Camp REport Swansea

The second of two weeks’ restoration work at Trebanos Locks on the Swansea Canal, as reported by Draig Goch... the Red Dragon!

Swansea Canal 17-24 September Camp diary of Draig Goch

Shwmae pawb! Croeso y Gamlas Abertawe. Ddraig Goch dw i.

Hello everyone! Welcome to the Swansea Canal. I’m Red Dragon.

I hope you’re looking forward to reading all about my adventures on the Swansea Canal Camp week 2.

Saturday 17 Sept: Today I arrived at camp and got myself settled in ready to meet all my new friends including camp leader Ruth, assistant leader Sue, and leader advisor Martin. Ruth and Sue tell me it’s their first time in these roles so Martin is going to be there for advice and guidance (alongside me of course!) A lovely gentleman from the local society has brought us plenty of beer and cider to keep us well hydrated during the week, I’m sure that will go down nicely!

Later my new friends start arriving and help to move the trailer into a better position (sounds easier than it was) before a safety brief and kit check ready to start our adventures tomorrow. I can’t wait to see what happens on camp.

Sunday 18th Sept: Our first day on site today. After a fabulous breakfast by our lovely cook Bev we are ready and raring to

See first week’s camp report for more detailed map and information go. First things first we get an introduction to the site at Trebanos Lower Lock so we all know where everything is, and get our tasks for the day. We have 3 main goals for the week:

1 Rebuilding a portion of a lock wall so new coping stones can be added

2 Levelling the area on the far side of the lock so new textile and gravel can be placed

3 Pointing the lock wall

Rowan and Colin start off a mix of lovely mortar for Sue, Will and Martin on the wall rebuild whilst Sam and John start levelling under the old textile. I of course help to supervise and make sure everyone is happy. Making sure I’m doing my fair share too I get a brew on ready for everyone to have their well-earned breaks!

In the evening we return to camp for some more scrummy food (just remember, the pork is pulled, and the kale is massaged) before we have a ‘pub quiz’ with ‘The Top Table’ triumphing over ‘Cycle Gladiators’. During proceedings I have a little bit too much alcohol and scupper the chances of Cycle Gladiators by spilling my drink all over their answer sheet. Oops! Must be more careful next time.

Bev also gives me the recipe for the delicious crispy kale which I’ll put at the end for you all to enjoy. Exhausted from a hard days work we all head off to bed before a more unusual camp day tomorrow.

Monday 19th Sept: I’m told that normally by Monday on camp we’re well underway with our work on site, but that today will different as we won’t be visiting site to do any work. Instead, we will be paying our respects to our late Queen Elizabeth II, as after over 70 years on the throne, today will be her funeral. On Saturday our leader, Ruth, gave everyone the option as to what they’d like to do today, some have decided to visit friends, some to have their time to themselves, and others have chosen to watch the funeral with me on the projector. Will has brought his laptop so we can stream it (very technical he is) and make sure everyone’s choices were catered for. I must say all those people pulling the carriage, and marching along after, do an excellent job (although they are missing a dragon).

After the funeral four of us go off on a trip to Rhossili on the beautiful Gower coastline. If you’re ever down this way, it’s certainly worth a visit! We go for a walk along the coast before clambering over some rocks as the guys want to see if they can make it onto Worms Head. Sadly, the tide and light are against them so they are unsuccessful, but we manage to get a group photo of us taken by a lovely couple so we can remember our trip out. Finally, it’s picnic time watching the sun set before returning back to camp where we meet another camper, Michael, who has now joined the camp.

Tuesday 20th Sept: Back to site today and I’ve been told we’re going to be getting a lesson on the use of lime mortar from Morgan, the local Canal & River Trust Heritage Officer. Hopefully I learn lots as this dragon likes getting his claws dirty with some mixing and pointing! Morgan goes over some of the background with us before he tells us about how to make the perfect mortar mix for the job we’re doing. Then we get to the fun bit, practising our pointing. I think we do a pretty good job if I do say so myself!

Sue and Will are using up lots of our mortar to continue with their wall building whilst Ruth and Michael finish levelling off the far side of the lock and start moving gravel. Our day on site is made even better by a lunch of sandwiches and cake provided by the ladies of the local society. They certainly know how to look after a dragon.

After work on site finishes up it’s back to the accommodation for food and then we’re off bowling. I’m very good at bowling as I can fly the ball right down to the pins and get a strike every time! I’m told that’s not fair on the others though so I have to stick to normal bowling instead (much more difficult with claws I can assure you). All have a good time though and enjoy their evening out.

Wednesday 21st Sept: Another day on site and with the main part of the lock wall rebuild complete it’s time to start laying some coping stones. My gosh they’re heavy beasts! Luckily with my flying ability, and some magic from local Gordon, we manage to start manoeuvring them into position and mortaring them into place.

I also help continue the gravel laying which I have to fly over the lock (with the help of my friends and their wheelbarrows) so we can get it into the right place. I wish these trucks had longer cranes so they could put it over there for us, but alas that isn’t to be and manual labour it is for this poor dragon. They’re making me work hard for my supper this week!

We get a nice visit from a local WRGie friend who’s interested in our work and wanted to come and say hello, before it’s back to the grind of our work. Everyone seems to be enjoying their time, and there’s a little job swapping as some of this work is very heavy.

