Duke of Edinburgh
By Matthew Senior - Cavell/CBA
From the 11th July 2014 to the 13th July 2014, Every single student who was taking DofE (including me) went to participate in the bronze expedition which would somewhat determine whether they would pass the course or not. Prior to this date, there was a practice expedition between the 2nd May 2014 to the 4th May 2014 so we knew what to expect on the expedition and so we would get a general idea of how far we would have to walk.
Not only is the expedition part of the Duke of Edinburgh award, but there are also other modules that are part of the course. The first being Volunteering (e.g nursing home, animal rescue centre or just about any job) Skills (e.g journalism, art, music etc) and Physical (any sport). Two of these modules require 3 months of work whereas the other module requires 6 months of work. It's challenging, but worth it.
The place we were doing our expedition was Theberton in Suffolk and the walk would take us through all parts of Suffolk and each day of the walk would take roughly 6-7 hours, We were put into walking groups and in these groups, we would be planning how we would be going about our route, how many stops we were going to have and the directions we were going to take. This was always quite a struggle as we continued to get lost all throughout the expedition probably because we couldn't understand the directions and there were places on the map that weren't what they seem.
On Day 1 of the weekend, we didn't do too much walking as it was quite late in the evening. Instead, we just put up the tents, played a couple of games and planned our routes for the day after as well as the day after that. This was quite challenging as we needed to plan how many stops we were going to have and during a walk like this, there would obviously be many stops required. We had to do two different routes and after we had (eventually) done that, we went off to bed.
Day 2 started off quite grim, it had rained all night and some of our stuff was a little bit wet, However, we decided that it wouldn't affect us in anyway and we cooked our breakfast before heading out to begin our expedition. We had to take everything with us whether that be our tent, cooking equipment and rucksacks across a 6-7 hour hike, it was quite challenging as we had to take many stops along the way due to people in my group getting tired but fortunately, we made it back without getting too lost. After getting back, we had dinner, planned our route for the following day and went to bed.
Day 3 was the final day of the expedition, we woke up really early (early being 5am) and had our breakfast. We made sure everything was sorted and we headed off to do the second part of the expedition. During our walk, one of our group members had a bad ankle and could not continue walking, so we had to call the teachers and send her back as it was the best way but apart from that, we were the first group back and once again, we didn't get too lost. Once all the other groups came back, we packed our stuff and headed home.
Overall, although it was tiring, it was a fun weekend and even though it takes a lot of hard work, it is possible despite what other people may think and as long as you know your maps and you're a good walker, then you'll be fine.
Not only is the expedition part of the Duke of Edinburgh award, but there are also other modules that are part of the course. The first being Volunteering (e.g nursing home, animal rescue centre or just about any job) Skills (e.g journalism, art, music etc) and Physical (any sport). Two of these modules require 3 months of work whereas the other module requires 6 months of work. It's challenging, but worth it.
The place we were doing our expedition was Theberton in Suffolk and the walk would take us through all parts of Suffolk and each day of the walk would take roughly 6-7 hours, We were put into walking groups and in these groups, we would be planning how we would be going about our route, how many stops we were going to have and the directions we were going to take. This was always quite a struggle as we continued to get lost all throughout the expedition probably because we couldn't understand the directions and there were places on the map that weren't what they seem.
On Day 1 of the weekend, we didn't do too much walking as it was quite late in the evening. Instead, we just put up the tents, played a couple of games and planned our routes for the day after as well as the day after that. This was quite challenging as we needed to plan how many stops we were going to have and during a walk like this, there would obviously be many stops required. We had to do two different routes and after we had (eventually) done that, we went off to bed.
Day 2 started off quite grim, it had rained all night and some of our stuff was a little bit wet, However, we decided that it wouldn't affect us in anyway and we cooked our breakfast before heading out to begin our expedition. We had to take everything with us whether that be our tent, cooking equipment and rucksacks across a 6-7 hour hike, it was quite challenging as we had to take many stops along the way due to people in my group getting tired but fortunately, we made it back without getting too lost. After getting back, we had dinner, planned our route for the following day and went to bed.
Day 3 was the final day of the expedition, we woke up really early (early being 5am) and had our breakfast. We made sure everything was sorted and we headed off to do the second part of the expedition. During our walk, one of our group members had a bad ankle and could not continue walking, so we had to call the teachers and send her back as it was the best way but apart from that, we were the first group back and once again, we didn't get too lost. Once all the other groups came back, we packed our stuff and headed home.
Overall, although it was tiring, it was a fun weekend and even though it takes a lot of hard work, it is possible despite what other people may think and as long as you know your maps and you're a good walker, then you'll be fine.
