Teenagers!

We met in a randon car park in the middle of nowhere just after dawn (it felt like it!) - middle of nowhere in the New Forest - where's that ??

(before you ask - yes I took this photo on my bust up little camera)

Silver D of E Exped Assessment - 7 groups from TWGGS.... Okay so to work, I was with groups E, F, and G, and working alongside Emma. Here's an example of what they were eating - it's melted choc with biscuit pieces, and marshmallow
(yes I did have some!). E = Clover, Emily, Sophie and Christina.. F = Alice, Harriet, Islay, Charlotte, Emma, Gemma and Daisy.. G = Imogen, Katya, Megan, Annabelle and Eleanor.

Obviously they had mascots! These belong to group F

So - off they go across the hilly countryside!

Still flat!

Getting bored, so started taking photos...

Found a trig point in a desperately serious location - altitude 110m !

(reminded me of the Ben - no!!)

I guessed there would be trees in the forest! I knew that much.

Lots of trees....

Think this belonged to Emily from group E... She decided it was awesome with it's built in pillow! I didn't see if it had grown by the end of the exped...

I found this sculpture of a pig at the first campsite - there were 15 piglets with their sow - AND THEY DECIDED TO SLEEP 15M FROM MY TENT- AWESOME! - so so so noisy at night...

Snail - luckily no giant snails trailing about...

Setting off onto day 2...

Spot the D of E rucsac... Awesome..

Here's Claire posing alongside her face in the 2008 Trail magazine - she used to be the Staff writer... You know she takes this magazine everywhere with her ;)

Here's group F - at the end - not impressed that they had to do the extra 4km!! But yes, they did get the coach back seats which motivated them to get up at 6am and set off at 6.45am!

Okay - so here it is - the rap video.... Group E was Clover, Emily, Sophie and Christina...

As part of keeping in touch, we told them to perhaps send 1 or 2 texts a day - saying their group name, location (grid ref) and how they are... No, Group E DIDN'T get it! this was their first text... Spot any useful info!...

'Hey it's group e just having lunch and casual banter so thought would drop you a text. Sophie's foot got covered in poo so is now crispy got to go see ya later xx'

Things didn't improve!! Actually got worse... and their last text was ...

'Hi bbe btw fyi tbh atm we cba. Omg u r r bmfl brb jks g2g rofl lmao lol lysm at. Speak l8rs x'

Hmmmmmm, we had words, and some of my words were MOVE MOVE MOVE!!!

This particular job was in the New Forest... The first challenge, FIND THE NEW FOREST - somewhere in England I believe!!

Working on this job with Jo Blackshaw, Steve Ironside, Claire Maxted and Emma Jack - and most of them have vans!!! Where's mine! At the end of the day everybody was successful - so congratulations to everybody.. Well done to Jo for clocking up the miles on her bike, well done to Emma for emailing her boyfriend from her Van, well done to Claire for NOT running about for 10 mins!, well done to Steve and me for keeping chilled amoung all this madness !!

23rd - 28th Aug, Gold Open Qualifying Exped

Meg inside the emergency survuval shelter during training. They ended up using all the time, at the drop of a hat, and the drop of some rain!!

Today was Chris Bryants' 40th Birthday, so Alison Culshaw got me to organise his presents all over the Beacons, so he found this surprise at the end of his days walk, his van was covered in beer and balloons, and his house had the same treatment - apparently Chris loves Beer and Balloons !!! Happy Birthday Chris...

Here we see the shelter again, as you can see they are sheltering from some very serious storm weather !!!

So, I had some time for some photos, waiting for them to emerge - here is Pen y Fan and Corn Du in mist

Steve Ironside sporting his Outward Bound jacket !

John Knight sporting his solution to the rain !

Finally the group did emerge from the group shelter, and here they are on their way to Steve to explain!

Good, a test of their nav skills, the obvious group of 5 in front, can you see the group of 4 girls in the background on the RHS.. Nobody really got lost! Well done...

Here is group C on day 2. Beth, Alex, Shannon, and Sarah

Another chance for me to take photos, waiting for the groups. Here is Pen y Fan and Corn Du.

