Over Half term six groups braved the Yorkshire Dales for the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Expedition. Consisting of four days of walking and four nights of sleeping in tents each group did tremendously well to face the harsh weather and long expedition.

The Upper six have been working towards their gold duke of Edinburgh for almost a year, alongside the expedition, pupils must do physical activities, a skills activity, a volunteering activity and a residential trip.

I caught up with pupils Libby Cringle and Charlie Windle about their Gold Dofe and their expedition. Both pupils were Duke of Edinburgh ambassadors for their volunteering helping younger pupils complete their Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh. Charlie has sung in the school musicals Legally Blonde and Footloose and various choirs for his skills activity, competing in athletics for his sport, and he completed a Latin Summer school for his residential. Libby cooks for her skills, learning about different dietary requirements and has completed a series of triathlons for her physical skill. Travelling to the lake district for her residential.

I spoke to Charlie Windle and Libby Cringle about how their group got on:

We left Norwich at 9am on Sunday and it took around 6 hours by bus to get to our starting point, we camped the first night and then begun our expedition the next day. Unfortunately, in Yorkshire the weather was wet, muddy, cold, and foggy except for the third day. This meant for a majority of the walk we were carrying wet tents with wet shoes and clothes. The first day was so bad that often when we were walking, we couldn’t see in front of us because the rain was so bad. However, this did not stop us and overall, the wet weather made the whole trip a lot more rewarding and created a sense of achievement for the group.

The aim for the group across the expedition was to record any challenges that they faced within the four days; these can be seen below in a few photos which Charlie sent us.

How did you find the expedition despite the weather:

Going into it from the practice we knew that the expedition was going to be hard, however it was getting through the mentality of the first day which was the most difficult. The actual walking was fine, as a group we managed to keep ourselves entertained, it was just the psychology on the first day that we still had three more days to go which was really difficult.

Within the group we each had different roles to keep morale up, Charlie was the chief map reader, as it gave him peace of mind to know how far away, they were from various checkpoints and allowed him to encourage the group that they were close to keep them moving. Libby acted as the group organiser and ensured that everyone was up and ready in the mornings along with writing some of the route cards.

What was your favourite part?

The evenings were nice as the group came together and we played cards and talked. Also, the sunny weather on the third day increased spirit and mood massively and we really enjoyed walking in this type of weather. We were very happy when we accomplished it and there was a great sense of pride that we hadn’t given up, when it would have been so easy to do so.

In comparison to Silver DofE, it was a step up, not only because of the longer expedition but the addition of the residential trip as well. However, on reflection it gave such a great sense of reward that both Libby and Charlie said that if they went back to Lower sixth, they would do it again and would highly recommend that others do it as well.