Day 1, mainly route planning under cover but. We did a walk first before the rain arrived. I got back just in time. The biggest problem arose in the rain. The outside classroom had a decent cover but was open at the sides. The wind blew rain over our maps and pens. Writing route cards was impossible.
Day 2: A day of tricky navigation through the forest.
Day 3, I was up early, then set off for a walk before breakfast into the dark. It wasn’t really dark with all the light pollution from Stafford, Rugeley and Cannock. I could switch off the head torch for some time.
3 days with 2 silver groups who were delightful. That was a fine way to finish the season.
Waiting near the finish, (they went another way)
We’re still suffering the effects of Covid Restriction rules on DofE. These two groups did a combined bronze Qualifying and Silver Practice last summer. I don’t think they camped back then either. The effect of reduced training meant that supervising these groups was, at times, like herding cats. Considering their lack of experience, they were very well motivated and thought carefully at those places where navigation was a proble. On the east side of the hills, paths were often disrupted by quarry works or signs were badly maintaned.
For a final trip of ther season, I had the satisfaction of bonding nicely with the kids. That, of course, is easier on Silver level because we get more days together.
We’re working with a lot of groups, 127 kids in all. They’re doing Bronze qualifying. Here is another place I’m familiar with. The weather should be good.
Day 1, Thursday:I’ve got a mixed group of seven to assess on DofE Gold Expedition. Our job, as assessors was to supervise too because this was an Open Award trip. Their routes are basically an orbit of KinderScout. Today’s route is familiar and ends at Rowlee Farm Campsite.
Day 2, Friday: Rowlee to Glenbrook. Drizzly on the hills but clear and grey lower down. This took the group over the dam and onto Derwent Edge. The tracker ran hours late so progress was more difficult to deduce. They’s missed a checkpoint with another staff. That turned out to be due to direction finding errors before the resevoir. Nevermind, they identified and fixed it themselves.
Day 3, Saturday: Glenbrook to Greenachres Camp via Kinder Scout’s south edge. A grey day with clear summits and comfortable temperatures. I got onto the ridge from the Edale Youth Hostel. The tracks were confusing through the hostel grounds itself, and the climb steeper than others to the plateau.
Day 4: Sunday; Greenachres to finish via Jacob’s Ladder. Beautiful sunny day getting hot later. 16-24°C. On the plateau, it was eay to see groups approaching from as far as 3km away with binoculars. I didn’t use the tracker this day having last faith in it.
A sheltered hollow where we debriefed.
The goats had this look on their faces as if we’d taken their resting place.
That was an excellent trip. I know this area quite well and feel at home. Some of the sites I’ve been to before. My group were delightful. The other staff were easy to get along with, we made a good team. I could do this every week
A two day Bronze qualifying expedition based on the edge of Buxton.
Day 1, staff briefing was at 9am for a school due to arrive at 11.00am. I asked which school is this? Wow, the place I worked for 15 years! Anyway, this day is for final training. That’s not usual for bronze but the school has bronze, silver and Gold running concurrently. I took my group out on the local moors to get a nice view and a sense of place. My group did grumble though. They had a minimal pack though.
Dismantled railway, an intrguing site. Reminds me of Dark.
Day 2: their first day of qualifiying expedition. It didn’t take long before my two groups opened a huge gap that grew throughout the rest of the day. By the finish, one group was the first to finish, and the other was amongst the last.
After handing over my group, I went home. I can’t stay to the end because I have work on school the next day. In the campsite, the projector was set up to show a football game and most of the the kids watched too. Driving back was strange because the roads were as empty as a lockdown. And, the lights were all on my side so I got home easily.+
Day 0: A nice warm evening to set up camp at Hulme End for the first couple of days. My group would walk here from their start point. The sun is shining and I can relax while I wait for the boss to bring kit (tents, stoves and paperwork). Next to me were staff from Lichfield Cathederal School with their team the other side of the field.
Here is an especially interesting job. I have a single group from a school to Supervise and Assess for Silver Expedition. TN brought trackers to issue to the group. I’ve not used this one before, it seems especially neat and runs off an app on my phone.
Moorlands near Leek
Day 1: Meet the minibus at the start. They were late because one of the boys wasn’t ready. There are two boys and the rest were girls. Getting ready seemed straightforward, they seemed to know what they were doing. With all issued, they got away at 10.15am.
Problems arose before the first checkpoint which was about 3km from the start. They were to follow a bridlepath westward near the bottom of the map. They phoned me after 2 hours saying they were stuck. And they were – they were off the bottom of the OS map and needed interception, I could see on the tracker.. The tracker located them south west of their route so I send them SE to catch the bridlepath. In fact, they’d strayed off the bottom of their map.
Day 2: The planned route was far too long at 27km. After yesterday’s progress it’s obvious they need less, considerably less; so I met the team in the morning and set them off planning changes. A new route can be more or less as the crow flies North East. Even so, they faced a 20km walk, though with a much earlier start. Even though the new route followed bridle path, they were back in the routine of crossing field after field. Each time they had to set direction, check where the cattle were and go. After maybe ten fields, there’d be a road or a turn. Then another ten.
