De La Salle Scout Group Leaders Weekend

Above: Members of the Leadership Team in the Mournes on the 2008 Leaders Weekend.
There are more photos on our Gallery 2008 page.

The 2009 De La Salle Scout Group Leaders Weekend (incorporating the Male Bonding Weekend) will take place from Friday 13th (yes) to Sunday 15th November 2009 in Kenmare. "The Jewel on the Ring of Kerry" nestles on the sea-shore at the foot of the Cork and Kerry mountains. Accommodation: The Inbhear Sceine Waterside Holiday Homes in Kenmare. These are lovely 4* holiday homes on the shores of the beautiful Kenmare Bay Estuary. They are located just over a 10 minute stroll from the town of Kenmare. Friday Evening Briefing Session: The Wander Inn on Henry Street at 9.45pm or so. Saturday Hiking Programme: Paschal has selected the superb Cummeengeera Horseshoe. He reckons: "The contrasts of rich wood, wild bog and mountain, lonely glen, lake, river and ever present sea never fail to please". It's a gentle 13.5k with 760m of ascent. Sunday Recovery Programme: Yoga, Breakfast, a short walk and then a private cruise on the Star of Kenmare in the bay. Dinner and the Annual Poetry Readings: These will take place at Davitt's Restaurant in Kenmare. Good local produce and seafood guaranteed. The Above 3000 feet Pool Competition: If Aidan remembers the table and anyone can remember who played the last time… Cost and Deposit: The Cost is €65 for your bed, breakfast, lunch and the cruise. Let Colm know by email that you are definitely going and deposit of €30 by the 14th of September. Places are limited!

Above: Members of the Leadership Team before their ascent of England's highest peak, Scafell Pike (977m)
on the 2007 Leaders Weekend in the Lake District.

For the past twenty years the Group have been organising an annual trip away which is open to all leaders. The weekend has it's origins in a weekend in 1987 where 5 leaders from the Group embarked on the 60 mile Rian Bo Padraig Challange from Cashel to Ardmore. Weekends in Wicklow, Dingle, Gougane Barra, the Macgillycuddy Reeks as well as the East Munster Way followed. In 2008 we headed to the range that sweeps down to the sea - The Mournes in Co. Down while in 2007 we made a long awaited trip to the Lake District and made ascents of Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England as well as Helvellyn by the classic Striding Edge. Check out our Lake District 2007 page for a full account and loads of photos. In 2006 we made an historic return to the Wicklow Mountains and a full account is given on our Leaders Weekend 2006 page. In 2005 we also made a second visit to Gougane Barra and more details are given below. In 2004 we were in Killarney while 2003 had seen us on Mweelrea and Killary harbour. We had a break in 2002 after heading to the mountains of Snowdon in 2003. Dingle and Mount Brandon were the aim in 2000 while the Scottish highlands and the slopes of Ben Nevis were taken on in 1999. More details of that trip are available on our Scotland 1999 page. In 1998 we walked 70 kilometres from Borris in Co. Carlow to Waterford City and an account is also given below.

Above: The Leaders Weekend 2006 Contingent: Back Row (L-R):Ian Sinnott, Betty Guilfoyle, Kenneth Rouse, Gary Sinnott, Aidan Ennis, David Collins, Paschal Gilfoyle, Colm Ennis, Tom Casey, Peter Murphy, Robert Windle, John O'Donohue and Billy Collins. Basecamp support were Mary Winter, Veronica Murphy and Emily Dixon.

Above: The Leaders Weekend 2005 Contingent: Back Row (L-R): John O'Donohue, Laura Burke, Billy Collins, Paschal Guilfoyle, Eric Whelan, Gary Sinnott, Peter Murphy, Tom Casey, Ian Sinnott, Siobhan Murphy, Colm Ennis. Front Row (L-R): Veronica Murphy, Betty Guilfoyle, Claire White, David Collins, Aidan Ennis. Photo by Mary Winters and preparing for their trip to Garinish Island were Robert Windle and Emily Dixon.

