On Friday 17th of March, four students, our Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award participants left school in order to complete their practice expedition.
We, Anna, Izzy, Harrison and me, were driven by our staff to Ravenscar, the starting point of our four day hiking and camping trip. The first day, as our longest, gave us a horrible impression of DofE; it was extremely windy with occasional rain, we got totally lost and had 20kms to walk. Furthermore, Anna lost her hiking boot in the mud and Harrison broke his tent pole while we tried to set up our tents in the rain. It got so bad that even Mr Batchelor questioned the expedition to some extent. However, delicious pasta, which was only a little bit burned, lifted our mood and the second day, Harrison’s birthday, was way better. On this day, as we walked on private property of the posh elite of Yorkshire, Miss Dopp lost us and the teachers were looking for us for over three hours, probably assuming that we had died. The distances of the last two days were remarkably shorter which made the tour almost enjoyable.
After all, we returned on Monday and we all were never happier to see the mini-bus and our school. Our practice expedition brought us closer than we were before and gave us a notable foretaste of our real expedition in Lake District in June.
Johanna Clarus (Year 12)
