What I've learnt

 Hello!

 I thought I would do a post all about what I feel I've learnt through my Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition.

 Firstly, undertaking it to start with required a great deal of courage. I was afraid of being homesick; of the physical side of it being too hard; of not fitting in with the group.

 I made myself do it, however, and it turned out to be amazing. So one thing I've definitely learnt is that there are times when you have to be brave and take a chance, and something really wonderful could come as a result.

 Another quality I feel I had but which grew significantly over the course of the expedition is resilience. The journey was hard sometimes; I got tired and cold and missed home comforts. But I gritted my teeth and kept going. I think D of E has certainly strengthened me in that respect.

 I had to rely on the others in my group many times during the expedition, and I think my willingness to lean on others and trust them has grown.

 I am quite an independent person and prefer trying to solve my own problems to burdening others with them; however I have realised through this expedition that sometimes it is better for everyone of you share your problems so that you can work together to find a solution.

 As well as the aforementioned personal qualities, there are more general things I've taken away from this expedition, such as knowledge of the Lake District and a renewed love for it, and practical skills when it comes to dressing for all weathers, camping and cooking outdoors.

 I'd like to thank my group; Ruth, Andrew and Luke for being brilliant, and all of the D of E instructors; Wayne, Dave, Joan, Karen, Richard and Joe, for training us well, guiding us through our practice expedition and assessing us on the assessed one; for all of their great advice and support.

 Since I started this blog I have completed my D of E residential - in China! - which you can read about on my blog: Liz in China 2012. So now all five sections of my Gold D of E are complete, and soon I can get my badge, from either the Duke of Edinburgh or the Earl of Wessex! It should be an amazing experience.

 Completing my Gold D of E Award has been more enjoyable than I could ever have imagined. All five sections have taught me new things; one thing I think they all have helped with is making me a braver and more confident person.

 I would recommend doing a Duke of Edinburgh's Award to anyone; it will bring you places you never imagined and will teach you so many different things. Just go for it!

 I hope you have enjoyed sharing my D of E journey with me, and I wish you luck on your own if you are about to undertake one, or are on one at the moment.

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

PS. If you want to hear more from me, I have a music blog which I update regularly: Liz Gibson, Waxing Lyrical.

Assessed expedition day 4: Keswick

 Hello!

 I will tell you all about the final day of our Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award assessed expedition, in which we were heading for Keswick.

 Our route took us across fields, up hills, through forest and across a lake, and which was one of the most enjoyable days of the whole expedition (practice and assessed).

 We woke up at our lovely camp site and set off through the farm to which the camp site was attached. Soon we were climbing a green hill, where we encountered several sheep.

 We walked through the hills, and across a meadow, then we reached the road where we stopped for a quick rest. We then waked for a while following the road before leaving it to climb a light slope through a field.

 We ended up in a little village, and walked down lovely country lanes until we reached a huge hill we had to climb.

 I shuddered at the prospect of such a climb, but then told myself that the sooner I got on with it, the sooner it would be over. It wasn't a treacherous climb in any way, just very strenuous. However, we kept plodding on, and finally could stop and relax at the top where we had a really nice view.

 We then walked for a while through the hills, it was lovely being so high up; it felt like we were walking on top of the world. It was so peaceful and quiet up there; just us and the scenery and the odd hiker passing us.

 We climbed down from the hills and our route took us though some woodland. It was a real beauty spot, with gorgeous views of the lake and surrounding hills.

 I also saw shapes in the hillside which reminded me so much of a mother goat and a baby goat! Whether they were carved deliberately or not I do not know.

 We then had a bit of a rush through the woods to be on time to catch our ferry across Lake Windermere. I didn't like rushing and felt a bit unhappy as we traversed the lake; however after we had eaten our lunch and chatted as a group on the other side I felt better.

 I was the group's navigator for a bit, guiding us along a path through some woodland where sadly we encountered a dead rabbit. We got a bit lost but then found our path, which lead us into thicker woodland.

 We walked for a while through the woods, talking about films and the Lake District among other subjects. We had a fairly clear path at this point, so we could afford to focus less on navigating and more on bonding as a group. 

 When we left the woods - after negotiating our way through a tricky bit of muddy ground - we found ourselves on the road to Keswick, our final destination. We passed through a pretty village, then saw some farm workers training a horse to pull a cart, which was really interesting.

 The landscape was really stunning and green.

 We kept on going until we reached the Cumberland Pencil Museum, which was our destination. We had done it! We had completed four days walking in the hills and three nights camping! 

 I was so amazed by what I personally had achieved. Considering that at the start of the practice expedition I was really homesick and didn't think I could make it through three days away from home; in the end I made it through seven. I was really proud and happy.

 Of course, we had to have our picture taken outside the Cumberland Pencil Museum - we had made it to our destination! We were four tired, but very happy people.

