Bogildo Camp

It's raining outside, the temperature is about 15 degrees and it's the weekend... What's a guy suppose to do?

Pack up Black Betty and go camping of course!

Last week plans were thrown around for the last camping trip of the season. It's quickly been cooling down round here and we decided we had to get one more trip in before it got too cold.

After some ums and ahhs about where to go, we finally decided on an island called Bogildo. I'd been to this island once when I first arrived and was lucky enough to be driven around by a friendly korean guy and his family. I vaguely remembered there was a sand beach there, but couldn't remember much more than that.

So after sending out the usual group e-mail, we only got 4 takers for this trip. The Beautiful Mary, Lovely Crystal and the Handsom Neal as well as my charming self. Down a bit from our usual 20 or so. I guess the others decided winter had already come.

Saturday morning certainlly looked like it was proving them right. It was cold and raining but we decided it wasn't going to deter us. We spent a bit of time cramming enough camping gear into black betty for a platoon of people and hit the road.

Packed in tight.

By the time we got to Wando, the rain had stopped and things were starting to dry out.

Onto the ferry and an hour and a half later, we were on Bogildo. I was able to find the beach and we quickly picked out a great little camping spot. I was actually surprised and impressed with the beach. It was much better than I had expected. We set up our tents (some of us a little more quickly that others... Which way do we want that door facing Neal?)


Keep goin Neal... You'll get there.

and got onto the important task of making dinner.

Now for those of you who haven't been camping with me before, I'm usually a fairly plain eating kind of guy when out in the bush. A tin of baked beans and some toast usually does me well for a couple of meals. Not this time... Ohhh no! It was a meal... nay, a feast... A banquet I say!


Mmmmm Teriyaki Chicken with a Spicy Stir-fry.

Well, ok. Maybe not that great. But it was damned good even if I do say so myself.

After dinner it was time to get the fire a-burning, the guitar a-playin and the quiet drinks a-drunk. It was a wonderful relaxed evening. We even managed to fit in a swim. Although I think we were in the water for a grand total of about 2 minutes.


Latest fashion in winter swimwear... and still lookin cute!

Next morning we were up at the crack of 9:30 to yet another wonderful, blustery, grey day.


Oh what a beautiful day!

It had actually blown a gale the night before and made us glad we had pegged down the tents. Despite the looks of the weather, it wasn't that cold and was actually quite nice moody weather. Reminded me a bit of the few trips to the beach I made while I lived in Scotland. I think it reminded Mary of her home a bit as well.


Bit of a breeze today?

By the end of breakfast, the blustery weather had blown itself out and we packed up and headed off to see what the island had to offer.

First stop was the pebble beach, Yesong-ri. This beach is famous in Korea for the sounds that the pebbles make as the waves wash over them. It's very relaxing, but we descovered they were much better used as skimming stones than musical instruments.


Show us how it's done Neal.

After the pebble beach we headed to a garden that was created by a famous poet, Gosan Yun Seon-do. He lived on the island for 13 years after getting blown here in a typhoon.

From here it was on to the far side of the island where we found another rocky beach. It was fun to build our own little cairn of rocks there. Of course ours had to be the biggest, but I think it was the most colourful as well.


The Biggest... The Brightest...

All tuckered out but feeling very happy the weekend came to an end.


It was a hard weekend lazing on the beach.

As the sun was setting over the beautiful islands, we sailed back to Wando and made our way home.

As the sun sinks in the West....