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The Duchesses of Edinburgh – Gold Practice April 2021
On the first day of our expedition, we arrived at Comp Wood campsite in Mereworth at 8.00am (which was much earlier than we were used to during a half term holiday!). With eager faces and heavy rucksacks we waited for the journey to start, but first we had an equipment check and discussed our checkpoints with the leaders. After this, we set off into Mereworth woods, which was a challenging environment to navigate, but thankfully our group managed to stick to our route without too much trouble. A few of our team had never participated in the DofE before and they soon became accustomed to the tired feet and achy shoulders that many of us were already familiar with. We had a few breaks throughout the day where we dived into our endless supply of snacks and enjoyed being off our feet for as long as we could. At our final break we were already thinking about the food we would cook when we returned, so we hurried back to the campsite where we had to put up our tents and set up our cooking equipment. After our evening meal, it was time to go home and rest, ready for the second day.
The next morning, we returned; slightly sore and sunburnt, but still determined to start the day. This route took us out of the woods and into the countryside, where we explored the fields and villages around Mereworth and Plaxtol. We even found a free library in one of the areas we passed, so we took a book on our walk to keep us entertained throughout the day, along with much of our terrible singing! We enjoyed the nice weather and scenery which surrounded us, hoping that we would be lucky enough for the sunshine to last until we arrived back at Comp Wood. At the campsite, we carried out the same activities as Day 1 and again headed home, feeling accomplished after completing the second part of the expedition.
On the final day, we were not so lucky; the sunshine disappeared and instead it was very rainy, but thankfully we all had our waterproof jackets and trousers to keep us dry and warm. Despite the change in weather, we kept the same attitude as we had the days before and our determination did not faulter. However, this was challenged when we encountered a very steep hill towards the end of our route, which Fin said would ‘forever haunt her in her nightmares.’ Once we got to the top, we only had a short way to go. Although we were thankful that the hill was over, we were also disappointed that our final day was coming to an end, and now we are very much looking forward to making many more memories on the assessed expedition in July!