Finally, a change of terrain on entering a lesser gorge Lathkill Dale. Later, they talked of their enthusiasm about this section. Many photos were taken. I waited at camp because this was the last leg, but then the phone rang. They were stuck. Apparently, their path was closed and one of the girls was in no fit state to go back. I set out to meet them.
The photo shows a footpath gates with the sign indicating the end of Open Access land. The group had read this as no access. They were tired, not surprising after over ten hours of travel.
A misread sign.
Day 3: to finish. Another radically redesigned route. They’ve come to the White Peak area, famed for upland farmland, white limestaone and cut with numerous gorges of geological interest. Their route was more fiddly field hopping with no recognisable purpose beyond running up the miles. Another day like Friday and I can’t see how they could pass. It could go either way. Today’s new route took them down Biggin Dale onto the Manifold trail. Here is a dramatic change of scenery and a relief from endless rural field navigation. There was a chance that they could finish early but after two very long days, they all deserve it.
Going home: on the more eventful trips, I come away turning over thoughts in my mind. This time, I really felt for this group. I had spent all of my time thinking of ways to get them through to a Pass. I never wanted them to Defer, and I beleive I handled them well. They do have a pass but it hung in the balance for a few days.
The campsite has a shrine!. It even lights up when you walk up to it.
In some ways, spring is similar to last year. Bright, cloudless skies and cold nights. Both nights saw frost on the tent which would have been a problem for all groups. We can’t really expect kids to take winter bags. It’s a shame that he kids can’t camp (due to Covid rules). For many, it’s the best part of DofE. Some will not have camped before and this would be a good way to start.
I’ve made fun of the campsite here, but really, it’s an excellent site. More so when the shower block is finished. There is a railway line next along the camp which often has heavy freighters passing in the night. I noticed these in the first night but not over Saturday night. According to other staff, there were just as many. Few people sleep as well on the first night out.
Chilly at night 7°C to about 12 in the days. Mostly dry.
Day 1: The second group were cobbled together after spells on sepf-lockdown. There is a lot of this going on during this phase of the pandemic. Both groups have the same route but it was too short. Their route card had errors on some legs that were way out. So the kids were very early to checkpoints all day. The funny thing was the location. The villages around here are familiar from all this bike rides from Lichfield where I used to live.
Day 2: a day of drama. One parent had, apparently dropped off her daughter then driven home. They turned out from the campsite drive and then crashed. It was a head-on. The driver had asked us to keep this even from his daughter so she could get on with the expedition without worrying.
I went out to lead them over a blind humpback bridge. Ambulances and police cars shot over the bridge while an air ambulance circled. I didn’t find out till later what actually happened.
It wasn’t untill the end of the job that I heard what happened with that crash. Spoiler alert – nothing.
Camped at the same site as in July; the campsite the expedition is using is rather tatty. The showers still have an Out Of Order sign, even 2 years after the first time I visited.
Group A, 5 lads. A group I’ve met before who got on well and had no difficulty at all. It was warm and sunny both days. The plan is to walk with them for part of day 1 and check their competance. I ended up leaving them later than ideal because there was a risky road section further on that I wanted to escort them down. As it turned out, the road was held in check by HS2 works a few miles down.
A long checkpoint on by a grassy verge. I was there about an hour, enough time to brew a coffee and get the tent dry. I guy walked past and asked if I was ‘doing a spot of wild camping?’. I answered him politely, he seemed to have little knowledge of what that entails.
Group B, a week later… 6 girls this time. More fine September weather and a very able group. They only made mistakes near lunchtime when they got hungry. I could see their confidence inproving over the hours I walked with them. As last week, I left them slightly earlier to get my car for a few final checkpoints. They travelled safely enough but had rather more rest-stops than is ideal. Group 14 arrived at camp last and were determined to prove their ability to erect tents AND cook in the short hour remaining before pickup.
Unfortunately for both trips, they couldn’t camp the night because of Covid-19 restrictions. Many kids see camp as the highlight of the expedition- it’s a time to relax, look back on the day and for many – stay in a tent for the first time. It’s a shame they miss out on their first camp.
Arrived at a campsite the night before. Even for a Sunday, the motorways were relatively quiet. I didn’t rush down and got 71mpg. This is a 1 day practice with no overnight camping, COVID conditions apply.
Sunrise, 5am.
Day 1: a long route for bronze training is the conclusion. 18km meant that we had less time for training skills. Good for endurance but not mapreading techniques. It got worse later as rain set in. Actually, the boys group sped up then while feeling the pressure to get back to base on-time.
Day 2: this the, a group of girls who were a delight to work with. They were keen to learn and had good stamina for the somewhat shortened route. It t was about 15% shorter which helped tremendously. The weather held out after a grey but dry morning.
Day 3: another group of lads. These were less boisterous and more serious. They had a wide range of previous experience from none to extensive international trekking. They’ll have no trouble with their qualifying expedition in September.
End: the only disappointment was cloudy nights stopped me seeing Comet Neowise
Micycle 