Last month I was fortunate enough to sacrifice my half term to participate in the wonderful experience that is Gold DofE. I have henceforth decided to share my experiences with the world.
- The train journey up. Undoubtedly one of the most stressful experiences of my life. What didn’t help is that almost the entirety of my train journey to get there was underground and hence had absolutely no clue what was going on above me. But let’s be truly honest with ourselves, the true workout was the initial run across St Pancras in a state of frenzied panic only to find out that the train wasn’t leaving for another 5 or so minutes.
- The tents. I lucked out on my DofE and managed to wrangle a 4-person tent for 2 people, so I was living a life of luxury with plenty of space to fall off my sleeping mat onto the floor and not realise. My roommate and I were excellent at assembling the tents but less good at mastering the delicate tango of dissembling the tents, often unpacking and repacking our bags at least twice before we were done.
- The walking. My feet have never been in such pain before. At one point I distinctly remember my feet being more plaster than foot. The actual routes were stunning, with gorgeous scenery stretching out for miles, it was usually worth it when we climbed what felt like Mount Everest. The “wildlife” (cows and sheep) was remarkably friendly, and we spent a remarkable amount of time cooing at baby lambs. If you haven’t seen some yet this year, I can absolutely recommend going out to the countryside to spot some, they are adorable.
- The food. There’s something about walking 8 hours every day that makes any food taste delicious. Spaghetti has never tasted so good as when cooked whilst crouching on the damp ground and eaten whilst it’s raining so hard you must abandon the cook site and take shelter (don’t worry I was able to take the entire spaghetti pan with me). All credit to spaghetti, my favourite DofE meal (although not sure if it entirely counts) was the fish and chips we had on our first night. I have never had better fish and chips than then, sometimes they come back to haunt me in my dreams they were that good.
- DOG. A special shout-out has to go to our expedition dog. A fluffy bundle of joy, she met us at most checkpoints and greeted us with such enthusiasm it was hard not to regain any lost motivation. Despite my best attempts I tragically failed at kidnapping her. But do not fear, she will be joining us on our actual expedition in August and I’m confident my kidnapping abilities will have improved.
- The weather. As is traditional on all DofE expeditions, the world decided to grace us with the best walking weather of all, pouring rain. The human body is typically made up of around 55% water but during that trip, I think I became 100% water with how soaking I was.
- The mud. Special credit has to go to the mud and other bogs we “enjoyed” throughout our walks. I made the intelligent decision to wear cream trousers. Let’s just say they weren’t cream by the end of my trip.
I hope you enjoyed my adventures in DofE and I’m sure the Sliver and Bronze explorers will have similar tales to tell!
Disclaimer, any complaining done on my behalf is all done in good jest, I had a brilliant time, and I would like to thank Ms Page and Mr Sharman for accompanying us and being such wonderful people the entire time!