When you turn off the main road and head into the depths of West Cork there is no telling what you are letting yourself in for. Somewhere after Inchigeelagh, we were faced with a choice, continue on towards Ballingeary or take the more direct route indicated on the road atlas. The Discovery Series map was consulted and Paschal was given a choice - the slightly shorter but bad road or the better road through the Pass of Keimaneigh. The bad road it was, the car was swung around and we were headed over the Shehy Mountains, along the Beara Gougane Barra Cycling Route. The mist was way down making the appearance of a wild goat all the more startling. We couldn't see the megalithic tombs on either side of the road but could we feel their presence? Well, not really but Paschal was in the zone. No bend was too severe, the grass in the middle of the road never got too high and the road never got too narrow which meant that we weren't really in fear of our lives for long. Once we arrived back to earth in Kealkill we were determined to beat TC to Glengarrif and our base at Murphy's Village Hostel.

Above: The Church on the holy island at Gougane Barra and
Below: Eric Whelan and Siobhan Murphy at Gougane Barra.

We did beat them but Mary and co beat us to the first pints at The Blue Loo. She was accompanied by some leaders who were making their first foray into the mountain side of the leaders weekend programme. Eventually all nineteen souls arrived and the Gougane Barra horseshoe was agreed as the route for the next day with an 8.00am wakeup for breakfast. Excused from the hike was Roddy with a knee he couldn't straighten and Mary and Emily who were being despatched to Garinish Ireland and also to the Healy Pass in search of bachelor farmers.

It seemed to be a misty morning but it would surely burn off. The shopkeeper hoped that we weren't going high into the mountains and it was hard to give her a reply. We started our hike from the car park opposite the church at Gougane Barra and began the long walk up the ridge of Faill an Stuaicin. The climb seemed to go on for a very long time and elevenses was called just below the summit where it was discovered that a so called mountain leader had forgotten his lunch and Billy agreed that being the last person out of the pub a few hours earlier was perhaps not the best idea in the world. We set out for the lakes of Lough Namrat, Lough Glas and Lough Fadda on a bearing which meant crossing a barbed wire fence several times. Guinter began to suspect that we were walking around in circles as the terrain never seemed to change. Peter Murphy took over the navigation and we hit the col beneath Com Rua spot on. The two kishus were deployed for lunch and with strained necks we finally decided that there must be a better way of using them that wouldn't result in severe muscular distress. When we finally pulled ourselves out we discovered that Paschal was missing with a few others but we understand a bottle of wine had been consumed in the mist in a bog hole forty degrees to our right.

On the summit of Beillic we were faced with the choice of continuing along the ridge or spicing things up a bit and walking straight over the cliffs and down into Loch Ghuagan Barra. After some debate walking over the cliffs was agreed upon and we struck out into the unknown on a vague compass bearing. It was tough terrain and everyone took a bit of a fall although no one came close to the 105 falls taken by Laura Burke who even ended up upside down at one stage. We made our way past a huge mountain ash tree and down across a series of steep ledges before the mist cleared and we had our first spectacular views of the lake below. It was great to be out of the mist and we fought our way down slowly. It was almost a shame to finally reach the shores of the lake. On our way back we visited the award winning Gougane Barra toilets disguised as an African hut and made a short pilgrimage to the church on the holy island.

Casey's hotel was chosen to feed us for the night and they did a good job. At the Blue Loo there were many startling revelations but who was it that had received a letter personally written by non other than Bosco himself? The mist was still down the next morning so we didn't feel too guilty hitting the road early. Where to next? - watch this space.

Above: Veronica Murphy, Laura Burke and Claire White on the Leaders Weekend 2005.

There is no doubt that letting 17 members of the De La Salle Scout Group Leadership Team loose in Killarney for a weekend is fraught with dangerous possibilities. The least of the worries was whether Colm Ennis would wake everybody up for an alpine start at 6.00am or even whether event organiser John Kinsella would start sprinting up the mountain, as this year there was a room in Neptune's hostel which even Colm dared not to enter (Click on the thumbnails for the full size pictures). Friday night involved the usual planning meeting in the public house beside the hostel. For some, tragically, this included where was the best place to play darts in Killarney and what time would they get up to shop for clothes. There was some mention of O'Shea's gully being tackled on Corran Tuathail also and a start time of 8.00am was set in Denjoes (Ireland's slowest fast food restaurant?).

