Teenagers

In this day and age when everybody is keen to moan about teenagers, their manners, their binge drinking, their clothes, their lack of respect etc I thought I would write a post about the good teenagers can do. As many of you know my children are heavily involved in the scouting movement. Dillon and Mollie are scouts and Ben is a beaver. These activities would not exist if it were not for the leaders who give up their evenings and weekends to run their groups. Dillon and Mollie's troop is led entirely by young adults who are in university. Their main leader was eighteen when he first started as a general leader and took the helm of the troop a year later taking the troop to the Czech Republic that year. These young leaders build up a great rapport with the teenage scouts as they bridge the gap between teenagers and parents and they set a great example to our children. Last week Dillon and his friend Rory were asked if they'd be young leaders with the cub troop and without hesitation they both said yes. This will involve giving up an evening and weekends to help with children aged eight to eleven which is a big commitment as they are both in Junior Cert year (their first state examinations). Of course I am one proud mama, so remember those hairy lads you may see on the bus could have hearts of gold underneath their baggy, black t-shirts.

You know you're lucky when...

You choose the early morning run to drop the scouts off for their 22k hike and they arrive at the pick up point two hours late.

You know you're lucky when...

It's not your car that breaks down after waiting for two hours for the scouts to arrive.

Glendalough

Yesterday saw the annual 47th Ballybrack Scout Andrew Carroll Memorial Hike. All family and friends of children who are in 47th Ballybrack beavers, cubs, scouts or venture scouts are invited and yesterday 98 brave (some may say stupid) people turned up for the event. Being scouts or relatives of scouts from Ireland we knew we had to come prepared for the weather. Those of us who had done our homework knew the forecast wasn't great but the day started bright and reasonably warm for this time of year.

Glendalough is a famous Irish landmark, though it's not where St Patrick chased away the snakes (which is a myth). St Kevin Founded a monastery in Glendalough (read more here) in the sixth century the remains of which are still there today. All around the monastery is the most beautiful Wicklow countryside including the Wicklow Pass and Sally Gap. There are a variety of walks here ranging from short and buggy friendly to long, steep hikes. The Wicklow Way also runs through this area.

As always the hike started with a climb up the side of a waterfall at the top of which we joined a path that sweeped it's way up the mountain. The weather although a bit dull was clear and the view of the lake was fantastic. The path up the mountain seemed to go on forever and ever and Ben (possibly the youngest there and the only little one who walked the whole way) was lagging behind a bit.

Here he comes stomping his way up the hill.

Not very happy because his boots had started to rub, so it was time for a plaster stop. Shortly after the drizzle started and we all put on our rain coats. Ten or fifteen minutes later the drizzle turned into rain so out came the waterproof leggings and still we hiked upwards. Ben and I were bringing up the rear, along with four of the leaders. Paul (Dillon's scout leader) offered to give Ben a piggy back but Ben (stubborn as he is) refused and started walking at twice the pace. We soon caught up with the rest of the group who had stopped by some thick trees for lunch.

Everyone scrambled up the bank looking for cover under the trees so they could eat lunch. Ben managed to drop his roll so it got soaked through and was inedible! Luckily I had plenty of fruit and chocolate to give him energy. After lunch the leaders decided to head back to the car park via the quickest route and not continue upwards as planned. Ben was determined to get back to the car and off he walked quickly and quietly with his head down. By this time most of us realised our waterproof trousers were really only shower proof not gallons of rain proof. We don't know how waterproof Dillon's are as he was the only scout not to put his on!

We arrived back to the car park about three and a half hours after we set off and were greeted with hot soup and sandwiches served by the ventures. We all gathered for a group photo then it was home for hot bath.

A hiking he will go

Woke up to an overcast morning, with the rain finally coming down when I was on the tennis court in the middle of a box match! The rain continued on and off throughout the day and my thoughts turned to Dillon who is off on a Sionnach (pronounced shunuck) camp this weekend.

A Sionnach is where the scouts meet in one place and hike then set up camp for the night, and complete another hike the next day setting up camp in a different place before a final hike the following day. Sionnachs are only open to older scouts, 12 years and older and some competitive Sionnachs are held.

This weekend is non competitive and involves five scouts and three leaders from Dillon's troop - 47th Ballybrack Scouts. They are meeting in Crone Wood and will complete a small hike in the dark to the Dargle Valley where they'll stop for the night. Saturday sees them hiking to Lough Dan via Djouce and Sunday is a relatively small hike to Glendalough.

As the scouts have to carry all their clothes, food, drinks, camping and cooking equipment with them their food menu is very basic and consists of pot noodles, packet soup, more noodles, more soup, chocolate powder, cereal and chocolate. So on this cold miserable day I wanted to send Dillon off with a stomach full of warm hearty food. I decided upon sausage casserole which is always welcoming on a cold wintry evening.

This can be adapted very easily and you can make as much or as little as you like. I make a big one as it is very popular with my family and any leftovers taste even better the next day.



Gently fry 20 sausages in a little butter(in casserole pan) until brown. Remove and set aside.
Fry one chopped onion until soft.
Add chopped vegetables such as leeks, carrots, pepper, celery, courgette or anything else you have; a tin chopped tomatoes; 750ml stock and the sausages. Season and simmer for 30 minutes. Check and stir occasionally.
Add pasta, you may need to add more water at this stage and simmer until pasta cooked (this can take longer than boiling pasta in water).
Now your casserole is ready and only one pot to clean, perfect.