Fast group B having a rest. Navid, Matt, Rob, Imogen, Rio and Anna - wait till you see Anna's blisters - she NEVER complained !!

Group B on their way

Posing - who told them to do that !! Navid, Matt, Rio, Anna, Rob, Imogen

Okay so here are Anna's blisters... She never complained, awesome.. I thought these were bad until I saw Shannon's ...

Group C, Shannon, Sarah, Alex (wearing my jumper!) and Beth

Shannon's blister - not good!

Matt.... Obviously it was my turn next ! ...

Another week working for A to Z expeditions. This week working with Steve, Jason and John. It was an Open Gold Qualifying Expedition. Everybody passed this week, congratulations to you all ...

16th - 21st Aug, Open Gold Exped

More rain to come - and so the theme of the week starts - rain !

Josh, Tyrone, Erin, Lucy, Sammie and Jonnie - already wet, doing well on day 1

Nick, KJ, Tom, Norris and Andrew at their 'campsite' for night 1

Tom, Norris, KJ, Andrew and Nick on day 2. I spotted Tom several miles away !

KJ, what's that on your rucsac, a toy sheep? It wasn't on the official kit list... She hasn't named it yet, suggestions anybody?

Storm clouds again building

Studying the map in wet conditions - taking a grid bearing

Josh, Erin and Tyrone looking very wet

Still raining. The rain has turned all the paths and sheep tracks to streams now - later in this afternoon Jonnie falls up to his waist in a bog !

Walking into the rain

Following a bearing, for several km... Trust the compass

Tom, Nick, Norris, Andrew and KJ arriving at their last campsite. This stream is still high, but earlier it was up to the bridge !!

Working for A to Z Expeditions. This week was an Open Gold D of E qualifying Expedition. I was working with Becky Coles. It was an incredibly wet 4 days. Huge congratulations to everybody that succeeded. Unfortunately Lucy damaged her achilles tendon - so best wishes for a speedy recovery, but massive congratulations on perhaps the best AS results I've ever seen !!

Eton College Silver Expedition

With A to Z Expeditions last week Eton College embarked upon their Silver Qualifying D of E Expedition.

The groups I supervised started their exped, on the 28th, by crossing the Carneddau. The groups showed good navigation and were clearly able to look after themselves.

Tryfan in Ogwen.

This is the spot of the groups wild camp on night 1. These boys had a relatively good nights sleep, but another group at a different wild camp had a disturbance... They had a fly-by from 2 low flying Chenook helicopters. They also passed my camp, but at a safe distance. The low flying helicopters ripped several guide lines and zips on the 2 tents - but the boys were fine and dealt with it really well.

On day 2 the groups were due to cross the Glyderau. It was a perfect opportunity for me to have a fun journey. Ordinary Route on Idwal Slabs, then Cneifion Arete (shown above) on the way up and Hope on the way down.

Here I'm on Cneifion Arete

The top of Cneifion Arete.

Castle of the winds.

Dr Russel taking the obligatory photo of a group on the Cantilever.

The second group approaches...

Day 2 proved to be quite a long day for some, but eventually everybody got to camp. Day 3 started with hill fog covering the top few hundred metres of Snowdon.

My groups went up the Llanberis path (easiest, longest and most popular of the well beaten tracks) and down the Watkin Path eventually back to Llyn Gwynant base camp. The visibility was very poor at the summit, but by now the groups navigation was good in all conditions.

The new cafe at the summit.

The train coming up the track...

My route down was via Crib Goch.

After Garnedd Ugain along Crib y Ddysgl, I came across a couple of men who seemed to be sunbathing! About 2 minutes later the helicopter arrived to evacuate the man with an injured leg.

The groups all got back to camp within good time. They had all successfully completed their Silver D of E Exped in good strong style - Congratulations to you all...

A section of Crib Goch.

To celebrate getting their 'Eton Silver' they enjoyed a BBQ while we drove back to Fort William. I'm glad I'm not working tomorrow.