A Mountain breakfast was had by less than 50% of the contingent the next morning. The percentage being let down by a shock no show by former mountaineer, Kenneth Rouse. Being "terrified to leave the dormitory" he was was forced to share with a selection of Beaver Leaders wasn't accepted as an excuse. In an act of sabotage also, David Collins aka Guinter forced Billy Collins to wear his utterly useless pair of waterproof trousers. And my god could he have done with a good pair. Only the truly senseless could have got out of their cars at Cronins Yard as we did in that torrential rain that morning. We had a brief respite as Billy drove back to Killarney to collect John's boots which he had left behind (thank god for the semi alpine start) but it was still miserable 50 minutes later. All the rivers were in spate and there was one or two that almost turned back the Hunca and even Sid was wary once. However TC kept them distracted with talking and we kept up a determined pace up into the many layered Eagles Nest. There was some worry when Paschal took the unprecedented step of putting on gloves but we eventually picked up the track into O'Shea's gully and emerged to a moderate gale at the end of the Binn Chaorach ridge. 5 minutes to the summit was declared (a lie) and 45 minutes later everybody arrived on the summit with TC declaring that if it had been ten feet higher he may not have made it. As we descended into the Devils Ladder it started to clear and other walkers commented that we had surely "got the worst of the day". Perhaps - who wants it easy though?

Above (L-R): Ian Sinnott, Paschal Guilfoyle, Colm Ennis, Billy Collins, Tom Casey and John Kinsella on the summit of Ireland's highest point Corran Tuathail (1039m) in January 2004.

We were reunited with our shopping and dart playing colleagues over dinner. It was a strange restaurant where they wouldn't tell us what the soup was or bring us the bill but we ate well as is our wont. Some people went on to dance well also and others should be shot. At breakfast the next morning many pigs, beans and eggs had to be consumed and the weekend was officially hailed as a success. On the way back we stopped in Youghal where we were left to ponder the usual mysteries: (a) Why is JD's goatee such a strange colour?; (b) What really went on in the Beaver Leaders dormitory?; (c) The annual what is Aidan on question? (d) Why are there so many leaders with red waterproof jackets? (e) What was Paul White talking about and what in the name of God was he on? Next year - The Lake District!

Above: Clare White, Veronica Murphy, Laura Burke and Paul Moran after some tough hiking on the 2004 Leader's Weekend in the Reeks.

Above: Members of the De La Salle Leadership Team on the summit of Snowdon in October 2001.

The 12^th Annual Leaders Weekend saw us head for territory that was new to us all - the mountains of Snowdonia in Wales. Despite the attempts to send some leaders to the wrong ferryport, we all managed to disembark in Holyhead with only Colm's car being hauled over for a complete security check. The car was too clean for the liking of the port police. Our Alpine Lodge accommodation did the job nicely although when Paul White stepped out of his bunk on Friday night, he forgot that he was 5 feet off the ground and nearly put an end to himself. After an extended pool competition accompanied by the music from a mysterious juke box and one or two passable Guinness's, a route and a starting time were agreed upon. It was of course a very early start, although we got in a fairly healthy breakfast which was just as well as the two leaders appointed to sandwich manufacturing came in for much criticism during the day.

Above: Billy Collins (7th Scouts) ascends the Pyg Track to the summit of Snowdonia.

Snowdonia was of course our first objective and from Pen Y Pass we headed in the direction of the Lyn Llydaw reservoir. We split up at the col of Bwich Y Moch with Aidan, Garry, John, Kenneth and Roddy heading for Crib Goch while the rest of us (Colm, Billy, Sid, Jimmy, David, Paul and Billy) continued along the Pyg Track. Paschal meanwhile was on a rather nasty forced rest day due to flu. Snowdonia is a busy spot, even busier than Ben Nevis but we made good time as did the lads on Crib Goch and by some miracle we all managed to reach the summit (1085m) simultaneously. We had lunch away from the maddening crowds and afterwards descended to the col above Glaslyn before making the scramble up Y Lliwedd. From there we dropped down to the reservoir and followed the track around into Pen Y Pass. While we just missed out on a view from the top, it was a fine days walk with excellent conditions.

Above: Kenneth Rouse, Ian Sinnott, Robert Windle and Jimmy Collins at Castell Y Gwynt.

After cleaning, feeding and a small bit more pool, the next day's route was picked. We made another early start as we were headed for the Cwm Bochlwyd horseshoe, another classic. It was yet again, a perfect day and we made an enjoyable and atmospheric ascent of the north face of Tryfan. Tryfan is a fantastic looking mountain with a nice scrambly ascent and of course on the summit there was a few who just had to make the leap between the famous Adam and Eve. We even enjoyed an excellent lunch at the top having bought the sandwiches second time around. From Tryfan we scrambled down to Byich Trfan and then made the screeful ascent up Glyder fach, bumping into Deirdre Byrne from the MPC's along the way. We veered around to the right then and down along the Gribin ridge so as to descend back down into the valley. We were given an almighty view of Tryfan from here and agreed that there was certainly more hiking to be done in that particular neck of the woods.

