Hedge End was the host to an evening of celebration as the final award criteria, the presenting of their experiences to an audience filled with family and friends, marked the end of their journey to earn the Explorer Belt.
Leading the presentations was Chloe, lead volunteer for Scout Network, and part of the core team for the event who supported the team in-country.
Joining to witness the presentations were other members of Team Hampshire, including the County Chair, and the Lead volunteers for International Events and Programme. Many of the events were news to them, as all the anecdotes came out of the woodwork!
One-by-one, the teams re-lived with fondness their memories in hilarious fashion from the trip including the highlights of Legoland, seeing a 'colour museum (Art Gallery!)', wild-camping legally and meeting the 'King of Denmark' (citation needed).
They acknowledged the challenges overcome along the way including melting a cooking pot, long days of walking, waking up in puddles of water inside the tent, and 'getting on the right train but not not getting off'.
While on their life-changing adventures, the Explorers took on a project to ask the important questions in life.
Big questions tackled during the different expeditions including asking:
In total, each teams travelled around 1,500km within Denmark, in addition to the thousands of miles getting to and from the country.
The six teams this year saw the fabulous country of Denmark as the host for their expeditions and adventures. Over ten days, they were absolutely buzzing with excitement, having started at Copenhagen and explored every corner of the country by foot, bus, ferry and train.
"I'm absolutely loving Explorer Belt! It's given us so much independence and freedom, and it's fantastic to have formed such a great team of close friends"
Team Calypso
From Scout shops to Legoland in Billund - the home of Lego - they took to the streets making new friends from lots of international Scouts during their trip, from Europe and beyond. The groups also hosted a campfire for local members of Det Danske Spejderkorps (Danish Scouts) and exchanged various songs - even learning a few in Danish!
Along the way, personal challenges were broken including racing a Great Dane dog, drinking the Danish drink in a very Danish place and ranking the cities of Denmark. They met local Scouts, got evenings of free accommodation, saw 'Hamlet, from Hamlet', and enjoyed evening sunsets on a beach. No type of challenge was too big or too small - even trying Danish pastries, switching their phone language to Danish for a day, and making their own dances featured.
Over a packed evening, stories and tales of replacement socks, earning their Legoland Driving License, 'truly majestic kebabs', football matches, puppets that look like County volunteers, 'a very romantic 7-11 store', and buses that only run on Tuesdays emerged.
Teams noticed the smallest of details including accessibility features for the blind, such as braille dots on many signs (although 'not the ones above the motorway'), how different bike lanes were compared to the UK and the differences in society structure.
As well as so many memories from the trip, many of the teams brought back mascots of their trip, including teddy bears dressed in Danish Scout uniform and a pink elephant which was transported home in multiple sets of hand luggage.
It was a night our Explorers and their nearest and dearest will not soon forget.
Taking place in a country entirely new to the team, the Explorer Belt sees young people aged over 16 travel to different places, camp out or spend time with the company of new friends as part of a ten-day expedition.
As they go, the six teams must complete ten small challenges and one large project as well as showing off their skills in the practical skills such as budgeting, navigating, first aid, teamwork, the local language and communication.
Find out more about the award, and register your intention on the Scouts website.
None of these adventures could have happened without the many volunteers who supported the teams in their expeditions. Help our young people explore new places and discover new cultures by volunteering your time. Volunteer at scouts.org.uk/volunteer.
Text: Steven Osborn.
