Clonmel Scouts duo achieve notable success in Portugal
Julie Holland (20) and Molly Magner (19), members of Clonmel Scouts, recently completed a Scout Explorer Belt Challenge over 14 days in Portugal.
The pair were one of eight teams who took part in a Scouting Ireland Explorer Belt.
This is an annual event, where participants must undertake an international expedition that brings a real understanding of a different country, its people and way of life by travelling through that country, working as a team and by meeting local people to complete a series of projects.
Portugal was selected as the venue for the 2022 explorer belt and the teams, all within the 18 to 26 years Rover age group, travelled by air from Dublin to Lisbon, accompanied by a support team.
At Lisbon airport each team was given details of their explorer challenge. These consisted of a pack containing their start and common end point (which was at base camp) along with the project briefs and journey budget.
Molly and Julie were faced with the immediate challenge of travelling to this random location by public transport only and within a limited budget.
They then had to plan a route of a minimum of 200 km in length over ten days to get to this end destination.
As well as this, Julie and Molly had to undertake ten assigned projects as they made their way through the Portuguese countryside, towns and cities. These topics included Portuguese history, religion, politics and culture.
Having completed their journey (in fact they completed 207 km), Molly and Julie checked in at base camp, which was located at Salir de Porto, which is 105 km north of Lisbon.
They then spent the following four days recovering and being assessed, to see if they met the required criteria for the award through interviews and logbook inspection.
Finally, on Friday, July 8, the pair were awarded the Scouting Explorer Belt, one of the highest awards available to youth scouters internationally.
The duo would like to thank everyone who supported them and made their journey and success possible, most notably their leader Owen Leggs Lanigan.