During the Easter break, our Duke of Edinburgh coordinator and Head of Outdoor Education Steve Macpherson led three separate expeditions to cover the Gold, Silver and Bronze levels. Those aiming for Gold travelled to the Brecon Beacons, while the Silver group went to Wales, and the Bronze group to the Chilterns. Below are the reports written by Mr Macpherson.
Gold
The gold groups travelled to the Brecon Beacons to conduct a Kayaking and canoeing practice expedition on the Brecon and Monmouthshire canal. The canal provides a superb venue for a practice expedition as it has easy access for supervising staff whilst still allowing the students to have a real feel of being on an expedition. Over the four days the groups paddled from Brecon along the full navigable length of the canal to Cwmbran, camping each night at various campsites, some wilder than others. The groups were supervised closely on day 1 from land and on the water so that staff could iron out any problems and observe how the group worked together. Over the four days the supervision became more remote and by the last day they were travelling independently with very little direct supervision. The weather was typically spring like, unpredictable. The kayaking group had quite decent weather even some warm sunshine but cold nights. The canoeing group however had steady drizzle and rain for most of their expedition with the occasional respite to dry off a little.
Both groups will now prepare for their qualifying expedition in Scotland in August along the Caledonian canal. Although it is called a canal it is actually a series of Lochs connected by short lengths of canal and will be a big challenge for the groups, let’s hope for nice weather.
Silver
While the Gold groups were splashing around on the canal the silver groups were roaming the Welsh hills. They were lucky to have the same fine weather as the Gold kayaking group, although again the cold nights made sleeping a challenge in itself. After driving from Shiplake on the Saturday afternoon the groups all camped the first night together before setting off on their expedition the following morning. They were given the freedom to go wherever they wanted when they planned their routes and as such went in totally different directions, a challenge for the supervising staff. As with all DofE expeditions they were totally self-sufficient and carried all the kit and equipment they needed for their 3 days on their backs. All the groups performed very well and their assessor and supervising staff had nothing but praise for the way they conducted themselves both on and off the trail. On completion the groups were met by college minibuses and returned to Shiplake, via McDonalds of course.
Bronze
On Friday of the last weekend of the Easter break it was the turn of the Bronze groups to go on their qualifying expedition. By the look of some of the boys in the carpark I think getting out of bed that early after a couple of relaxing weeks was a challenge in itself however they soon livened up. After some last minute administration we travelled up to the Chilterns to start the weekend off with some training serials to remind and refresh the boys in some of the essential skills required. Fully refreshed the boys had an early night so that they could start their expedition bright eyed and bushy tailed the following morning. At 6am the first of the tents started to come to life but bright eyed and bushy tailed, mmm maybe not. That said by 8.30 they were ready to go and set off on their first day with a supervisor in tow, shadowing relatively closely. Over the course of the first day not only did spring arrive but the supervision became more remote as confidence in the groups navigation ability grew, and by the end of the day all supervisors were happy with the standard of their groups. Day 2 was little cooler which was probably a bonus for the groups and again they were ready to depart in good time. Today they were going to be remotely supervised for the whole day and with some trepidation we waved them off with a supervision plan in place and set off to our respective check points. We had no reason to be concerned as all the groups had shown they were competent navigators the previous day and this was proven again on day two. All check points were met and all groups navigated along their planned route with no issues and made it to the end point without a problem.
Well done to all the groups who took part in expeditions over the Easter period and congratulations to those who qualified. On behalf of the groups I would also like to thank all the staff who gave up their holiday time to support the expeditions, we could not run these trips without you.
