Wet and Wild DofE for Meg's and Albyn

Alison talks to Group 2 on day 1 (Victoria, Rachel, Hannah, Sophie, Ailsa, Lucy, Harriet).

This last week I was working for Adventure Expeditions and Alison Culshaw in the Cairngorm National Park (Grampian Mountains). On Thursday we met the girls from Albyn School and St. Margaret's school for girls who were ready to start their Gold Assessed D of E Expedition. After preparation on the Thursday we got things started on the Friday. Above Alison has caught up with group 2 to see how they're getting on. The weather forecast for the 4 days was not good - rain (lots) and wind (lots), but the girls were ready for it all..

A balanced diet - of processed sugar for dessert!

The groups had some doubtful meal choices - but it's important to have some comforts from home to look forward to eating!! We ALL had luxury items in our rucksacs - but mine weren't marshmallows!

Camp site on night 1 for 2 groups.

Everybody got to camp 1 successfully and managed to find some flat ground that wasn't too boggy. The scenery was awesome, but a little windy and wet - day 2 was planned to be the high mountain day for most groups.

St Margaret's Girls choosing exactly where to put their tents for night 1! - Anjumol, Victoria, Isobel, Ashleigh, Charlotte and Emily.

This is where they decided to camp on night 1 - a beautiful spot.

With Ben Alder as the backdrop, you can't go wrong with this as a campspot.

The high ridge along Beinn Bheoil for the Meg's girls on day 2. It was windy and there was only fleeting visibility, but the girls used their training to stay relaxed, on schedule and confident - very impressive - a strong performance.

Meg's making good use of the bivvy shelter for lunch.

Group 2 proudly sitting at 1034m on Carn Dearg - the highest point they have ever reached. They did well to get here - a long hard hillside to climb - seemingly never ending - but a great reward at the summit - the highest point of their lives to date.

Off now to get to their campsite -they got there in under 2 hours from here - well done.

Group 1 - on day 3 wanting to get to camp before the heavy rain hits - Lauren, Lucy, Fiona, Rebecca and Rosie. They were easily in their tents before the heavy rain struck everybody.

The camp spot for group 2 on night 3. They were so comfortable nobody came out to meet me when I said hello! - It was pouring with rain!

Day 4 had some sunny spells. The heavy rain has passed - only showers were left.. (so yes, we did say the girls might get showers this week - but no we didn't tell them to take shampoo!!! - not that kind of showers!!!)

The Megs girls in fine form - only 6km to go.. They gave a really strong performance over the 4 days - everything perfect (except 1 wrong grid reference - we can forget that lol)..

Alison welcomes group 1 at the end of their 4 day expedition.

Everybody was very happy to finally get to the end !!! Group 3 - Fayne, Kim, Julie, Katie, Minty and Ellie.

Group 2 - Victoria, Rachel, Hannah, Sophie, Ailsa, Lucy and Harriet.

Massive congratulations to all the girls. They all worked so hard in such difficult conditions to complete their expedition. The weather was sometimes awful, and the conditions difficult nad everything was wet - but they all stayed strong and pulled it out of the bag. They always lookd after each other and stayed motivated - They have all deserved to pass with flying colours - WELL DONE... Congratulations from Alison and myself...

Adventure Expeditions

  

Last week I had an excellent week working on an Adventure Expeditions expedition, supervising 2 groups. The first group below, were under assessment and the second group were on their training expedition. We turned out to be really lucky with the weather - there was a little wind on the last 2 days, and a morning of thick mist and poor visibility but the rest of the time was almost perfect exped weather...

Tears, Joanne, Chris, Irene and Hank.

Assessment team - Joanne Miller, Hank Cheung, Irene Kwok, Chris Fox, Tears (Solayr) Layton-Thomas.

Hank Cheung and Irene Kwok.

Natasha, Lizzie, Claire, Anwen.

Anwen

John Knight chatting.

The training team and me.

Victoria Hawkey from D of E Head Office in Windsor and John Knight assessing the group.

It was good to see John again and to meet Victoria from Head Office. Congratulations to the 2 teams on completing their respective expeditions - a job well done. Now they can go home and chill in a bath - and the training team can book their qualifying expedition!

