that my high expectations were not just met, they were far exceeded. In order to gain the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award, there are five sections to complete, those being Physical, Skills, Volunteering, Expedition (all of which I had encountered during the Silver), and finally the Residential. Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed mentoring children at Dulwich Village Infants’ School and had begun the long (and as yet unfinished) process of learning to drive as my chosen Volunteering and Skills activities, the section which really stood out to me was the Expedition. Despite it being almost nine months since I completed it, my memories are still fresh, and are likely to stay with me for years to come. On the first day, after having stayed in tents for two nights in preparation for the hardships to come, we embarked on the pre-arranged course. This involved hiking up very steep hills, but in beautiful sunshine. The day culminated in a descent into an expansive valley, with the sun casting its golden rays onto us, and it was clear we were extreme- ly relieved to have ended the day in such high spirits. The second day was trickier, not solely due to rain, but also due to the discovery that we would be lodging on a farmer’s back field. However, it was surprisingly pleasant to eat dinner amongst wildlife and, just as importantly, with friends.
just been practising, we city boys still struggled to get ourselves around the countryside, with four groups going entirely the wrong way only one hour into the expedition. With every hour of walking we got more tired and with every day the weather seemed to be getting worse. It was certainly not on our side: the entirety of the second day of walking was spent with our heads sunken under our rain jacket hoods, and on the final day, the frost and wind picked up in ferocity, deflating our mood, despite the end being very near. However, when we reached the final checkpoint, the sense of relief and fulfilment among us was immeasurable. All the bag-carrying and trundling we had done made for a well-earned, relaxed night back at our original camp. To celebrate our work, we all spent big at a service station Burger King. Despite the fast food not tasting particularly good, it tasted one hundred times better than the crusty, old, rice we had been cooking for ourselves the past week. A Duke of Edinburgh expedition, whether it be the prac- tice or the qualification, is a cooperative accomplishment indicative of great teamwork, and we all took a lot of pride in our achievement. Even though we had struggled on the expedition, longing to be back home, the memories we made will be cherished, and the feeling of joy when we finished was immense. We are all looking forward to the qualification trip in July, eager to get back in the wild for what will undoubtedly be a massive challenge. We are confident, however, that we will get it done and have an even better time than we had in November. GOLD QUALIFYING EXPEDITION 2023 After the physical exhaustion and gruelling mental exer- cise which constituted my Silver Duke of Edinburgh ex- perience, I should admit that I was initially sceptical when some of my friends encouraged me to undertake the ‘next level up’ (as described by a particularly keen member of my group). However, I did remember that I had enjoyed much of my time during the Silver (perhaps with the exclusion of some extremely bleak lapses of confidence amidst the rain at the end of the first expedition day), and so I went into my Gold endeavours with a very open mind, hoping to relive the unique and exciting moments that I had shared with friends. More than a year later, I can say THE LAKE DISTRICT OLIVER GODBEE (YEAR 13)
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