Assessed expedition day 2: Ullswater

 Hello!

 This blog post will tell you about the second day of our assessed expedition in the North Lakes for our Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

 We had camped by the side of Ullswater the night before (see previous post) and we got up in the morning, had breakfast, packed, took the tents down and embarked on the next part of our journey.

 Today's walk would take us to the other side of Ullswater - from which the disco last night had entertained us. We would then walk away from the lake for a bit to reach our campsite.

 The first leg of our journey was up and down a lot of slopes overlooking the lake; it was a hard trek, but pleasant, as the lake made a nice view. We stopped for a while at a nice viewpoint and watched boats on the lake.

 We then descended the hill and stopped to have our lunch right by the water's edge. It was lovely and relaxing and a nice break from the tough walk.

 We set off again, still following the lake, through fields and woodland - we encountered some nice ducks - and there was the moment when we forgot to post our check-point card on a fence and had to run back and do it before the leaders wondered where we had got to!

 We climbed some hills, and had to cross through a chicken farm which was a rather surreal and slightly creepy experience: all the chickens, on seeing us approach, came washing towards us a a huge wave.

 We were surrounded by this crowd of chickens, each one making a lot of noise, which when combined had the effect of a slightly spooky moaning sound. It is arguably the most bizarre thing I have encountered on any D of E expedition.

 Fortunately, we survived the chickens, and were nearing our destination. The rough ground became smooth campsite grass - blissful to walk on!

 We found our spot in one of the best campsites I have been in with regards to facilities - the shower room was really nice, and although we didn't have a lake to go and visit this time, it was in quite a pleasant setting.

 Ruth and I were very excited to see a rainbow! A good omen perhaps! And there was an amusing incident when some of the lads from the group from my college had their tent invaded by chickens!

 So for us, three bird-related encounters - one with ducks and two with chickens - in one day!

 This campsite also had a playground, and Andrew and Luke went off to play on the swings, leaving me and Ruth to do the washing up. However, when Richard found out, he made the lads come back and do the washing up! So Ruth and I could sit back and relax, which was really nice.

 We had a really nice night there; it is certainly a campsite I will bear in mind for if I ever go walking in that part of the Lakes again.

 So, that was Ullswater! Remember to check this blog to learn how the rest of our trip went!

 Thanks for reading!

 Liz x

Assessed expedition day 1: Kirkstone Pass

 Hello!

 In my previous posts I have told the story of our practice expedition and preparation for our assessed expedition. Now I will tell you all about the big weekend itself! (Well, a weekend of sorts that ended on a Tuesday.)

 The group met on Saturday morning at my then college, as a group from there were also doing their expedition that weekend. We enjoyed a pleasant journey up to Ambleside.

 Ambleside is not my favourite Lake District town; it is too tourist-orientated for my liking, but it looked quite pretty on this summer's day. After we had sorted out kit, maps and compasses, we walked out of Ambleside and up a path on a wooded slope.

 We walked through the woods for a while, got slightly confused about which was the right path to take out of the woods; we found it in the end and it took us along a country road that provided us with some very pretty views of the hills and farmland. We also saw a lot of sheep.

 We reached the famous Kirkstone Pass, and had a big climb to get to the famous Kirkstone Pass Inn, (the "inn with altitude," as it calls itself on its website) which we sat outside for a bit.

 However, the Lake District weather again proved its unpredictability in going from a lovely sunny day to us getting soaking wet in a completely spontaneous downpour. We quickly scrambled into waterproofs and set off again.

 Despite the weather, I could really appreciate the beauty of the area. We walked on, following the Pass, and for me it was one of the nicest parts of the trip, especially when the weather dried up again.

 We could see the sun shining in the distance in the V of the Pass, and that golden glow was a nice thing to be heading for.

 We walked on along country lanes and footpaths through the hills, played I-spy for a bit, and, as seems to be the trope on this Gold D of E, saw a lot of foxgloves. In fact, foxgloves was one of my I-spy words (Ruth guessed it).

 We reached our destination, a little camp site by Lake Ullswater that seemed to be attached to a farm. It was really hot and sunny when we got there, but got cooler later in the evening.

 We met Joan's dog, Ollie, a lovely fluffy thing, and Richard came to check up on us - Richard was our assessor for this expedition.

 We cooked dinner - Ruth and I shared some vegetable chilli dip - would that be chilli sin carne? - and I made some hot chocolate.

 We then all went down to the lake as we had done that night at Coniston. There was a boat moored called Jim or something like that, which surprised us as boats usually have female names. Maybe Jim was the owner?

 There was some building or boat on the other side of the lake that was playing really loud music - we could hear it perfectly a whole lake away! - and continued to do so into the night, so we fell asleep to such classics as Livin' On A Prayer and Sweet Child of Mine.

 It was a nice evening and the time we spent by the lake and falling asleep that night to 80s music are among my favourite memories of our assessed expedition.

 Thank you for reading this blog entry; watch this space to hear about the rest of our assessed expedition!

 Liz x