Golden Sun D of E

Tom, Mayon, Anna, Luke, Malcolm and Dan on their way down Faire Clach-glais on day 1 of their Practice Gold D of E.

Gold-Expeditions.com , Off Piste Performance Ltd

This week I was working with Alison and Alex with students from Albyn and St. Margaret's schools on their DofE Gold Training Expedition. Luckily the weather was hughly in our favour, so I didn't have to pack my bag with a great deal of clothing, but I more than made up for it with extra food treats, and a bike repair kit. I think I may have only seen a couple of midges all week, so my midge net still hasn't been used this year yet. However, it was a week for suncream, and I managed to stay protected, but Grace in particular managed to get a definite 'glow' from the sun - hopefully she's had her aftersun bath now! Visibility was excellent all the time, exept for the last morning. The mist came in and lowered over the last night, and by 8am on Sunday, there was zero vis on the hills. The groups on the hill that day were psyching up for a full on test of their nav training, but then the mist lifted to be patchy for the rest of the day - Sandy's team in particular performed some excellent navigation across a string of hills to complete their exped in fine style.I'm a big fan of monculars and good quality radios for use by DofE supervisors now, they made observation and communication so much more efficient this week.

I hope all my work this year will be this much fun and enjoyable.

On day 2 of training, the group constantly have situations to deal with - to learn what to do, what not to do. This group learnt that straight line journeys are not always the best plan!

A group at the top of the hill on the right

Group 4 on Antler Ridge, on their way down from Carn Torcaidh

I had a great time on my bike this week - but finally the tyres have given up and the inner tube is making a break for freedom. The bike managed to limp home to the end in Braemar.

Ellie, Meggie, Grace, Sarah, Victoria, Madeleine and Carmen going strong on their biggest hill day - here walking NE from Coire na creige

Looking down at Bynack Lodge

I had time to check out a few properties - here is Mar Lodge

At the end of the exped in Braemar, the groups finally got their boots off and revealed their blisters. There had been very little complaining all exped, despite the resonable level of suffering.

No, this isn't compeed (compeed.co.uk) - this is the blister under the compeed!