Duke of Edinburgh Award
Silver Expedition:
There is one thing which I have noticed about the expedition of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. At the time, when your clothes are soaked, your morale is low, and all you want to do is go home, if anyone was to ask you, you would say that Duke of Ed is awful. Yet now, looking back on it, every member of the team would say that they thoroughly enjoyed their experience. We all look back on the good and the bad times, the literal ups and downs that the award has to offer and we smile. After all, the feeling that you get when you are back at home, in the bath or shower is one like no other. The sense that you will now begin to respect the things that you possess is overwhelming. With many weeks of training iunder our belt, on a pleasant morning in June, our team set off to undertake the Duke of Edinburgh Award. None of us thought when we were signing up that it would be quite as demanding as it was. The spirits were high as we started off. However, my own group of seven were on a downer, as we had just been told that we were perhaps the most under prepared group in history. We were out to prove a point. The first day of our hike consisted of around 16 kilometres, over the mountains of Mourne. The initial day was average, with all of us using our energy wisely. We stopped for lunch on the side of a hill, where deforestation was taking place. The tree stumps proved a welcomed seat, as we all spoke of the journey so far.
After the break we walked and talked, occasionally singing to keep ourselves sane, although we may have sounded insane! That night, we set up our camp along the Rocky River. It proved to be a great place for a tent and our camp craft was up to a high standard on the first night. We all went to our sleeping bags after our pot noodle dinners and prayed for the weather not to change overnight.
We awoke the next morning very early, packed up out tents and began to walk. May group were very strong and resilient walkers, however, this was countered by what our group like to call “monster breaks.” Basically, this was when we all collapsed on the comfiest piece of ground and lay there for at least forty-five minutes and then persisted on. During the middle of the day, it began to pour. It was what we were all dreading and many of us did not want to go on. This weather even had Christopher Dawson questioning his Christian beliefs, with memorable sayings such as “if there is a God, take me now.” Lunch that day was not poleasant, everyone was silent, as we ate in the rain. Each of us had his own thing which was keeping his going. I for one had my girlfriend to think about, Chris Graham his love for singing funny songs, Simon Robinson and his adoration for the wrestler C-bert, Chris Dawson and the infamous Doner Kebab, and Josh Togneri with his love for Italian pasta.
The middle of the day dragged on, with fatigue setting in. We all just wanted to get into our tent. Finally, we reached our site and simply sat there, drenched by the torrential relief rainfall. Our group, quite fittingly for this point in time, remaned the award the “Joke of Edinburgh”. The tents were half up, when the teachers came running down the mountain and told us that we were in the wrong campsite. With reluctance we shifted everything down the river, only to find that Michael Patterson had lost a vital part of the tent. With quick thinking, Josh and I put together a makeshift part and got the tent erected, while Michael stood rooted to the spot, speechless about what he had just done. The nights sleep was extremely disrupted, with none of us saying a word. There was an air of fear about the group, as we had the Bog of Danard to defeat the next day.
We got up, utterly drenched, instead of taking our tent down, three members of our group got it over with by dismantling the poles with us inside. It was a quick way of getting us up and getting the equipment packed away. It was our camp craft at its best.
The final day was much easier than the second, with the realisation that we would soon be home. However, the Bog of Donard was to be our final hurdle. I got stuck – up to my waist – in mud and yet the team stuck together and pulled me out. We all celebrated and continued with home in sight.
I feel that we will all agree one of the best sights we have ever seen is the car park in which we were all getting picked up. When we finallyl arrived we were all both physically and emotionally drained. To our delight, we learned that we were the only group to finish the expedition with all of our members intact. So the most under prepared group, completed the expedition with everyone finishing it. In conclusion, we all felt that the expedition was extremely demanding asking everything of each member. However, by sticking together and enduring it as one solid unit, we got through it and now look back with a sense of admiration for this draining and yet somewhat satisfying award.
Our thanks go to all the members of staff who helped us achieve this goal, led as ever by Mr Christy.
Ben Robinson (Year 12)
Gold Award Expedition
On 15 September 2006 20 boys and three staff left for an arduous three day hike through the Highlands of Scotland around Fort William. The journey took around 6 hours including the HSS ferry ride which provided the groups with their last chance of a plate of chips until we had finished, what many thought would be an extremely worthwhile, yet difficult experience having to walk 80km over four days and having to contend with everything the notorious Scottish weather could throw at us. After a night in a hostel situated near Fort William the groups all departed in the morning of the 16th, after meeting with the assessor and discussing our route. One group was to travel further into the wilderness by train before hiking, this involved considerable skill to embark and then disembark with full rucksacks through the train doors.
After leaving the train my group followed a firm path which ran beside a lake. This was done in fine weather with the group having to stop on numerous occasions to delayer the various waterproofs and clothes which we had donned fearing artic conditions. Don’t worry these clothes which were initially shed were to be vital in the coming days!! Due to our route being along firm ground we made excellent progress arriving slightly ahead of schedule at our lunch destination.
After lunch the group were in buoyant mood after the rest and refuelling but the mood quickly deteriorated as we were forced to walk through sodden bogs for the next three or so hours. The end of the bog-march was signalled by returning to a track which led to a bridge that signalled a much needed break. This bridge also gave rise to an excellent photo opportunity (see below). The command to carry on was issued by Simon Cox and Jamie Clegg who insisted we remained on schedule. The weather was still good and the track enabled good pace to be achieved until we were about 2km from our camp, at which point we were exhausted. Camp was eventually reached around 7pm which perked everyone spirits considerably, even more so when Mr Culbert almost managed to run half of us over when he was coming to make sure we had arrived safe and sound!!
Day 2 dawned misty and with the almost certainty that the dreaded Scottish weather had arrived. This proved to be the case as it began raining just after we had struck camp and had begun moving off. This did at least offer some protection from the relentless attacks of midges. Day 2 was extremely tough with a climb up the ‘Devils Staircase’ that taxed all in the group. Once the ascent had been achieved there was the chance to relax and then make time up descending down the other side. The rain was now accompanied by a driving wind that was making walking conditions difficult. Lunch on day 2 took place beside a dam which we were to walk across. During the course of lunch however the weather had gotten worse with the added curse of mist, not the ideal weather conditions for crossing a dam! Again camp was an extremely gratifying sight, especially when it was situated in the idyllic lake-side situation that it was and to crown the day the weather lifted along the spirits of the group.
Day three was fairly short (only 17km) along paths and tracks the whole way this enabled the group to make excellent progress, so much so that the group took a leisurely two hour lunch at a hunting bothie This provided welcome shelter from the wind and the mood of the group picked up especially when David Cairns attempted to ford a sizable river with an old piece of corrugated iron. The campsite on this occasion was to be located near a railway bridge, which provided shelter from the now torrential rain.
Day four was the most difficult; as everyone was beginning to feel the 60km we had walked in the previous three days and the walking was not to be easy with three ascents to be accomplished before the finish line. The weather began to clear around lunch. This break in the weather allowed the group the chance to get out of their soaking waterproofs and enjoy the scenery over the last few km to the pickup point. Unfortunately while the minibus was at the designated car park, Mr Titterington and Mr Christy were not as they were jogging along the top of some mountain another, eventually they arrived and we left for the youth hostel, a warm shower and a meal in Fort William.
Even though we were unable to catch the HSS home and had to make do with the freight ferry, we didn’t care, because we weren’t walking!!
Finally from all of the members of the three groups of the Gold Expedition a thank-you is in order to the three staff, Mr Christy, Mr Culbert and Mr Titterington.
Iain Kennedy (Year 14)