Day Four

The day off! This was the halfway marker, boys have now started the countdown till we go home.

This was also the only day we got to sleep in. I had it all planned out: wake up about 10am, then jump on the 10.30am bus down the the harbour.

0800. The doorbell must have rung a good 30-40 times. Finally I answered it to find UKAD (UK Anti-Doping) had decided to pay us a little visit on camp. Me and three other lucky souls picked at random didn't get the lie-in we dreamt of, nor did we make the bus into town. Great start to the day.

By this time most of the boys headed either down to the beach or to the harbour. A few stayed at the resort to relax and recover - possibly to save some energy for the remainder of the week. The rest of the day is quiet as boys keep to themselves in their villas.

Day Five

0700. Back to reality and back on the bikes.

0800. A few rogue sausages make a welcome appearance at breakfast. We quickly eat them before the conditioners realise.

1000. Lineouts and scrums. Just going over a few new things and also touching base on some things from last year.

1030. Power Endurance Part 2. The fun never ends here in Portugal.

1430. Meeting followed by rugby. Again we practised converting pressure into points. One team attacked for 15 mins and then the other team got the same opportunity. Blue team won 20-19.

After training the boys chilled out in the pool. Me, Francois and Kane had sourced some watermelon and made fruit punch of my own concoction for the boys to have whilst recovering. Went down a treat.

1800. The moment the boys have been waiting for. It happens every year. We watched as our coaches, physios and conditioning staff took on the resort staff at 5-a-side football. I cannot put into words how funny this is to witness. Bath staff lose 7-2. Watching it, you would have thought that our kit man Middy was playing for the other team. #brutal

Day Six

0700. Surprise, surprise: we're back on the bike. However this was the last early session of the week. (This provided motivation for the first two minutes anyway.)

1000. This was a competitive units session. We practise the lineout against each other. It's pretty handy having Luke Charteris on your team. The guy is massive! He doesn't even need to jump.

Upper body weights followed the units session. I think I probably smashed some club records today. I lifted some big tin!

1430. Team meeting followed by rugby. Defence Day. This was actually a really good session. We put into practice what we had learned this week and the coaches really challenged us. Good shift.

Quick bike trip to the shop with Guy and Attwood. Luckily I managed to avoid the tandem this time. Something funny about watching two full grown men on a relatively small bike (watch out for the video on social media).

Tonight is our last night in camp. Nice team meal on the decking and a few cold beverages as a squad. It's been a tough but rewarding camp. One more day to go. Looking forward to getting home.

Obrigado,

Garvs

Garvs: Portugal Diary Part 2

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