22°C, grey cloud with occasional sun.
I could ride this bike all day, unless it’s windy. Though my legs are getting sore, that turgid feeling has gone. Rides like this remind me of a the way we can take several days to warm up to exercise.
The last three days adds up to 100 miles. Result.
22°C, sun, very dry with N breeze.
18.0: easy drive to the edge of the M25. Paccar Scout camp is huge, but my little bit is about an acre. We seem to have 4 clearings booked.
18.1; The cohort arrived by parent drop off and were indeed, only a few groups, five in all. I got two groups of girls. As is often the case, one group went wrong out of the start. I always try to make them go with a clear start because this kind of error is very likely. It’s an easy one to to mess up; being dropped off somewhere they don’t know is quite disorientating.
18.2: rain to start but clearing later. My groups’ routes diverge, meet then diverge again. The other instructors’ routes are pretty identical to one another.
One group got off to an energetic start and finished quite early. The other got stuck in woodland but responded well to question prompts over the phone. As an assessor, I really enjoyed overhearing their debates on location and clues they can see. This group were offered a lift to the debrief checkpoint but I declined because they might finish under time.
Group 4 reached the end in just over 6.5 hours but the other group had gone. They’d been collected before I could debrief them properly. Oh well…
We got some feedback from the school:
“We just had an email from waingels to say how great the exped was, well done guys! Also, apparently 2 groups are now officially part of the ‘we love mike club’ 🤣🤣”
18°C, grey with slight drizzle.
17.0: a day filled with logistics. Google’s satnav took us round the long way to Edale. Then I had to ferry kids from Hope because the coach driver refused to drive to the carpark in Edale. We’re all baffled by his refusal since there are 2 other coaches already there.
17.2: Tuesday – a 15h30m shift on Kinder Scout. Rain and very late groups. 1 group made such a mess of nav that they didn’t get onto the hill and were found in the afternoon – back at the start.
17.3: crossing Ladybower. To a lovely little campsite at North Lees near Hathersage.
Much better day for all groups. They’re getting tired as usual. The overnight camp was basic to say the least. In my opinion, we should stay in the area, within radio range anyway. That way we can get there early and urge them away by 07.30. Their night’s sleep wasn’t enough after Kinder.
I was a little worried about one of my group’s confidence and navigation so I decided to walk halfway with them. It was here that I hit on the idea of a neat nav teaching method. I’ll explain…
If your group has a few navigators and the others trail along, then this might demonstrate how information and observations should flow through an effective group. Sit one kid down with a map; preferably in a hollow so they can’t see much. Others can then take turns giving them information until they can locate the group. Here is a field boundary, this way slopes down, that way is north etc.
I’ve only tried it a few times, but it does seem to work!
17.3: along Stannage Edge. A good geological handrail. After the road crossing, they go up Moscar Moor. It’s a fine place to set up a checkpoint I found. I sat in a hollow the bits where it rained but eventually, the groups brought the sunshine. Some got stoves out and cooked lunch. Others wanted to march through and get back first.
We finished ontime with all groups safely completed. Then logistical problems started. The coach was late again. Part of the M1 was closed, but then again- why did it go on the motorway? Nobody knew.
I was able to get off with my Year 11s easily enough in the minibus. The coach didn’t get the Y10s to school until about 9pm. Outrageous! The staff were livid. That’s the third time the same coach company let us down in a fortnight.
Bright and sunny, tops will be 25°C
Long drive after a full day’s teaching. The satnav chose a good route and there were no holdups. Still, I didn’t arrive untill 23.30.
16.1: we some instructors would have two groups today, the others- one each. There are different ways we could decide, double up the smaller groups, match the routes. In the end, it was a complicated (and not very interesting) combination that we chose.
I got my info packs and flicked through- two groups of girls. Their routes looked okay and their bags not too heavy this time. Yet again, they didn’t bring enough water. One of them, O* had a leaking platypus which she knew was leaking on practice 2 weeks ago!
Quite a stretch of the route was in woodland along cycle routes. That suits me too because I can do plenty of walking to checkpoints rather than waiting with the car. Their route finding was fine and timing, reasonable.
The last section really troubled me. The public footpath was closed with barbed wire. The only alternative a was a narrow road without verges but with blind bends. I walked each group, one at a time along here. That path was visible behind the hedge and would have been trouble free, why is it closed?
horrible!
16.2: A problem has appeared. One of our assessors is absent. His groups did not see him at all yesterday after the start. That would take some working out by sharing out the workload. If something went wrong, the consequences would be serious for him and the rest of us.
Note, sleepy horses standing in the road can make you late.
Both of my groups seemed to be in a darker mood today. The smaller group was especially tense. You know that feeling when you walk into a room after an argument, the one where you can sense something indeterminate? It’s that feeling on each checkpoint.
Gareth pointed out that they were well out of their ‘comfort zone’. These girls were all tall, leggy, elegant and beautiful; like models they were. But the surly exasperated tone in their voices caught my attention.
