Gold Practice Expedition: The Welsh path to the Alps

Thank you to Laura C, Oliver A and Izzy B for this joint diary entry

DAY ONE

It was an early start for ten adventurous year 12s; nervous and excited, we squeezed into the Bournside mini bus: it was a tight fit - our stuff took up most of the room and the boys in the back seats were completely hidden behind the barricade of backpacks! After a short journey mainly spent peering tentatively out of the windows at the threatening skies, we arrived in the Black Mountains and were met by our instructor, Stu. We spent some time gathering kit, checking the route, donning our brightly coloured backpack covers and our waterproofs before finally setting off on our expedition!

Stu stayed with us and split his time between the two teams on the first day to make sure we kept on track, and it wasn’t long before we encountered our first taste of Welsh mud, which quickly became a recurring problem on the expedition; you get used to it, but it is really tough going, especially when it comes up to your ankles, and we found its traces on our clothes for weeks afterwards! Fortunately, we had each other to (quite literally) pull us through and we got our biggest morale boost on the first part of our journey when we met our new friend and team mascot, a local farmer’s dog we named Phillip. He remained steadfastly loyal to both groups (although he spent more time with our group, even climbing under fences to reach us!) and kept us company; saying goodbye was difficult!

The landscape is breathtaking, but as we walked and watched the mountains rise above our path the magnitude of the challenge suddenly became real. We met with the teachers and watched the orange dots of the other team’s backpack covers ascending the mountain, realising we would have to do the same.

It was a struggle - the path was steep and slippery, but the views were spectacular and we were lucky enough to see a rainbow rising out of the mist and experience the bizarre feeling of watching birds flying below us. It was a huge achievement to reach the top, but the real challenge was only just beginning: a huge cloud descended on the mountain. We could barely see ahead of us in the fog, the wind was howling and the cold and fear really started to set in. With no landmarks to navigate by, we kept heading north until we hit the footpath - words cannot express our relief when we did. After what seemed like hours on the mountain, the cloud lifted and we made our slippery descent down (with everyone had a comedy fall at least once!)

The last stretch of the journey was hard. We still had several kilometres to walk to the campsite after the mountain and we were muddy and exhausted. The sun was just starting to set, which was beautiful to see, but also posed the threat of walking in the dark - we powered on as quickly as we could.

NIGHT ONE

Reaching the campsite was one of the BEST feelings. We had panoramic views of the hills all around and it’s always fun to relax and eat with the whole group. Setting up camp in the dark wasn’t fun, but getting dry clothes on and hot food inside us helped a lot. Our team had pasta, the other had curry, and there was just time for a quick game of Uno (as is DoE tradition!) before bed. We knew Day 1 is always the toughest day, but it set us in good stead for the challenges that lay ahead.

DAY TWO

The previous night was cold, so we woke up with frost covered tents framed by a scenic sunrise across the valley. Breakfast sorted and tents packed, we started our second day of walking. Less than a mile in, we had to ford a stream and soon faced a very slippery slope to climb. After these obstacles had been successfully negotiated, our target appeared in the distance: The Gospel Pass, the highest road in Wales. We trekked across some flat fields and attracted a small flock of sheep before the path rose upwards. The climb was slow going but it was worth it for the spectacular scenes across England and Wales at the top. But the day was far from over.

Refuelled with lunch and malt loaf, we began to walk along the top of Hay Bluff and the clouds closed in. Strong winds, drizzle and poor visibility made this the toughest part of the day. The difficulty was compounded when we thought we had found the 'Pile of Stones' marked on our map as the halfway point. Continuing to walk a few miles down the path, about 50 piles of stones appeared out of the mist. Confusing! We eventually made it off Offa's Dyke Path and just in time, because it started to rain very heavily. We walked the last few miles to camp in the rain on the valley floor. The weather didn't relent so we put up soggy tents and cooked some well-deserved pasta and pesto before having an early night. It was certainly a challenging day but also very enjoyable in overcoming the elements and taking in some stunning views.

Day Three

Day three started out much brighter than the previous two days and with the end on the horizon everyone’s spirits were high. We were ready to be back home in our own beds! After making sure all our equipment (particularly the trangias) were ready to be returned to H5, we received our daily briefing from our instructor and Oliver was presented 'Top banana' for his excellent repairing of his, as we called them, “tarpaulin trousers” and Freya received the 'Silly sausage' for leaving the top banana outside in the rain overnight! As we left the last campsite, everything a little bit soggy from the rain that had poured down on our tents the night before, I certainly felt sad that the journey was nearly over, but I was grateful for the memories we made along the way.

Compared to the previous two days, day three was a walk in the park (not literally) with our bags a little lighter and the ascent a little lower. The weather got so hot that we even had to take off our fleeces that we had thoroughly appreciated the on the previous cooler days.

Day three highlights:

- An adder crossing our path

- Take a wrong turn and nearly missing the end point by 100m

- The feeling of relief when we finally reached the end!

This feeling of achievement and appreciation for all the good (and a few bad) things that happened is really what DofE Gold is all about and I am so grateful to have shared my practice expedition with such an amazing group of people. A special thanks to Mr Musty, Mrs McCormack and our instructor Stu who cheered us on the whole way!

Final thoughts

Gold DofE is not for the faint-hearted! This expedition was tough, it really tested our limits, but it made all the highs even better and the whole experience unbelievably rewarding. It has given us new confidence in what we are capable of doing and it has empowered us ahead of the qualifying expedition in the Alps this summer. We have a fantastic group of kind, fun and strong people we will take away memories that we wont forget. We have achieved so much and can’t wait to see what lies ahead in the qualifier!