Gold In The Lakes

Team 'Awesome'. Kate, Kerry, Olivia, Adam (aka Kevin), Raj

This week I was working for Adventure Expeditions, on an Open Gold in the Lake District, starting and finishing in Keswick. After initial preparations, the team set off on day 1 from Keswick on Wednesday morning. Everybody left the Youth Hostel happy, but 9 hours later when the 2 groups arrived at the wild camp, people were less happy with their saturated boots - it had been wet and boggy to say the least. At this point the twins, Sarah and Erica, pulled out the genius card - newspaper - and so by the next morning their boots were dry again - they've learnt form their previous expeditions with wet boots!

Sarah, Erica, Martin and Dean

The next morning turned out to be a low point of the week for many, as the hill ascent was long and slow, and even this early in the exped, people had experienced emotional highs and lows. This long day was rewarded with a real campsite at the end with the best of all features - a shower... The weather for the entire week was showery, some heavy downpours, low cloud and fog, but warm and light winds. So it was a wet week, but not 'too' awful (easy for me to say - I was assessing and not walking for the 4 days!).

'We're happy on the inside!'

By the end of day 3, when they had completed the long climb up to the second wild camp, the team were in good spirits - and even the approaching ominous black clouds didn't stop the laughter. Adam found a good solution for wet boots (below). Kerry and co. managed to find something to laugh at, at every campsite. On the last night, the object of humour was Kerry's dish - a Roasting Chicken dish!

Modelling his new footwear, which is very OTM, colour coordinating with his outfit

Kerry showing us her chicken roasting dish - 'Why have you brought that to eat from?' - 'Cause it folds!'.

Grisedale Tarn

Photo for the Adventure Expeditions website. Kate, Olivia, Kerry, Dean, Martin, Raj, Sarah, Erica (sorry if it's the wrong way round), Adam (Kev)

Photo for fun - look excited!

'Look upset' - wow - Kerry looks really upset - acting career ahead of you Kerry...

I cycled down from Grisedale Tarn - but soon found myself flying through the air separated from my bike - my bike had clearly pressed the 'eject' button. I landed somewhere on the floor, and looked round at my bike in disgust (and wished I had better suspension and brakes!). One of my first thoughts was - this is going to ruin my climbing holiday next week. 36 hours later now, and my arm is a lot better, and mobility is improving - but the bike is still in the dog house! Climbing is clearly a safer sport!

The last day was 18km down from the wild camp, off the hills, and back into Keswick to the Youth Hostel. The weather did not co-operate, and it rained for the entire journey. Upon completion at the hostel there were lots of tired legs and rotten feet - but all 9 have successfully completed their gruelling Gold Qualifying Expedition. Congratualtions everybody - I've sent all these photos and more to Cat.

Les Cheserys, Kinou Area

We wanted some more sport climbing so we headed for a crag hoping to avoid the crouds. We went to the Kinou area of Les Cheserys just outside Chamonix. The team today was Alison Culshaw, Lena, Matt and myself. Above Matt can be seen on a route adjacent to La Julanie. After this photo his next pitch was a 7a which he faught up and Alison seconded with style.

Above Lena is leading Kinou pitch 1 at 6b - steep, fingery slab climbing. A great climb. There was nobody else to be seen on this crag - partly because there was NO path leading to it. I wouldn't recomment the crag unless you like jungle bashing and you're bored of good paths!! If you go, look for Matt's sunnies in the jungle at the base of the crag.. Something always happens when rapping!

Adventure Expeditions

Adventure Expeditions is run by Alison and Cat. Here Alison is in mid river cross.

I was with Alison working on this training Gold expedition in the Southern Cairngorm National Park. We started with a training day at their School in Aberdeen. What made the day for me was that I was allowed to park my van literally outside the front door to the Prestigious Independant School! So after a day of school bells and school dinners, we headed off to the outdoors ...

Alison and I made a quick headstart on our bikes! Whilst the girls were walking through day 1.

We all met up at the campsite.. We were lucky with the weather - only heavy showers, rather than constant rain, that I'm beginning to get used to!

At the end of day 3 when the groups had arrived at the campsite, I had to take my leave, half cycle and half walk day 4, get to my van and have a quick turn-around for day 1 at OB tomorrow...