Summer Camp Ardèche, France

Thursday Choice Extravaganza!

Day 4 of summer at the Ardeche is drawing to an end, and a lively, loud camp spirit is beginning to emerge! Although the weather was predicted to be rain and thunderstorms, we had most of it overnight and lucked out with clear skies all day.

After a slow wakeup and a good breakfast, the teams dispersed into their various chosen activities. Those who picked caving began their day by paddling across the Ardeche from our campsite so that they could hike to two very large dry caves and spent the day exploring. In the first cave, they played hide and seek, sardines, and had a treasure hunt, while in the second cave they saw authentic paleolithic etchings, the remains of neolithic pottery, labyrinths, and more! The canoers (all boys!) spent an awesome day on the river paddling, cliffjumping, swimming, dancing, and having general good old fashioned rough'n'tumble times . The climbers went to Mazet, where they spent most of their day conquering new routes on the crag, In the afternoon, they went to the river for a swim and a cliffjump - and ended up setting up their slackline across the river! The campers could try their luck walking the tightrope-esque arrangement, and if they fell, they fell into the river. It was so popular that all of the locals started asking if they could use it!

The French Language students spent their morning studying, and in the afternoon went to the Chauvet Cave that the others went to yesterday - they were lucky enough to have a tour just for them, so had plenty of time for questions and curiosities. The tour was in french but they could ask questions in English, to ensure full comprehension.

So, the various teams returned to camp all stoked on their days! Free time was used by many to call home or to chill in the hammocks reading books, before meeting for a delicious meal of sweet and sour chicken. Moose's son, who is visiting the camp for a few days, had his eighth birthday today and we all celebrated with a cake after dinner - happy birthday! Now, the campers are preparaing their dances for the final closing ceremony of yesterday's Olympics - I can see them practicing out in the field and look forward to their performances later tonight!

Tomorrow, we have a day trip to Avignon, spending the morning in the old town and the afternoon at the waterpark. The weather looks fine, and everyone is looking forward to it!

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