DUKE OF EDINBURGH
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Gold Award Assessment Expedition
Ben Schlossman (Year 13)
W hen walking in the Lake District, two things must be understood. First, the difference between walking along valleys and walking across them. Second, that it will rain every day without fail. With a somewhat unclear idea of either of these concepts, this year’s DofE Gold intake set out for the Lake District. While we came to terms with having to eat out of plastic pouches and not having a shower for the next week, we were treated to a seven-hour Drum’n’Bass mixtape curated by Jacques the DofE assessor on the minibus journey. We arrived, carefully selected our food for the week – to the exact calorie – and headed to Langdale Campsite, wondering which of the sheer faces that surrounded us we’d be climbing up in the next few days. Upon completing a customary acclimatisation day and reassessing the route on our maps, all was prepared for our four-day passage across the Lakes. To call the first day a kick in the backside would be an understatement:
I found myself 300m up the side of a sheer valley slope at 8am, wondering where the peak fitness and walking technique honed in practice expeditions had gone. The walking sticks I had come to rely on in training proved to be useless on the ruthless uphill slopes. The first day consisted of realising the full extent of the task ahead of us as, with hindsight, we picked the most inefficient and laborious route of any team on the first day. Happily, however, the descent into Coniston was made without too much calamity – apart from a hyperextension of my left knee on the scree tracks that gave way beneath every step, and which rendered a dose of painkillers necessary each morning for the rest of the expedition. Here we also learnt the second rule of the Lake District, as we were soaked to the bone more than I have ever experienced on any CCF exercise. Making camp on soaked ground next to Coniston Water proved only to emphasise this point further. Once the carnage of the previous evening had dissipated,
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