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OPINION, INTERVIEWS & FEATURES CCF & D of E
The boys marched on, followed by the faint sound of Mr England’s drone, capturing footage which later became available on the Dulwich College DofE Twitter page “
clothes were dry. Groups were then called indoors by their instructors where they began to plan the route for their summer expedition. This would include four consecutive days of 15km walks in the New Forest along a carefully plotted route with various checkpoints. After route planning, it was back out and into the wet for a much longer walk, this time with boys cladded with waterproofs. To make things worse, the wind had picked up drastically increasing the unpleasantness of the experience. Lunch consisted of either dry snacks and energy bars or a ‘just add warm water’ packet for the more proactive who had kept water in a flask from breakfast. With the instructors allocating the job of map reading to a different person each checkpoint, everyone got a feel for it. Aided by some very forced chat and well-deserved breaks, students resiliently powered on despite the conditions and arrived at the campsite tired and soaked from a day’s walking in the wet. The atmosphere around camp at dinner was certainly less enthusiastic than the previous night’s, but aided by some dry weather and low battery Champions League viewing, the mood changed for the better as the night progressed. The third day marked the start of the boys’ two-day practice expedition, after the previous two days of learning. Another early 6am start was succeeded by another insipid breakfast, followed by a first aid course teaching the boys how to deal with certain types of emergencies whilst out walking. Cuts, sprains, choking, hypo/hyperthermia and bugs were just some of the pleasant topics addressed. The boys then set out, with the aim of reaching the next campsite, 15km away, before dark. With the tents and Trangias packed away in their already heavy rucksacks, the boys put their heads down and ploughed on. As expected of a DofE trip, there were times when groups got lost; however, the standard of map reading was generally good, with the google maps searches held down to a minimum. At around 5pm the groups began to roll individually into the new campsite after a long day of walking. However, the last group wasn’t sighted until at least 6:30, probably a result of a few too many breaks and some second-rate map reading. Unfortunately, the
toilets were located a five-minute walk away from the tents resulting in a quick rush before darkness fell. Following some improved tent-building, all groups earnt a well-deserved rest inside before dinner. Succeeding the usual luxury three-course meal, one group managed to turn their Trangia into a campfire, which was used to toast marshmallows in the dark. With spirits lifted, groups returned to their tents to get some rest before the final walk tomorrow. Packing up the tents one last time, the groups set out on Friday morning driven on by the prospect of a potential shower that evening. Making sure to exhaust the rest of their snacks on the way, the boys marched on followed by the faint sound of Mr England’s drone, capturing footage which later became available on the Dulwich College DofE Twitter page. Arriving at the original camp at around 1pm, groups were given a quick debrief by their instructors along with an investigation by staff to discover the cause of a mysteriously ripped tent. Unfortunately for the driver, many boys hadn’t showered for days as they hopped on the coach home enthusiastically sharing ideas for what takeaway they would be ordering that evening. After several tens of kilometres walked with heavy backpacks and skills learned in first aid and map reading I would most definitely say that the groups were now well prepared for their silver summer expedition.
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