Explorer Scouts take trip of a lifetime

Alderley District Explorer Scouts and Young Leaders have recently returned from a trip of a lifetime.

Three leaders took ten Explorer Scouts, aged between 15 and 18 years old, on an expedition to Iceland last week.

The Explorers are all members of the Young Leader Unit and give up their free time to help support leaders to enhance the experience for local Beaver, Cub and Scout units which are all run by volunteers.

The group spent a week in Iceland during which time they cycled 24km around the island and hiked 28km to the hot springs taking in many stunning views. They also visited the Scout museum, Gullfoss Waterfalls, saw a Geysir erupting and visited the American Tectonic Plate.

The fourth day was spent in Reykjavik where they visited several museums and did a little shopping, then the following day they walked the Sólheimajökull glacier. Next the group visited the Seljalandsfoss waterfall and finished off their amazing trip with a walk behind Skógafoss waterfall.

Ben Clarkson, age 16, said "The expedition to Iceland was a once in a life time experience that I will never forget. To see and almost feel the waterfalls and the geyser erupting was absolutely amazing."

Jackie Toombs, Alderley District Young Leader, commented "This was an overwhelming visit and one I am sure the Explorers will not forget. The Explorers worked extremely hard for this, one of the conditions is that the majority of the funds were to be fundraised, making it accessible to all members. So this expedition would not have been such a success without all the fundraising activities. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped with donations and opportunities to fundraise."

Each member of the group had a target of £1,000 to raise for the trip, to enable as many members of the group to go on an equal footing. Over half of the group managed to achieve this target leaving just a few needing to put in a small amount.

Their fundraising efforts included car washes, bag packing, entertainment evenings, running refreshment stalls at triathlons, marshalling marathons, helping the Round Table at a number of events and cutting down unusable pallets, bagging them into carrot nets and selling them as kindling bags.