This summer three groups made their way to the Lake District for the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Expedition. Two of the groups (9 participants in total) were on their qualifying expedition, having successfully completed their training at Easter. A third group were embarking on their training expedition.

The weather was good and generally the groups demonstrated good navigation skills and made their way from campsite to campsite with few errors and good pace. To give you an idea – carrying between 14-18 Kgs, food for four days, tents, cooking equipment up and down hills (one group completing over 600m of ascent and 600m of descent in the same day!) takes perseverance and commitment.

To see them at the end of their four days coming into their final checkpoint, the look of pain or elation (hard to tell) and the relief at completing, is a sight I will never grow tired of. To know that they have pushed themselves, sometimes beyond what they thought they were capable of, to achieve completion of the Gold Expedition section is a fantastic achievement that cannot be overestimated.

I hope that the group who were training will have taken notes and be ready to qualify at Easter.

Of course, they were not alone, and it could not be done without the staff who kindly gave up their holiday as well as their time to help with route planning – Mr Horley and Miss Barden and to the external assessor – Mark Horley.