There was a few fairly shook bodies the next morning, conditions not entirely connected with two days of hiking and scrambling. Our only complaint was forgetting the pool table for the above 3000' pool competition. Who knows, maybe we'll make it above 4000' again next year.

Over the weekend of the 24th to the 25th of October 1998, sixteen leaders and venturers from the Group took part in the 70K hike which was one of the final events on our 70th anniversary programme. It seemed like a good idea at the time but as we found out, 70 is a fair few "k"s to be clocking up in two days. The route which took in part of the South Leinster Way, started at Borris in Co. Carlow and finished up in Waterford City.

Above: The 70K hike team including from L-R: Tom Casey, Robert Windle, Billy Collins, Eoin O'Shea, Ian Sinnott, Gary Sinnott, John Kinsella, Paschal Guilfoyle, Eric Whelan, Billy Flynn, Bernard Cunningham, Mark Casey, John O'Donohue, Kieran O'Connor, Paul White, Sheila O'Connor and Colm Ennis.

We stayed on Friday night in the scout den in Borris and next morning we made an early start to what was to be a long and arduous day. The weather didn't exactly smile at us as we made our way along the Barrow Tow Path to Graiguenamanagh but we made good progress. The route is well marked by posts with yellow walking men who occassionally were seen to walk Tom Casey's Back

backwards and who were given some unfavourable names as the day progressed. From Graigue we made our way along the side of Brandon Hill and down into Inistiogue for a well earned cup of tea. By then it was half past four and after John O'Donohue was attacked by a dog we made the long slog along the River Nore and then up through Woodstock and over Mount Alto. After almost nine hours walking we were then picked up and brought to Thomastown for a steaming plate of stew cooked by none other then Teena Casey and her assistant Jesse Collins. We then had to examine our weary feet and Paschal won the prize for "feet that most looked like they will never be walked on again". Sporting our exclusive 70K T-Shirts (modelled by Tom Casey on the left), that night we ran into none other then Mr. Bean, before a badly needed night's sleep.

Despite the extra hour's sleep, getting up at 7.00am was still tough the next day. We resumed our route from Mount Alto and soon came to the road section of the walk which took us along the back roads near Tory Hill and eventually past the Shanty Bar and down into Waterford City. At the Shanty we were joined by Teena Casey and Carmel Cunningham for the last 7k. There were those who got to the far side of the River Suir by willpower alone, there were others who were still annoyingly like greyhounds, there were plenty of blisters and acheing joints and there was general agreement that it was perhaps a good idea not to have opted for the 70 miles or the 70 peaks after all. It was a very challenging and enjoyable hike which raised some money for the Group along the way. The Group would like to thank Teena Casey, Jimmy and Jesse Collins, Owen Riordan, Carmel Cunningham, David Collins, Susan Ennis and the Thomastown and Borris Scout Group's for their support of the 70K team over the weekend. We would also like to thank all the beavers, macaoimh, scouts, venturers, leaders, parents and businesses who helped to raise sponsorship.

Two days of "exciting mountain walking" are always promised although in an event which was in the days before political correctness called the "Male Bonding Weekend", there is always much more. The Above 3000 Feet Pool Game is now an important feature with only one game played each year. The poetry recital and the Scrabble Championship get more mysterious every year while the Leaders Weekend Dinner prepared by JD Hennebry is unmissable.

The Four Winds Hostel was the Headquarters for the weekend, from where an early start was made on Saturday morning for the Reeks. The hike took in An Sliabh Corcra (The Purple Mountain), Na Toimi, The Gap of Dunloe as well as Kate Kearneys cottage. The conditions were excellent for the walk and a descent of a gully was thrown in for good measure. The leaders avoided getting arrested on Saturday night in Killarney and even managed to meet famous Kerry TD, Jackie Healy Rae. On Sunday morning conditions were atrocious and a lie in was proposed and passed unanimously. It was John O'Donohue who managed to win the return trip bowling competition and brought the 7th Annual Leaders Weekend to a close.

Above: Billy Collins leads the way up the Spink on a leaders weekend in Wicklow in 1994.