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 !!

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...

Gold In Scotland

Di Gilbert

For the last 5 days I was working for Alison Culshaw (@GoldExpeditions), with Di Glibert (blog), on a Qualifying Gold DofE expedition near Ben Alder. We were with 6 well trained and prepared groups of girls from Aberdeen, who all set off in good weather and spirits last Friday.

Di moving her bike trailer across the bridge

Alison and Di made good use of their bike trailers for the trip while I made good use of my back! The weather proved to be chilly but almost perfectly dry (except for the above photo!) - and I got away without the need for goretex for the entire trip - but extensively used primaloft and fleece!

Cycling into Culra Lodge

Blue skies, a perfect wild camp?

Day 2 and 3 were also perfect days - dry and cold (although a little windy yesterday). The groups and I managed to collect a few of the local munros, with fantastic summit views.

Group 1 high on the hill

Lochan na h-Earba. The view from a wild camp 2 nights ago

Group 6 setting off on their day 3 yesterday

Thank you to Florence for this grass bracelet

All of the participants from all the 6 groups planned and executed terrific expeditions and arrived at the finishing point dry and in good spirits. Thank you to all the groups who made my assessment job easy, and managed to make me laugh at the same time.

The look of success - seconds after completing their Assessed Gold exped

Group 1 singing in front of Di Gilbert

Congratulations to everybody and good luck with your next challenge, whether it be getting into Cambridge to read Economics, reading medicine, or getting into Nandos in Aberdeen this week!

Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar School

What kind of fun? - armless obviously lol....

So today we found ourselves at TWGGS running a silver D of E exped training day for 7 groups... It turned out to be fun - the qualifying exped will be in October - let's hope for warm weather, like most of them had in training...

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.