General News
D of E Gold Practice Expedition
The Black Mountains
Friday 16th – Sunday 18th June 2023
This weekend saw the Practice expedition for the Gold award which had previously been held in September brought forward to June.. There were 4 groups comprising twenty L6 pupils who had completed their Silver qualifying expedition award earlier this term.
After meeting on Friday at 8:30am at the CCF area, all the pupils undertook a comprehensive equipment check before departing for the Black Mountains area of mid-Wales. After a 2 hour drive the groups set off on their separate routes across and around the mountains in superb weather. The objective for each group was to navigate via a number of check points to one of two campsites with an emphasis on enjoying outdoor activity in a safe manner.
The groups managed their routes in very hot conditions with staff deploying jerry cans of water on their routes for them to replenish their water stocks. As these were reorganised groups from the Silver expeditions there were several examples of groups dynamics needing to settle, but all groups made their camps at a decent time on the Friday evening.
The groups completed four different routes on Saturday, staying at the opposite camp to Friday, these routes were very long and involved large ascents and descent: over a 1000m for two of the groups. This was a challenging day after the heat of Friday and saw some navigational errors that tested group cohesion. However, that is partly the aim of the practice: ‘train hard, fight easy’.
Sunday was a shorter day and thankfully the weather was excellent throughout Saturday and Sunday. The views from the tops of the hills were stunning and, as ever, and the pupils maintained a positive attitude throughout the expedition.
The staff did an outstanding job, especially with the challenging weather on Friday and this being the fifth DofE weekend this term.
SJC
Staff: Lead by JO S, Ryan H, Hannah Y.
