pebbles in the lake. They just didn't get "There aint no flies on us" though.

Above: The beef stroganoff under watchful eyes.

We won't say that Kevin, Colm and Paschal were in fine voice but they tried hard and eventually people even moved their arms.  "O I want to go to heaven" saw its first new verse in twenty years with Richard's almost rhyming verse including wheelbarrows and spanners. Meanwhile Colm with his Richie Kavanagh impersonation and Aidan Purcell  with his candle holders line ensured that we had surely received our last invitation to a national campfire. Back at the White House we were preparing for the last round of the Megaquiz when in the famous words of Lawrence Oates on Scott's expedition to the South Pole, Dean Purcell stood up and said "I am just going outside, and may be some time."  His non reappearance led to three search parties being sent out to find him, all of whom failed to reappear.

Above: Dean takes his chances.

Colm used this lull in the proceedings to recall the goings on of the Hellfire Club, South County Dublin's notorious 18th century hellraisers who of course practiced Satanism and were generally up to no good. Their headquarters on an old site of pagan worship is not far from Larch Hill and was the scene of people being burnt to death and that kind of stuff. Fortunately the lads did eventually reappear and proceedings got underway. Despite an impressive rally by Lisa's team and aided by a lucky run of famous names, Cian's patrol came out on top in the end.

Above: Richard watches his step on the Monkey Bridge.

The final event of the night was the annual camp award ceremony with the usual outstanding prizes on offer. This year the Best Bursting of a Bag of Haribo over a scout's head went to Ciaran Purcell who also took the Fastest Assault/Confidence Course circuit along with a Scout Engineer's merit award.  The fastest monkey bar climber and the second annual award for sounding the most like the Godfather went of course to Simon Gaffney.  There was really no competition in the prize for most astounding and shocking hair colour which went to Emlyn Farrell.  Cian took the fastest orienteer award despite some controversy as well as the best quadropod and scout engineering excellence awards. Meanwhile Jamie Diggins collected the Parallel Thinker's accolade.

Above: Actor, scout engineer, jester - the new and improved Ciaran.

Lisa Rea took the trophy for being the earliest riser as well as a recognition for excellence in patrol leadership award.  Dean Purcell bet off stiff competition to take the best tent pitcher award and was also saluted for the impressive scratch in his leg. This year's most lunatic camper award was taken by Aidan Purcell who was also bestowed with honours for having the most older brothers on camp and for providing the foulest verse for a campfire song.  Isaac Mahon took the Zanussi sponsored dishwasher award while the best cook and best badminton player gongs went to Sarah Kennedy.  Richard Smith took the award for getting the highest single score in the Odd One Out quiz and for taking the longest period of time to blow out two birthday candles. Ruairi O'hOgartaigh received a special commendation for enduring his older brother throughout the whole of an annual camp while Colm Mullally received the Persil sponsored award for keeping a white T-shirt clean for 3 days and for the best water slide descent and best rope swing.

Above: The Monkey Bridge.

Finally in the leaders category, Ginter awarded Colm with the sounding more like an old man every day award while Colm reciprocated with a breathing more like an old man every day award. Paschal was saluted for putting up with a camp's worth of investigation into the history of his beard (is there a bat in there?). Finally Kevin was awarded with the inventive volleyball scorekeeping award. For the last night a few hardy souls decided that they would bivvy out again under the stars. Where would we bivvy next - on the summit of Corran Tuathail?

Above: Early morning at Larch Hill.

Yet another long and leisurely breakfast was called for before we got stuck into that most favourite of tasks - breaking camp.  Somebody should definitely set up a company to take everything down for you, clean it and pack it all back away in the store. It was hot and slow and we took more than a few breaks under the trees around the old dolmen.  To be fair the long awaited soccer game did eventually happen and included some very controversial refereeing decisions. There was more brain testing by Colm at the dolmen before the famous last lunch of camp which as usual consisted of all the leftovers. Jam and pickled onions anyone? After we had walked the site in several directions we discovered that the clutch was gone in the old Larch Hill jeep so we had to get our backs into shifting all the gear and the pioneering timber back down to the carpark.  The 3rd of course are animals so it was no hassle.

Above: Exercising the mind on a portal tomb.

We all passed out with the heat on the bus on the way back to Waterford and we had to stop in Carlow to recover although Colm definitely preferred when people were passed out. Consensus was that it had been a class camp and so the pressure would be on to top it next year and the year after. We hear there is a plan. In the meantime there wouldn't be much gear to be washed by mammies at home as most people seemed to have worn the same clothes for the whole of camp.   Incineration would be the best solution. Finally the fruit cocktail and brown sauce were safely packed away in the store ready for next year.

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