On Monday 28th June, seven Gold DofE students and Miss Dalby met at 5am at the college to embark on an 8-hour long road trip up to the beautiful Lake District to complete their Gold DofE practice expedition. Students were ready to showcase their map reading skills and had filled their 65litre bags with kit for the week so they could be self-efficient for the whole trip.
When reaching Windermere, the students were impressed with the stunning landscape and beautiful mountains!
Upon arrival at camp in the Langdale Valley tents were pitched and an evening meal cooked on a gas stove was prepared – the most popular meal being pasta with sauce!
Day 2 saw students heading for the peaks and they walked an impressive 8k to their wild camp camping ground at Angle Tarn. There were no other resources apart from the tarn to refill their water. The views were incredible and all students felt a sense of pride in summiting a steep climb on their first day of hiking.
After the excitement of a night wild camping student were ready for more hiking and carrying their mascot Percy Pig continued to complete their 7 hours of physical activity that day. Again, the scenery was breath-taking and the weather was also glorious, giving the students clear skies and fantastic views. The second night of camping allowed for views right across the valley and an amazing sunrise the following morning.
On the 3rd day students descended down the valley and for the first time were able to get water from a tap and not have to purify it themselves!
After this brief luxury they had yet another mountain to climb! This time they tackled the brutal climb up to the Pike of Blisco and were then rewarded with the epic views of Windermere and all the peaks they had climbed the days before.
That evening Greenburn Beck was the camp location and it seemed all the nats in the whole of the Lake District had decided to set up camp with the DofE group! Let’s just say not getting bitten wasn’t an option!
The final morning allowed for a slightly shorter route and back down the valley to the completion point and students celebrated their success at completing the practice expedition.
The whole expedition was an opportunity for students to develop their team work but also gain in independence when walking unsupervised in wild terrain.
Students said the experience was “amazing, an incredible journey, physically demanding” and that the environment was “extraordinary, beautiful, tranquil, very scenic”.
Now students will continue with their volunteering, selected skill and physical sections of the award before their assessed Gold expedition! We wish them all the best!
(More photos available on the Heathfield Community College Facebook page)
