Posting by Grigor Wallace, Duke of Edinburgh Co-ordinator at The Sixth Form College, Solihull.
Myself and a small group of volunteers took a group of adventurous students from The Sixth Form College, Solihull up north to the wild open country of the Cheviot Hills in Northumberland recently, as the students undertook their final assessed expedition for their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award.
There were 18 students on the trip and I'm delighted to say we were blessed by largely good weather conditions. Although not very warm, it was good walking weather, apart from one day when the visibility was much reduced and there were showers throughout the day. We travelled by coach to the Cheviots, stopping on the way to admire the Angel of the North, an iconic and inspiring structure near Newcastle
We all camped together on the first night in what were relatively kind conditions - what you would expect from the season. From then on, for the rest of the four-day and three-night trip the students camped in small groups and were self-supported.
Their camp craft skills came into their own in the evenings and daylight hours were spent navigating pre-planned, physically-demanding routes. The navigation was generally excellent and all the students showed exceptional team work and camaraderie. Inevitably there was the odd wrong turn taken, but the students all found their way in the end, and that's the goal.
This was an excellent trip, not least because all 18 students passed and achieved their Gold Award, so we congratulate them on their achievement. Perhaps what is most pleasing was their behaviour. The Cheviot Assessor commented on what good groups they were and more than one member of the public commented to me on what polite and friendly students we have.so they all did very well.
Thanks go to the volunteer staff: Dave Lewis, Jag Jagdev and John Williams, as well as the two Mountain Leaders Jenny Hall and Louis Hume. Their help was invaluable and without it trips of this kind would not be possible.
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