Report from the summer camp – Bardo 2019

This year, for the first time, we organised our camp in Bardo – a town located in the Bardzkie Mountains on the Nysa Kłodzka River (Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Ząbkowice County). As it turned out, it is an exceptionally charming place where we spent 12 active days, together with 101 of our charges aged from 7 to 17.

We stayed at the Children’s Holiday Home in Bardo, where the biggest attraction was the outdoor swimming pool – the best thing we could have wished for during a hot camp with 3 training sessions a day. There was an abundance of greenery around the centre, where we played herring and practised archery, as well as a basketball court and a playground with swings and a merry-go-round.

 

Every morning (except on special days), before breakfast, we had training in formal patterns. After the most important meal of the day, there was time to rest and clean the room before the cleanliness inspection. At 10:00, the younger groups practised their technique and kicks, while the older children had time to go to the shop, eat ice cream or use the swimming pool. Later, the roles were reversed. Halfway through the day, after the second training session, it was time to recharge with a two-course lunch. In the afternoons, there was a third and final training session, although the most exhausting one – sparring. In the evening, dinner, and after dinner, depending on the requests and energy levels of our charges – a mini-disco or a film.

 

During the camp, we prepared three attractions: a rafting trip, a visit to Srebrna Góra Fortress and the Złoty Stok mine. The rafting trip took place first. The older groups, who went in the first round, immediately after breakfast, were thrown in at the deep end (only figuratively, because we often had to push the raft as the water was too shallow). The rafting turned out to be demanding training because of the low water level. But who else but the KCT team could manage it? The older children spent 2.5–3 hours in the raft and covered almost 15 km. The younger groups spent about an hour in the raft because they had a shorter route and the water had already risen by then. However, the truth is that the “little ones” rowed like champions. It is worth mentioning that, apart from exercising their arms, the raft also provided an opportunity for integration between groups and between genders. Nothing but benefits :)

 

The next two trips took us back to bygone times. At Srebrna Góra, we were shown what the life and service of soldiers looked like over two hundred years ago. We saw, among other things, Fort Donjon, underground casemates, the deepest moat in Poland (29 m high), and the captivating ruins of a partially demolished military lazaretto. At the gold mine, apart from visiting the mine itself, a host of attractions awaited us, including gold panning, a ride on a railway train, a visit to a medieval mining settlement, and the Ochrowa Adit.

 

Those 12 days were full of experiences, friends all around, training, dancing at the mini-disco, sightseeing, sunshine and chlorinated water.