Duke of Edinburgh Gold Practice Expedition

Last Thursday, two groups of Lower Sixth pupils embarked on our Duke of Edinburgh Gold practice expedition. We were very nervous about the weather, but thankfully, the first day only had a bit of drizzle. Since we were not staying overnight due to COVID-19 restrictions, our bags were filled with more fuel for our bellies rather than our Trangias. We set off with laminated maps and trail mix in hand, ready to brave anything.

The rest of the day was filled with lovely interactions with feline, bovine, and avian friends, the most memorable being a duck who did not mind our chattering, a cat who was prepared to join our hike, and an entire herd of cows that seemed particularly keen on following us. There were though some not so nice interactions with barbed wire!

On the Friday we arrived near Devizes to considerably better weather than the first day. We set out and immediately missed our path, but it turned out well as it allowed us to do a bit of sightseeing and visit some ancient rocks. We then marched on, taking a detour of several kilometres to conquer Windmill Hill, which gave us a lovely view of the surrounding countryside. We sat down for lunch in a farmer’s field, before noticing a white horse. After trying to get a closer look, Tabby and Ankita ended up getting chased by the horse, prompting us to swiftly move on! After another few kilometres and one last hill, we reached the relative comfort of the minibus for our journey back to School.

On Saturday, the weather was terrible, and the wind was so strong it nearly knocked us over and blew away the map! We decided to get to the end as quickly as possible once it started raining so we could eat lunch in the shelter of the minibus. Our route was very easy to navigate as it was mainly along one ridge path, at the end we passed through the town of Marlborough. We completed our 11-kilometre route in just two hours(!) and were back at the minibus by 12.00pm and were able to have a nice relaxing lunch whilst waiting for the other group to get back.

Through this expedition, we were able to hone our navigational skills (we never got lost) whilst exploring Wiltshire and its many heritage sights. We really persevered when hiking nearly 50-kilometres over three days. We are looking forward to our real expedition in the Brecon Beacons!

Alison, Ankita, Harriet, Tabitha & Melissa, Lower Sixth