 While we were waiting for the other D of E group to arrive, Ruth and I had a little mooch around Keswick; Ruth knows the town and showed me around, which was really nice.

 We were then summoned back to the pencil museum as the other group had arrived which meant we could go home. Happy as I was to be going home, I knew I would miss the Lake District and my amazing group, REAL.

 We got back to college, I was reunited with my Mam, and we went home. The end of a brilliant camping trip.

 I will do one more post on this blog talking about what I have learnt from this whole experience, so watch this space!

 For now I will say that my Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition stretched me to the limit and made me realise how much I was capable of if I just kept going and believed in myself and in my group.

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

Assessed expedition day 3: Aira Force and the coach road

 Hello!

 We awoke on the third day of our expedition to a rainy morning. We ate, packed, met with our assessor, Richard, then embarked on the day's journeying.

 We meandered our way out of the campsite, passing lots of caravans, and then along the road and past a church. We then started climbing quite steeply into the hills.

 It was raining and I got tired quickly but kept going. The path was narrow and we had to walk single file. I found out that I walked faster when I was first in the line so, as long as the others were happy about it, I walked at the front as much as I could.

 We climbed the hill in the misty rain, then it levelled out and we were walking through a forest.

 I might have heard murmurings of this forest being haunted, or maybe my imagination had manufactured them. Whichever it was, I was on the look-out for any ghosts or strange goings on. The place did have an eerie stillness to it, and you could imagine it being home to ghosts - hopefully benevolent ghosts!

 We reached daylight at the other end of the forest, where we crossed a bridge over a little stream. There we met the D of E group from my college, and we kept running into each other over the course of the day, as they seemed to have a similar route to us.

 We started climbing again, into the hills. They were very green, with lots of low-growing vegetation and not that many tall trees from what I can remember. We had a nice view of a lake; I think it was Ullswater.

 We spent a while crossing those hills, and it was one of my favourite parts of the day's journeying. I feel that green hills in the misty rain have a unique kind of beauty, strange and still. It felt like we were up in the clouds.

 We passed a man who asked us if we were going up Striding Edge, the answer, of course, being a resounding no! I'd be hesitant to cross Striding Edge in daylight, yet alone drizzle, and I doubt very much that D of E would let us do it anyway.

 He also talked about the Lakes and how he often walks up in the hills with his dog - he seemed nice. After we said goodbye to him, we passed a memorial stone seat which was one of the milestones we had been looking out for.

 We left those beautiful hills for some woodland, where we found Aira Force, the majestic and powerful waterfall.

 I had been there before but had forgotten just how magnificent it is; the torrents of water crashing and spraying against the rocks. We stood on a bridge with the waterfall flowing below us, and took a lot of photos and video footage!

 We then moved on, climbing up through the woods until we reached open fields again. We had a rest and then pressed on. We met a road which we followed for a while. We reunited with the other group and walked together for some of it.

 We reached a little car park where we found the D of E leaders and assessors. We topped up our water bottles, had a bit of a rest and then started off again. This time we were walking along a quieter, grassy path, which lead us to a little beck which for its size was flowing very fast and powerfully.

 We ate our lunch there; I swear I remember I had banana soya to drink that day; you remember the most bizarre little details. We then walked on a little and then we were on the old coach road.

 Apart from that it sounded like it belonged in an Iain Banks book, I hadn't known what to expect from the old coach road, whether it would still be a road or just a path or what.

 It turned out to be a wide grassy path set in really impressive mountain scenery, and it was a pleasure to walk along, except that it decided to rain on us, rather heavily, which wasn't so good.

 We kept going for a long time - the coach road made up a significant part of our journey.

 When we finally left the road we had to leave a check point card for Karen on a gatepost and she had challenged us to create something inspirational on the back, so we drew a picture of us all looking tired.

 Sadly, she wasn't impressed; one of the other groups had penned a poem about the "Grand Old Duke of Edinburgh," which was apparently better than our drawing. Ah, well.

 We walked along various roads and footpaths through farmland and finally reached our campsite, which was on a farm. It sadly didn't have a lake, but it did have a stunning view of the mountains.

 We sat and I filmed a video of us talking about D of E; I hope to make a D of E film and might include some of what I filmed that evening.

 We cooked and ate dinner, and drank lots of hot chocolate. Andrew cooked salted peanuts, and they were absolutely gorgeous - it brought back memories of my Silver D of E practice expedition when he did the same.

 We ate and chatted and had an amazing last night in the Lakes. Then we got tucked up in bed - without any disco music or chickens to disturb us! Not that I minded either of the aforementioned earlier in the weekend, but it was nice to have some peace and quiet.

 That night was so lovely; thank you to my wonderful team REAL for so many great memories.

 Bring on the final day!

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x