As they say though, all work and no play makes Ddraig Goch a dull boy, so after

A quick guide to Welsh

by Draig Goch

Shwmae Hello

Pawb Everyone/all

Croeso Welcome

Camlas Abertawe Swansea Canal

Ddraig Goch Red Dragon

Draig Dragon

Dw I I am

Diolch yn fawr Thank you very much

Hwyl fawr Goodbye

Thursday: gravel shovelling and raking complete our day on site we make a trip to see Henrhyd Falls which isn’t far from our accommodation. It’s the tallest waterfall in South Wales at 90ft high, and despite less water due to little rain, I enjoy flying underneath it.

Thursday 22nd Sept: After being lucky with the weather so far there’s a threat of rain today. Whilst dragons don’t mind a little rain, we don’t want to get too wet lest we get scale rot! The morning stays dry if grey and I crack on with my tasks, helping fly gravel and mortar to where it’s needed. I also have the assistance of our fabulous camp cook, Bev, on site today to help lighten this dragon’s load. After much flying, shovelling, barrowing and raking, the gravel on the far side of the lock is finally complete. Phew! After seeing some photos of it from the start of week 1 I can certainly say it looks much smarter now with its lovely, cleaned gravel, along with 4 tons of new stuff.

There’s more work on laying and backfilling the coping stones, and some of my new friends start working on deep pointing as well as removing an outer layer of mortar that was the wrong colour due to ‘mortargate’. [For those not in the know there was a ‘disagreement’ over the required mortar colour in week 1 which thankfully has now been resolved so onwards we go!]

By the end of the day, we can really see the results from all the hard work that’s been put in and have a group photo to celebrate our success. Thankfully the promised rain was minimal, so this Draig managed to stay dry. No rot for me today.

In the evening I get to attend a beautiful meal at a local pub hosted by the canal society to say thank you to my friends and me. I must say they really do know how to spoil a Draig! During the evening we get a rendition of some songs by the locals, along with poetry, and our leader gives thanks to us for all our hard work even presenting me with my own title Prif Oruchwylydd Grup Adfer Dyfrffyrdd or ‘Chief Waterway Recovery Group Supervisor’ for my English-speaking brethren.

Friday 23rd Sept: The final day on site! I will be sad to leave as I’ve had such a brilliant time this week. There’s still plenty to do though, especially with assistant leader Sue abandoning us for a WI walking weekend (with actual beds in hotels! I’m sure she’ll miss her camp bed with us). After a slow start waiting for a delivery of aggregate and lime, I can finally get my claws into some proper work. More coping stones and pointing to be done so we can leave it in a good position for the locals to apply the finishing touches. I’ve been told we won’t be doing quite so long a day on site today so we can make sure we have time for kit check and trailer packing later so I’d better work extra hard. With some of my friends having come a long way, and vehicles to move on in the morning, we want to get as much of the hard work done today as possible.

I really am so proud of the team I’ve been working with this week. They’ve given me such an enjoyable time on camp, and they’ve all worked their boots off!

After kit check is complete it’s time for fish and chips on our final evening together, alongside a game of I Spy (some improvement required) before we head off to bed, ready for a return to normality tomorrow.

Saturday 24th Sept:

Top camp memories of a Draig

· Speed showers. Women shower faster than men (timed). It’s takes a while to get a whole camp through two showers so no lolly gagging!

· Fabulous meals by our lovely cook Bev.

· The solving of mortar-gate. Don’t get between a heritage officer and society in disagreement!

· Lack of rain. Whilst this Draig doesn’t mind a bit of Welsh rain he also enjoys basking in the rare sunshine.

· Cycles Gladiator wine. Who knew one could spend so long discussing a wine label!

· Trips out. I got to see some more of my beautiful country, and all trips were throughly enjoyable.

· New bottle opening tips. Did you know you can open a beer bottle with another beer bottle? Just watch out for flying caps!

· Ready, set, food! Will always first in line for Bev’s food (what a compliment!) But we finally broke him by food coma on the final night.

· WRGer bees. All the little WRGer bees working hard to complete their work.

· Colin’s caravan. The Aladdin’s cave with everything you might possibility want!

It’s time to say goodbye! Oh, how I do hate these moments. Final checks and cleaning complete, our campers head off one-by-one. Diolch yn fawr pawb. I help take the vehicles to the local station for collection before it’s my turn to leave. I hope all the volunteers have enjoyed their week as much as I have, and you never know, maybe we will meet again on a future camp. So, it’s hwyl fawr for now, and may we meet again on future sunny lock side.

Finally, before I leave you our camp leader wanted me to pass on her thanks to the whole team for a brilliant camp. The WRGer bees really did smash it and made her job easy. And from myself, I want to thank you all for making my first WRG camp such a brilliant experience. I also want to encourage anyone considering canal restoration to give it a go. Whether a WRG canal camp, regional group weekend, or local society work party. Seeing your hard labours bear fruit is extremely satisfying, and you get to meet a great bunch of people along the way. You never know, maybe you’ll even see a return of this Draig in a future Navvies…

Draig Goch

assisted by Ruth

Crispy kale

Hardern

1 Massage the kale with a small amount of olive oil to ensure an even coating.

2 Sprinkle on a small amount of salt.

3 Cook for 20 minutes and enjoy!