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!

31st Aug - 5th Sept, Gold D of E Practice Expedition

During the training the bothy bags were invaluable because we had such terrible weather. In this session, both groups chose to get in their bags. Apparently space was limited and one girl couldn't fit both arms inside..

At this point both groups were in their bothy bags and the dog was in his (no dogs were harmed in the making of this photo).

At last one of the groups realised it wasn't raining any more..

Here's the same group of girls in poor visibility but looking confident approaching the top of the hill.

The week started with some navigation practice.

This was a week for an Open Gold D of E Practice Expedition. 15 candidates attended. The weather was particularly terrible this week, with rain followed by rain and Thursday was very testing with strong strong wind. The groups all made fantastic decisions in testing situations, at least one group had to use an escape option on Thursday to escape the wind. 1 candidate pulled out on the third day, but all the others managed to get to the end of the expedition in Abergavenney. Huge congratulations to them all, and best wishes for your assesments..

24th - 29th Aug, Gold D of E Assessed Expedition

A group just passing me, with Pen Y Fan and Corn Du in the distance. A couple of groups will be going over there tomorrow.

I'm left wondering whether the group will get caught in another massive downpour - oh, and me too, hood up..

A better day today looking over the reservoir at Pen Y Fan again.

I had a chance to lay down (groups never turn up when you expect them to) - this is the way a sheep would see Pen Y Fan, if it were bothered to look around.

The group arrived at the wild camp, and asked where they could camp, the dead sheep put them off the best spot. The group were happy enough with this flat spot, running water and fresh air.

This week was an Open Gold D of E Assessed Expedition with A to Z Expeditions. All the candidates arrived on the Monday afternoon, when Andy and I met them. We had to quickly get them all acquainted and working in teams - they were future best friends but didn't know it yet.

Eventually after 2 days of final training and preparations they were ready for the actual assessed expedition. Unfortunately the weather was going to be a massive test - RAIN RAIN HAIL and WIND :(

After day 1 with constant unrelenting wind and rain, the strain was showing on them all, especially those arriving at their wild camp - no luxuries there. Everybody got personal showing blisters and war wounds. Unknown to them all - by the morning 1 would drop out.

In the morning, I met them at 7am (I'd come from the luxury of a campsite with 'taps'), and yes the strain of the day before and the mess of blistered feet became to much for 1 candidate.

Day 3 saw the final moments of another candidate, hip pains, exhaustion and sore feet becoming too much to bare. The others pushed on and finally in the final day, when we all experienced 'SUN'. they arrived at the fabled End of Expedition.

The assessors passed them all - congratulations to them all.

Open Bronze D Of E Assessment

Congratulations to Sophie, Sophie, Gemma, Jordan, Matt and Lewis on completing their tough Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Expedition...

I was working for A to Z Expeditions. I found myself in Exmoor starting an assessment in Dunster near Minehead. The group arrived on time and we quickly set about preparing for the exciting 2 days. Kit was checked, routes were planned, food was eaten, the ice cream shop was looked at! Eventually the group was ready and the adventure started...
The group discovered that they liked sitting down a bit too much, and time slipped by, and even with no navigation errors (well done) they somehow managed to get into campsite after 9pm!! They'd walked for about 9.5hours! - But this is only Bronze!
Emotions were high, but still tents were down, so there was work to be done. Everybody rallied to get it done, but somehow they were only ready for bed by 11.30pm - tired (when do the midges go to bed - they'll be waiting for us in the morning).
Well done on getting up early - Lewis, did you get up on time? The day started well, But at about lunch time the group didn't spot an awful mistake, South instead of North, right instead of left - and so the adventure turned.
Fields were crossed, even streams were crossed, and eventually they got somewhere where they could strike for the finish - Minehead.. Eventually after over 8 hours of walking (how much time sat down!) they got to their waiting parents - and it was over. Smiles all round, blisters all round?
Gemma, Sophie and Sophie, will probably never see Lewis, Matt, and Jordan again. The boys were terrific, they helped the girls so much (even helped carry the heavy rucsacs for a bit). The team really came together in the spirit of D of E. A true success story and an Expedition to be proud of...
Get the Presentation done now..
Then finish the other parts of Bronze ans go for Silver...
Thank you, all, you made my weekend interesting, a little stressful, but also fun..

D of E Accredited Assessor Course

On the Saturday 13th I went to Plas y Brenin for the Duke of Edinburgh Accredited Assessor Course.

The course was good and so soon I hope to be an accredited assessor for all levels of D of E.

The venue was of course PYB, a place I know well, so I thought I'd take these photos from the centre to show the stunning views for all to see. You can see the Snowdon horseshoe in the distance.

The course finished early, so I managed to get onto Grooved Arete on Tryfan. As I topped out, I realised there were so so many goats on the mountain. I was able to sit and watch the goats at the top of Tryfan as the sun set - magical.