A GROUP of scouts from Oxfordshire will journey to the Netherlands for the ‘trip of a lifetime’.

Hope Littlejohn, Anna Harper, Morgan Lyes, Imogen Richards and Katie Bloomfield, all from Abingdon, are set to represent the UK at Roverway 2018.

More than 3,000 scouts and guides aged 16 – 22 from across Europe will come together for the annual event between July 21 and August 2.

The UK scout contingent alone will be made up of over 300 participants.

The five will join young people from almost all European nations, as well as some from other continents, to embark on nine days of adventure, fun and learning skills for life.

Katie said: “I am most looking forward to meeting new people and exploring a new country.

"As this is an international event, I would like to try learning a new language from the new international scouting friends that I hope to make."

Imogen added: “I am really looking forward to learning new skills from other international scouts and building up my leadership skills within my patrol.

"But most of all I’m looking forward to trying Dutch cheese and cheeses from around the world.”

All the UK scouts taking part in Roverway will gather in Amsterdam to see the sights of one of Europe’s major cities and experience Dutch culture and way of life.

The event will then move to The Hague for a beachside opening ceremony, after which UK participants will split up into small multi-national teams to undertake a journey around the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg.

During this journey they will be challenged to camp in an unique location - on a roof, raft, beach, in a 17th Century setting or in a city.

Other tasks include undertaking community work in support of the people in the towns and villages along their travels and riding a classic Dutch tandem bike as part of the journey.

All 3,000 participants will then come back together at Scoutinglandgoed Zeewolde, built on reclaimed land to the east of Amsterdam.

Here all the scouts attending the event will try a range of water activities and attend training and development sessions to help improve their skills.

Chief scout, Bear Grylls, wished the UK contingent good luck, saying: “They are heading off on the trip of a lifetime.

“The diversity of people they will meet will remind us all about what the world has to offer: they will experience new cultures and make many new friends, becoming ever more tolerant and caring about others through this experience.”

Roverway was created in 2003 and takes places every two/three years in a different European country. In the past it has been held in Portugal, Italy, Iceland, Finland and France.