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

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

In between days

 Hello!

 We completed our practice expedition on Sunday (see previous post) and the next Saturday we had our assessed expedition. In the days in between - hence the title - I had a lot to do to prepare for our final expedition.

 First I went with my Mam to a big outdoor activities shop in Bolton called Decathlon where I got a waterproof poncho (good for wearing at camp if it is raining), a fleecy cardigan (good for wearing at camp to keep warm) and finally, perhaps most importantly, a pair of walking poles. They proved indispensable during our assessed expedition.

 We also bought some Kendal Mint Cake - I love Kendal Mint Cake. 

 I remember on my Silver D of E expedition we came across a couple in the hills; the woman explained that the man was diabetic and badly in need of something sugary to eat. I offered him a Kendal Mint Cake and afterwards his wife said he was feeling better and the mint cake really helped! 

 So there you have it, Kendal Mint Cake is another indispensable piece of kit for D of E and could even save a life.

 After our shopping trip, there was route-planning session for the group - now christened REAL, standing for Ruth, Elizabeth, Andrew and Luke.

 We worked together to work out the best routes to take to get from each campsite to the next and to mark them on the maps. We also had to fill in route cards; for each leg of the journey we had to estimate how long it would take us, and say how many kilometres we would travel and when we intended to have our rests and stop for lunch.

 We had good fun and it was really nice spending time with the others in a more relaxed environment than trekking through the mountains. I felt that we were becoming stronger and stronger as a group as we got to know each other better.

 We were ready to set out on our assessed expedition! Bring on Saturday!

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

Practice expedition day 2: Coniston

 Hello readers!

 Today I will recount the second day of our practice expedition, the evening of which was one of the most amazing, lovely times I have ever had on D of E.

 We got up and packed at Rydal Hall campsite, where we had spent the previous night, and Ruth arrived; it was great to see her. We then set off as a group down the hill from Rydal Hall and into the woods, retracing the start of yesterday's route.

 The lake looked very beautiful in the still of the morning, and I remembered how lucky we are to get the chance to do D of E and see such beautiful places as the lakes and mountains and forests of the Lake District.

 We climbed up into the mountains, where our route left the one from yesterday and we were navigating new terrain. We climbed through the mountains, and as the day went on it became more and more beautiful. There were foxgloves everywhere, and the sheer heat of the afternoon and the colour of the mountains and the sky and the greenery reminded me of Provence as I have seen it in Jean de Florette, La Gloire de Mon Père etc... I remember being amazed that you could have a little bit of the south of France in the north of England.

 The heat got a bit much for me at one point when we were up a mountain and I felt very unwell and headachey. Luckily this began to wear off as we made our descent, aided by Wayne and Joan as this was a particularly tricky bit of mountain. However, for most of today we were on our own, without the instuctors, to make sure we could navigate for ourselves.

 Although I felt ill, that magical little place in the mountains will still remain in my mind as one of the most stunning places we visited. The group even saw a deer (although I missed it)! And of course there was the amusement of, "Who's that standing on the top of that mountain? Oh, it's Wayne and Joan!" and then calling out to them and them hearing us, because that's how easily sound can travel when you're that high up. Very Gloire de Mon Père!

 After we were down from that mountain Joan and Wayne left us to get back to Coniston by ourselves. This was a nice walk, but it was still nice to reach the village of Coniston and know that soon we could rest! I had been to Coniston once a long time ago, so it was nice to see a bit more of the place. We walked through the village streets, glad that we were nearly at our destination.

Finally we got to the campsite, and at first I was a bit disconcerted by how huge it was. Would I be able to find my way in the dark if I had to? However, a place that seems big at first can often seem smaller once you get to know it better, and that was the case with our campsite. I soon learnt where everything was, and we set up our tents for the night.

 We made our meals in a little shelter that had been put up specially, as it was threatening rain. I had carbonara pasta, and I had forgotton how much I loved carbonara until that moment. It was so tasty, and now eating carbonara always brings me back to that moment, sitting in a shelter in the rain on a campsite in Coniston, enjoying my dinner with Ruth, Andrew and Luke. Ruth and I also shared a chocolate pudding which was delicious.

 Ruth had made a tin of millionaire's shortbread, which was gorgeous and just what we all needed after a hard day's walking and climbing. The four of us went down to the edge of the lake- it had stopped raining by now - and gazed out at its dark glassy surface and chatted about all sorts of things. That was a lovely moment.

 When we came back from the lake, Ruth and I went to do our washing up and then we all sat in the shelters in our bare feet (with trainers on hand for when we had to get up!) or flip-flops, and we ate more shortbread and listened to Wayne and Joan's stories of D of E expeditions past and present. I think it is safe to say that there is never a dull moment when you are a D of E instructor. Maybe one day I could be one... It is certainly something I would consider.

 That night was amazing and I feel that the four of us really bonded and got to know each other as friends, not just as expedition-mates.

 Tomorrow would be the final day of our practice expedition, and I was really beginning to think that I could do this; that I could get through all three days without giving up from homesickness. I had three great friends and two brilliant instructors, and I felt that together we could get through this last day and come home smiling and ready for the assessed expedition.

 Bring on Sunday!

 Thanks for reading

 Liz x