Gold Duke of Edinburgh Expedition 2017
After 83 kilometres of walking and 3 nights of camping we finally climbed into our beds on Thursday night and enjoyed the well earned sleep we’d all been longing for. Our group consisted of 2 sixth year leavers and 3 current sixth year pupils. In the beginning we only knew each other by name but by the end I think we knew each other too well.
We began our journey after having Bill, our instructor, attempting to kill us with his terrible driving. Our spirits were high and our legs still functional, but this was short-lived. The first day we had to walk in torrential rain and we discovered that Scott’s “waterproof” jacket wasn’t so waterproof. We crawled into our tents soaked through from head to toe.
When we exited our tents in the morning, the sun was shining and a refreshing sleep had left us ready to tackle the day. The second day felt considerably easier than the first. Improved weather paired with good company made for an extremely enjoyable hike. That night we were given the opportunity to spend the night in a bothy, a small cottage that hikers can use, marking the halfway mark in our expedition. Nobody wanted to spend another night in the tent so this was a luxury we were not about to miss. The night in the bothy was amazing and it will be a memory I’m sure we will all remember forever.
The next day was another great day as we were all on a high from sleeping in the bothy. Blasting music through our speaker and waking up all the wildlife in the highlands was certainly one of the highlights. Our eagerness to get home pushed us on and we finished the days hike quicker than expected. We were thankful, but also a little sad, that our sleep that night would be our last on DofE ever.
On the final morning we set off early at 6:00am. The walk back to the bus should have been a quick one but we managed to get lost, increasing it by a good few kilometres.
That was our last Duke of Edinburgh expedition and we are grateful for all the memories, from Bronze through to Gold that it has given us. As exhausting as it is, we have loved every minute of it. Thank you Duke of Edinburgh.
And remember kids, don’t skip leg day.
Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme
At Boclair we are given the opportunity to get involved in the Duke of Edinburgh award which I was lucky enough to be chosen for. Last weekend I did my practice expedition for the bronze award which involved camping overnight and spending two days hiking in Aberfoyle; the hiking was a 25 kilometre walk!
The point of the practice expedition is to learn about how we use our compass to walk in various directions and learn how to use maps to follow the route and generally know what to expect for your qualifying expedition in October.
We went on Sunday 4th September 2016 overnight Monday 5th September 2016 till 3.30pm when we got back to base. We had to meet at the Kirkintiloch branch at 8.30am and get sorted to go to Aberfoyle. We had to pack our tents and arrange our backpacks and equipment. This meant getting out of my bed at 7am on a Sunday! By the time we finished arranging everything for the trip it was already 10am and time to set off. It was just under an hour on minibus to get to Aberfoyle and time for the adventure to start.
It was around 11am before we got going on our first hike; a nice easy one to start us off – only 15 kilometres (ha-ha!). It took our group five hours to complete. As you can imagine, after a five hour trek, my feet where agony when we got back to our camp and we were the last group to get back (me falling over didn’t help either!).
When we arrived back at camp, we still had to set up our tent. We managed without any help which was so satisfying as we’d only practiced pitching a tent a couple of times. We were definitely ready for dinner and we used the camping stoves to cook. which felt like a total adventure. After dinner, it was time to go to sleep as we had to get up at 5.45am and be on our way for 7.30am.
Monday’s hike was the shorter walk as it was only 10 kilometres but this time was mainly hills. Our legs were aching after yesterday’s hike on flat ground. We went the wrong way at first so we had to walk backwards which made our walk even longer, but we eventually got there in the end arriving back at 12pm. By the time the other groups got back it was 1.30pm, when it was time set off back home. I was really ready for my bed.
We arrived back at the base and looking forward to heading home for a much needed sit down and bath, but there was still work to be done. We had to hose down all the tents and wash down all the water proofs so were all exhausted.
Overall, this experience was tough as I have never hiked that far before or even slept in the outdoors. However it was really enjoyable too and I can’t wait to do it again. It helped a lot doing it along with friends as it made the trip a lot more fun and it was definitely satisfying. Hopefully we can improve on the next qualifying expedition by not getting lost and beating our time
Nathan and Scott S6
– Abbie, S3
