Report by Abi and Lucy, Year 10
On Saturday, we all met at school at 9 o’clock to begin our first Duke of Edinburgh training weekend. We spent the morning learning about first aid and what sort of food to bring for our actual expeditions, as well as tediously completing numerous route cards in our groups. At lunchtime, we had to use the portable cookers to make our own lunch using the limited food provided. Despite our pasta being slightly crunchy, for camping food, it wasn’t too bad! After lunch, we learnt about tents, and with much difficulty we finally managed to put them up just outside the tennis courts. We then completed more route cards and after dinner we departed on a night walk in our groups.
We battled through the rain and the darkness to arrive back at school roughly two hours later, using our map skills and a good (?) sense of direction. However, the highlight of the weekend was the game of hide-and-seek that we played in Hillingdon house, in the pitch black. It was great fun and by the end of it, we were extremely tired and soon went to sleep in our tents.
We were woken up at 7am on the Sunday morning, and once we had got ready, packed our bags, taken down our tents and had breakfast, we set off on a four hour expedition around Harlow. It was very challenging as we had to concentrate on reading the map as well as carrying a huge bag (weighing almost as much as us!), and by the end of it, everybody was exceptionally tired. However, we all enjoyed it and learnt lots of crucial skills that will definitely benefit us when we embark on our real expedition in Hertfordshire later this month.
