Everyone is home the washing is in the machine and we’re going to sleep in a proper bed for the first time in a week. It must mean that Peak 2015 has come to an end.

Scouts from 1st Ripley and 3rd Codnor camped together in the Sixties Subcamp at the Golden gates end of the Chatsworth estate. The theme for this years’ peak was a Journey through time with each subcamp themed around a different time zone from Jurassic to Romans, and Imperial China to The Sixties.

On Saturday 25th, everyone arrived to camp where the leaders had already set up the mess tent, cooking tent and sleeping tents. The kit was unpacked and the kettle was put on. The rest of the day consisted of exploring the site and seeing where all the different activities were located and what time the tuck shop opened. The Scouts all received their camp badges, neckers, hats, t-shirts, maps and bags. In the evening all 5000+ campers gathered in the main arena for the opening ceremony.

Sunday was our subcamps day to compete in the sports competitions, we entered a team into the football and wheelchair basketball tournaments. Around lunchtime we happened to be in the right place at the right time as Bear Grylls visited the arena and the camp to wish us a great camp. One of the Scouts even got the Chief Scouts autograph on his t-shirt.

Monday was when the fun really started to happen after a cooked breakfast and eggy bread the Scouts split up into small groups and went off around the activities, air rifle shooting, climbing, abseiling, crate stacking and numerous craft activities such as clock making from CD’s and woggle making.

14 of the Scouts went off on a 6 mile round hike on Tuesday that included either raft building, kayaking or canoeing, and in the process contributing the the time on the water staged activity badge and also the hikes away badge. Over at Junior Peak some Beavers and Cubs from Ripley had come up and were having fun zorbing, crafting, bouldering and trying to get around the assault course. In the evening parents came to visit the camp and bring fresh supplies of clothes and take the dirty ones away!!!

Wednesday was our priority day for some of the space limited activities so we had Scouts off sailing at Carsington earning their Sailing badge and time on the water badge while others were learning how to light a fire using a bow and string in Bushcraft. In the evening the entire camp gathered for an aerial photograph that can be downloaded from the peak camp website.

By Thursday the tiredness was beginning to show and everyone leaders included were going around completing the challenges for the Peak 2015 Challenge badge. This involved completing subcamp activities, getting signatures from people from 12 different countries and then completing 15 challenges around the camp. The camp also managed to set a new world record for the largest number of people in onesies.

Friday was the last day of activities and we had Scouts swimming, air rifle shooting, mountain biking, and completing the camp challenge sheets. In the evening after we had a street party with pizza and chips the whole camp gathered for one last time for the closing ceremony where the flags were lowered and the finished off with the neon disco.

I would like to thank Mark for all of his work on the camp admin in the many months running up to the camp and the resupply of sausages and bacon from C.N Wright Butchers in Codnor. Also to Alison (3rd Codnor) for all her work as camp leader and to Adrian (3rd Codnor) for his work helping with the cooking, camp banker amongst everything else. Finally a huge thank you to the three young leaders, Roan, Mary and Rebecca for all their help this week with hurrying up the Scouts for meals, setting up the camp and getting Scouts to activities on time.

We hope that all of the Scouts from Ripley and Codnor had loads of fun, that they have tried a new activity that they had never tried before and that they are looking forward to their next camp with Scouts.