Summer has so nearly arrived, and while this may immediately make you think: ‘EXAMS’ or ‘so close to a glorious stretch of no school’, what it actually means is that the Duke of Edinburgh expedition season is well and truly upon us.
There is most certainly, shall we say … a slight divide… in opinions out there on these expeditions, and so I thought I would capitalise on this in honour of Y9 recently completing their first one, and to make a nice send off for Y10, who are soon to be trekking around the Peak District.
I sent out a form asking for your experiences, feelings, and any unpopular opinions – really just offering a chance for you to anonymously unburden yourselves (some definitely took more advantage of this than others…) I am still not entirely sure if I chose to write this to entertain you or if it was honestly just to amuse myself – I had quite the blast combing through all your unfiltered thoughts. So please, sit back, and enjoy a handful of my favourite, slightly eclectic, responses.
What was your favourite bit?
- The aesthetic
- The deep philosophical questions because all acceptable conversation topics ran out
- Seeing the sophistication of Mr Daws’ cooking whilst camping (he had a full bottle of olive oil and salt and pepper shakers)
- Lauren’s Dora the Explorer hat
- Finding the snacks at the bottom of my bag that I thought I forgot to pack. Best moment of the entire trip. Not kidding.
- Tent hopping at 2 am
- Some groups brought industrial and windproof matches to light their trangias so it was funny listening to their screams when they realised the matches couldn’t go out
- The train back
- Unpopular opinion… the actual hiking.
Least favourite bit?
- The rain and the walking and the walking in the rain
- Relieving myself in a bush to find myself in rather a public place
- Standing in the rain, sadly eating our half-cooked pasta, not even looking at each other, just staring off into the wet
- Thinking I could sing and making my group suffer through that
- My sandwich breaking up into bits because it was so soggy
- Sleeping – man, my back was messed up
- Where to begin…
Most creative response to the classic ‘What did you learn from D of E’
- 101 ways to argue in your group
- Which of the people in my group really needs their sleep
- To run your DofE so you can get it over with
- Pain and suffering. And the power of friendship
- Getting lost is a mindset
- That the instructors have the ability to teleport
- Do not bend over wearing your backpack. You will fall over and not be able to get back up again.
- Bugs have big intestines
- Whom I can trust…
Any random habits/rituals your group had?
- Snoring
- We ate over 200 pepperamis within two days
- Apparently burning the pasta every time we cooked it but I always brought the gummy worms so there’s that
- Acting like witches over the campfire before dinner… worked best when the camp was near woods
- We ate trail mix religiously and named our group Team Trail Mix
- Leaving me at the back -_-
Any particular types of people you noticed?
- I was the bossy one of the group 💪
- The vending machine – the person who spent their life savings on snacks beforehand, so the entire group spends the entire trip on a massive sugar high
- The one who felt the need to throw a random boy’s £3 slider into a tree
- The housewife – what a trooper, spent 1.5 hours cleaning one pot
- The dogged ‘come on guys just a little longer’ ones. Usually covered in mud and close to tears
- The one who packed half their house jUsT iN cAsE
- The rule breakers
- The rule benders
- The rule followers (us).
Extension: Any particular types of groups?
- The know-it-all group who got completely lost
- The group that kept everyone awake the whole night long xoxo
- The group with identical braids
- We all know that one group… they made it more exciting
- The mum group: those who wake up at five to take pictures, leave at seven and arrive at twelve. Crazy impressive but scary
- The group who thought shaking people’s tents and acting like wild animals was a good idea.
Thing(s) you wished you did differently?
NB: as an example on the form I put ‘actually worn your walking shoes beforehand rather than just said you did’ – sorry to those who replied saying they felt called out by this, and a shoutout to the person who wrote: ‘this sounds like something you did. Could do better.’
- Not eaten all of my snacks in the first 30 minutes of getting lost
- Not bothered with a group meal on the practice expedition because who am I kidding, pouring hot water into a packet is about my level
- Not channelled my inner Peppa Pig and instead avoided the puddles on day one
- Not gone
- Nothing, I kind of slayed it
- Filmed it because honestly, we could have made a tv show out of it.
Did you get lost? (Plus your best getting lost anecdotes)
81% replied yes, which means that 19% are either map masters or perhaps aren’t admitting something…
- Getting lost is as easy as tying your shoes
- The map was upside down – need I say more?
- Our group got lost very publicly because whilst we were wandering around at the bottom of a valley every other group was on the right route at the top apparently laughing at us
- We thought we were in the right place, we were not in the right place, we did not know that
- We got a bit stuck in which direction to go so we texted the instructor a photo of where we were (as if it would help) and he replied with a ‘?’ so we decided to take the more dangerous option and walk DOWN this very, very steep hill and then my friend at the front slipped and got a face full of nettles. Good times.
Any miscellaneous comments/feelings/complaints/unpopular opinions?
- Cows are very polite creatures
- We found boys’ boxers so we threw them in a tree and called it the pant-ree
- Waking up was the worst everything was moist and cold, especially yourself
- Bring squash. I was pretty much insufferably hyper the first day and the pictures captured that nicely
- Let’s just say that I won’t be forgetting this trip ever.
And finally, I asked for anything you associate with DofE, to collate into a lovely word cloud:
