Chilly first night down to 7°C under a clear sky. light N breeze

Day 1: Camped on the banks of the River Thames before setting off for the meet-up point. I got there just in time to be issued with 2 groups of girls ready for a Practice/training Expedition.
There were a lot of changes made to groups so we set off last for the day’s walk.The day went well but for very different pace-setting between and within groups. Apart from this problem, they were a very likable bunch of characters. Some were steady and others fiercely competitive. We had an excellent rapport after getting on well right from the start. We had fun too, not just DofE but wordplay too. They tried to persuade me to do a Tiktok with them but ‘your phones should be packed away and off’. Another was ‘Cursive speech’. It’s the hollow sound your voice makes when you hold your tongue down and clench your jaw. Here’s me thinking it was scrolling handwriting.

The faster group were set places to wait for me and the 2nd group where we could consolidate routefinding methods. After we crossed the Thames, the fast group got even faster. From here, as we got nearer the camp, other groups’ routes converged. That meant the fast girls could see a group of lads which suddenly gave them a surge of more energy. Ironic that after they’d complained of tiredness not long before. Then they were out of sight.

After some coordination with other instructors, it turned out they were with another group having taken a wrong turn. Ironically – we had to wait for them, to the obvious glee of my slower group.

Day 2: Groups walk by themselves and I checkpoint them. The pattern re-emerged from day 1 where the fast group rushed ahead and made enough errors to reduce the gap. The second group steadily plodded on but got all their navigation right.

Packing up: Got some good feedback from the kids as well as the Exped leader via a parent. One of the girls was “buzzing over the day”, I think she actually surprised herself with how quickly she mastered map-reading and route finding.

That was a fabulous couple of days’ work. You can tell days like this because on the drive home, you think over the work on all levels with satisfaction. It makes up for the long drive.