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

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