Norwegian scouting adventure lead by Dundalk man

Walking down the Castletown Road in Dundalk a couple of weeks ago, people might have been wondering why the Norwegian flag was flying from the flagpole on the Scouthall.

The reason being was that the local scout group, 1st/2nd/5th Louth, St. Patrick’s, were hosting a contingent weekend for a group of scouts from all over Ireland before they headed to Norway for an International event called ‘Roverway’.

Local leader, Fintan Sheridan, was leading the contingent of 107 Irish scouts to Roverway, which was an event for 16 to 22 years old from all over the world.

The first six days of the camp was spent on “Paths” which were each made up of about 50 international scouts, with patrols of between five to eight Irish scouts on each Path.

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This gave participants an opportunity to meet fellow scouts from all over the world while enjoying Norwegian culture, food, customs and fantastic scenery; as well as taking part in workshops on various sustainable development goals.

Scouts camped for the duration of the Paths and carried all their gear in their rucksacks.

After six days of being on the ‘Path’, everyone converged just outside the city of Stavanger for another five days of ‘Basecamp’, a jamboree-festival type experience of just over 6,000 people with lots more activities and fun on site.

Fintan said he called on his fellow leaders in St. Patrick’s Scout Group to organise a training weekend for the Scouting Ireland contingent as he knew they possessed the skills and expertise to pull it off.

Cub leader, Barry O’Neill had a group out in Carlingford Lough kayaking and playing some games out on the Lough while kayaking.

This group then had a BBQ on a boat in the lough before heading back into Dundalk to set up camp for the night.

Group leader Finbar Gethins said: “Over the last number of years we invested in our leadership team by getting them trained in various disciplines so that we would be able to offer our youth members the very best of what scouting has to offer.

“A number of our leaders are now qualified kayaking instructors and it was great that we could facilitate the Scouting Ireland contingent with their training weekend. We’ve also bought a number of canoes and kayaks so that these activities can be put into our programme plans.”

Scout leader Cormac Sheridan said he used his knowledge of the Cooley Mountains to bring one of the groups hiking over the two days and having visited the Barnavave Famine village, the group set up camp and then peaked Slieve Foye, Eagle’s Rock, Raven’s Rock and Foxes Rock.

They returned to their camp where they cooked dinner on some Trangia Stoves.

They then got up in the middle of the night to hike Slieve Foye again so that they could catch sunrise from the highest point in Co. Louth with some spectacular views a reward for their efforts.

Former Group Leader, Gerry Finnegan, who set up 8th Louth Slieve Foye Scout Group in Omeath/Carlingford organised for one of the groups to participate in SkyPark in Carlingford Adventure Centre.

The group of scouts had a great time there overcoming the challenges of the high ropes course and the ziplines.

This group then came back into town where they set up camp in the grounds of Buion Setanta’s Scouthall.

They took part in a challenge around the town organised by Beaver leader Michelle Boyle, who was going to Roverway event in Norway as a member of the International Service Team [staff member].

The final group were under the tutelage of Scout leader Paul Bates who is an expert in the area of Backwoods and who is a member of the ‘Most Primitive Scouting Experience’ (MPSE) Team.

This group hiked up Annaloughan were they set up base. Instead of using tents, hammocks and tarps were the choice of bedding.

The group did some whittling and learned some knife-skills. They also cooked their dinner on trangias, small portable stoves.

Thankfully, the weather was good and some of the group went for a swim in the small lake.

Paul was assisted by Cub leader Conor Kearns O’Kane after he had helped Barry with the kayaking session.

Contingent Leader Sheridan said that the training weekend was a great success and the participants found it to be very useful.

The scenery witnessed by the participants over the course of their weekend in Louth was every bit as beautiful as the mountains and fjords they encountered in Norway.

Whilst in Norway, the Contingent Management Team were invited to visit the Irish Embassy in Oslo where Sheridan presented an Irish Contingent neckerchief to the staff there.

St.Patrick’s Scout Group caters for boys and girls between the ages of six to 18 years.

Their numbers have grown steadily over the last number of years and they announced last week that they were going to open up a 3rd Cub Pack in their scout group.

This is on top of two Beaver Colonies, two Scout Troops, a Venturer Section and a Rover Crew.

If you are interested in getting your child involved in Scouting please visit their FB page “St. Patrick’s Scout Group 1st/2nd/5th Louth” and send a message.