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

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 1: Rydal

 Hello, my readers!

 Today I am going to tell you about our D of E Gold Practice Expedition. It was from the 6th - 8th July 2012 and took place in the South Lakes of the Lake District.

 I'd enjoyed previous D of E expeditions, but had often found myself getting very homesick, so I was quite nervous, wondering whether I would be homesick again this time.

 Also, it was a long time since I had last been on a D of E expedition, so I was hoping I was fit enough to get through all that walking in the mountains. I do a lot of exercise, but even if you are fit, a D of E expedition is very hard work and a shock to the system (in my experience).

 So, I was slightly nervous as my dad drove me up to Rydal, our starting point for the first day (which was a Friday, by the way). We listened to 1980s music in the car, including "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)" by Tina Turner, which managed to get stuck in my head later in the weekend.

 We got to Rydal Hall camp site, our starting point, where we had lunch and had our rucksacks checked for weight, then we set off on a mini expedition on a round route that would get us back to Rydal Hall camp site where we would spend that first night.

 There were three of us at this point: Luke, Andrew and me. Ruth would be joining us first thing on Saturday. Our instructors Joan and Wayne walked with us that first day, assessing our map reading and navigation skills.

 First we navigated our way out of Rydal, through a foresty area, past Rydal Water and up into the hills, where we had lovely views of Grasmere Water.

 This photo is from the Internet but it is the same beautiful view that we had. 

 I wished we would be going through the village of Grasmere, as I love it, but sadly we didn't.

 We saw so many foxgloves in those hills. That was probably the biggest factual thing (alongside many emotional things) I learnt on the expedition: how many foxgloves there are in the Lake District. The answer being: a LOT.

 I mean, I have foxgloves in my garden. I had thought they were garden flowers; I hadn't thought they were hardy enough to grow all over mountains, but clearly they are. Foxgloves have gone up in my estimation.

 We then walked through another foresty area, past a tarn, and into another lot of hills. These hills are my defining memory of this first day; it felt so mysterious and lonely up there; just hills, hills and more hills. It felt like we were on the edge of the Earth.

 There was some debate about what qualified as a footbridge and what didn't, and Wayne tested us with teasers such as, "How many lakes are there in the Lake District?" You will find the answer at the bottom of this post.

 Eventually we got back to Rydal, where we each cooked our evening meal on our trangia. Mine was pasta in tomato sauce; I'd had it before on D of E expeditions and it brought back memories, most prominently of my night at the epic Gibraltar Farm campsite on my Silver expedition.

 I loved that campsite, but Rydal Hall could give it a run for its money! It's a really nice, comfortable campsite, and it had this air of quietness and tranquillity when we were there.

 I phoned home, and texted my friend Kylie. I did my teeth etcetera and then went to bed in my little tent.

 I had to get up in the night to go to the toilet, and the night sky was so beautiful; the moon was so bright, highlighting the edges of the silver clouds, and the sky a deep blue, and it was altogether gorgeous and very dramatic and I'm glad I got the chance to see that sky.

 That was the end of Day 1 of our practice expedition. It went well; I was homesick at times but I survived. Wayne and Joan were brilliant, as were Luke and Andrew, and I couldn't have had a better group of people to do this expedition with. Tomorrow Ruth would be coming, and I was really looking forward to that - she seemed lovely at the training day, and it would be nice to have our team complete.

 Hopefully the second day of our practice expedition would be as enjoyable as the first.

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

 PS. There is only one lake in the Lake District: Bassenthwaite Lake. All the other bodies of water are Meres, Waters or tarns.

Introduction

 Hello!

 My name is Liz, I am eighteen years old and for over a year I have been working towards my Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award, having already achieved my Silver D of E award.

 The Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award is made up of five sections: volunteering, physical, skill, expedition and residential. As I write I have completed all of these apart from the residential section, which I am hoping to do soon.

 For my volunteering I worked extensively for Winstanley TV, my college TV station, on a voluntary basis. I helped out at college open days and open evenings, I brought my camcorder on college trips and made short films about them, and I spent many of my free periods at college working on various projects such as our college talent competition and the college Climate Week.

 For my physical I have taken up zumba dancing; we learn different styles of dance from all over the world and I really enjoy it.

 For the skill section of my Gold D of E I took part in a project at Cornerhouse in Manchester called Creative Stars. We learnt lots of new skills from podcasting and computer programming to DJ-ing, MC-ing and acting. We also curated our own exhibition; Lost Is Found, at Cornerhouse. It was an amazing experience and I have learnt so much. I've also made some great friends.

 That brings us up to the expedition section, which I completed in July 2012. It was certainly the most challenging section for me, as in the past I have got very homesick on D of E expeditions. However, this time  I had an absolutely amazing group who were so kind and made the expedition not just bearable but actually a really enjoyable experience, one that I wish I could have again! I wish there was a Platinum D of E!

 Our Gold D of E expedition section consisted of a full day's training, a three-day practice expedition in the South Lakes, and a four-day assessed expedition in the North Lakes. We also have to have a purpose to our expedition; mine was to create this blog to document our journey.

 So watch this space, and I will share with you what I feel is one of the most amazing things I have ever done.

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x