16.3: the kids are much more upbeat today. The fine weather continues and one group is quite cheerful, probably because they know it’s the last day. The other group remain prickly. Oh dear.
18°C, brisk W, sunny and dry.
In a way, heading out with a tail-wind is a good way to way up. The penalty happens when you ride back.
All this DofE work has hit my cycling. That can mean twitchy legs and trouble sleeping. A decent ride can fix those as well as another. I am surprised to find my posture is far better post ride.
30°C, full sun, light wind.
We were issued with detailed plans this morning and I am working as a Supervisor along with an Assessor, we have three groups to manage. We have a uniform tower and have radios for staff only. For the first time, we issue GPS beacons. These only return a position once pinged by the expedition manager. That sounds better than some centres who monitor a continuous track.
15.1: Their routes are very similar but they were spread out over time. The extraordinary heat didn’t harm the kids’ progress as much as other schools. The Chase does offer good shelter amongst the trees. The last groups required a ping a few times and they finished 2nd to last.
15.2: most of the routes are very similar today now we have come.down from the Chase onto low farmland. The slow group from yesterday we’re even slower today. They have many many breaks.
Pollen VH, 18°C, brisk SE, dry, full sun.
14.1 drive the minibus to Hulme End to meet coach B. The boss had split the year group and I met the northern half to issue kit. Soon, classic bronze route planning appeared. One group had plotted a route along walls and fences to I changed the route to paths that match other group.
14.2 camp to Ilam: a tricky day because my groups’ routes diverged by 2 km, one down the Manifold, the other, Tissington.
Last minute rushing about looking for lost and late groups. Luckily, the coach was very late. Once more, just when I thought I could relax, a call came in from another lost group…
Inevitably, a late finish. The coach was booked for 5pm and arrived about 6.30pm. As I left, the coach was stuck behind the bridge in Ilam. Maybe we should use the coach company in Ilam village next time. By the time the bus was dropped off at the hire place and I was returned to my car, it was 8.45pm. half an hour to get home and then supper. That’s a long day from a 6am start.
22°C, light wind and deep blue cloudless above.
A very long drive down near Brighton. I hope it’s worth it. Heathside has always been brilliant previously, so it will be again.
Before the punters arrive, I have the field to myself. Peace and rest after a long drive. Oh, and a good book (The Secret life of Flies).
Day one: Silver expedition is three days of walking and other activities. Day one was eventful with a first aid incident that had awkward effects all day. I had two groups, one of boys, the other- all girls. To start, the boys seemed well equipped and ready to move out early.
The girls, however; were overloaded (one arrived with 18.5kg) but with too little water. One C*, had enough food for a week and many, many changes of clothes (some cotton pieces). Also, their packs did not fit well, but since they were quite tall, the problem was less than usual.
The boys marched on full of energy. They sailed past the turning and headed south. Five groups made this same mistake and I had to rush about turning them around. Bear in mind, they didn’t do Bronze.
Within a few km of starting, one of the girls fell faint in the heat. We’d stopped for a snack, but it was warm, still and very humid. She (N*) couldn’t even sit up and lost all her colour. We were a km from the nearest road at a junction of paths by a golf course. A golfer could see we had a problem and offered to get a golf buggy. I went with N* and sat her in the golf shop while we waited for the minibus.
The minibus dropped me off near Fulking village so i could get onto the hill.
The boys’ group were easy to find but the girls were far more tricky. They’d gone south passed the A27 catching feature. On the phone they were into Shoreham., A local had misdirected them away from a path which may have adders. It got to the point where I asked them to install OS-Locate and get me a grid reference. Once I got to this group, I stayed with them for the day- I’m not letting go!
13.2: both groups’ longest day started misty, brewing up for a coming storm overnight. One of the lads was withdrawn for the day with an injury and a teacher had to walk with them to make up the numbers. A misjudgement meant my tent was left at the previous camp. I was told to stay at the same camp because of staff ratios. In the end, the numbers were okay so I could move it to the nice scout camp. All the better because the showers are good. Late finishes are fine, but in a row, tiredness builds. After a shower, I turned in at 11.
13 2: rain overnight, but I slept through the thunder. Shame because I love a good thunderstorm, especially in the tent. The last day turned into a beautiful day. The kids were hot but got on with it. The girls had a far better day with navigation.
16°C, bright sun and dry
Not a long ride but I’ve clocked up well over 100 miles in the last few days. The trips to work have been quick except the return home yesterday. My legs were just empty and it was a drag to get back. Perhaps my diet was not optimal the day before.
Anyway, I decided to ride the ‘cross on my day off. It’s always refreshing and doesn’t demand much stamina.
19°C, no real wind, bright sun.
Rode along thinking about my yet to build new frame. The fit on the cross bike seems best of the bikes I have. It should be easy to copy over the measurements.
I need to make building it as painless as possible but it will need 180mm cranks. So far, I have: frame, headset and wheels.
Micycle 