Bronze DofE: The "real" expedition - The Cotswolds! Day 2...

Day 2 of the expedition and what a beautiful day it was! I woke up at half six and went outside and the sun was just coming over the hills in the distance. It was glorious. I was the only one up from our group so I went for a walk to the toilets and the air was so refreshing. It was a perfect weather day. Sun with some cloud with a slight cool breeze. As time went on more people started to get up. It was half eight and we set off. We all had breakfast and we all re packed our rucksacks to get ready to set off. I thought about the practice expedition when I was putting the tent down and how it was tipping it down with rain and the paths were like mini rivers and people were going home! The atmosphere were strangely different this time round. We were all packed and ready to go, we had a little meeting in the teachers tent to discuss where our check points were going to be and off we went. With a good luck from others and a good luck we returned back, we were off.

Here comes the sun...

We started on the right track but the one thing about the track was that is was muddy, slippery, wet and up hill. So we all power walked up this hill. In front Natalie and Alice's group powering on through the mud. We all got to the top and we carried on with the other group in front of us. Then we got to a gate and guess what was behind the gate? More cows! These cows look friendly enough. We saw a person waving on the other side of the field and we all thought it was the farmer. This person casually walked down the field and before we knew it the cows, again, started to chase the guy down the field. We discovered that it was this boy called Ollie, who managed to jumped over the gate in time before the cows ate him! I have no idea what the cows were doing this weekend but they were definitely not acting like normal cows would! Both groups agreed that we were going to somehow avoid the man eating cows. So we took a right and carried on. We got to a point where everyone was confused about where we were on the map. We said a farewell to Natalie's group because they decided to go a different way to us. Now a good decision maker is what you need for DofE, if no one makes a decision then no one would of gotten anywhere, luckily Lucy decided to go straight on and we did that. A house stood at the end of the track and again me and Lucy went to go and ask for directions. A lovely, old, black labrador greeted us in the garden then this man came out and said we were on the right track, and all we had tot do was carry on to our first check point.

The cows don't look impressed to see us!

We made it to our first check point. Feet in pain from blisters, legs aching from walking up hill. However we were all doing so great. We were making good time, well better than Saturday. We took a slightly shorter route and followed the road a bit. We past some beautiful stone country houses, with roses and flowers that climbed up the wall. It didn't take long before we reached our second check point. But before that we stopped for a rest before heading back up another hill. Amber called me a robot because I just carry on and I can keep on going without resting, she also couldn't understand where I got all my energy from, to be honest neither can I, I'm just used to getting on with things and I'm used to keeping everyone on the go. But that's me for you! Amber decided to have a head start while everyone struggled to get up from the floor. However it wasn't long before we over took her. We made it to our second check point. I was happy that so far we hadn't gone the wrong way and that no one was agruing or stressing about anything, yet! We found the telephone box and decided to have lunch at that point. I wasn't that hungry so I just ate my sandwich and left my snacks for later. Everyone was satisfied with their lunch and they were relieved that we had a good twenty minutes sitting down. For me the more we stopped and the longer we stopped for, the ache in my feet would get worse. And I was right!

Playtime - Hannah and Lucy found a swing and decided
to become 5 again!

Lucy up in front again!

My saying has always been "keep calm and carry on!" especially for DofE this saying is very important. Everyone needs to keep calm so you don't end up stressing someone else in the group and you just have to carry on, even if your in pain or your tired you just have to think about the end feeling. The feeling of relief and success. There's no point in giving up when you're so close to grabbing it. And this is what you've got to remember! We carried on and then we got lost. It wasn't like on the Saturday where we were lost for a long period of time, but for a bit we got lost. We went through the wrong field but again me and Lucy ask this man who told us the way. We found the path again and after a while we were on the side of a field. I looked around at everyone and thought yep, they're ok, they've all got long trousers on. I looked down and I had three quater lengths on, which wasn't the best thing to wear when walking through over grown grass and sharp stinging nettles. Anyway we started to conquer the nettles. It was ok at first, a few moans from the others because they could feel the nettles but I had to hold mine in. At the beginning you could dodge the nettles but half way down it became more nettles than grass and it hurt. A lot! A track went through the field but the path on the map looked like you had to carry on around the edge. So we did. Over grown plants and shap painful stinging nettles surrounded us. At that point the pain was getting ridiculous. I suddenly stopped I said we should go back on the track, my legs were red with pain, I had stings all over them and I had cut my legs too. The others bar from me, Hannah and Lucy walked back up to the track in the middle of the field. Lucy then said I could have her waterproof trousers because she had another pair of long trousers underneather. I told her I was ok but Hannah wouldn't let me go until I had the trousers. Lucy could see I was trying to hold it in and Hannah could definitely see I was in a lot of pain. Now you're probably thinking stinging nettles can't be that bad, but with achey legs and feet, the last thing you want is the little stabs you get from them. Hannah headed back for the others and Lucy took off her top layer of trousers and gave them to me. I was so grateful I had Lucy in my group. I needed someone else to be there for me instead of just me trying to make everyone else happy and to keep them going.

The beautiful Scenery!

My amazing group again!

We were nearly back and I was determined to get back before the mini buses came out to pick us up. Everyone was doing great. And the "robot" had only 20% battery left. During the end of the walk I could feel people were tired and frustrated that it was taking what it seemed like forever. There's a saying: When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hand on. And I was hanging on. It felt like I was hanging on to a thread. My legs killed, my feet ached but I was still postive. I didn't moan, I just got on with it and pushed the others on too. Leading a group is harder than you think, and sometimes you too need someone to tell you that you're doing great and to encourage you to keep you going! Lucy did this, but when we were nearly back the man we saw on the motorbike on Saturday was in his car, he drove past us and told us we were doing great and we were ten minutes away. And that was it, I was off, me and Lucy marched off in front again. The ten minutes seemed like an hour but finally we saw the church! This meant that the car park was opposite and we were back! We were the third group back. I was so proud of my group. Another wave of relief came over me. We had done it. We had conquered DofE! In blood, sweat and tears. We walked up the car park, chucked our rucksacks and ourselves on the floor and relaxed and breathed! The "robot" now has 0% battery left. And I've learnt many things whilst doing DofE. Number one: Don't trust the weather forecast! Number 2: All though you might call me a robot, at some point a robot still needs charging! Number 3: Success is a journey and not a destination, you have to work hard to achieve something and we all certainly did! Number 4: There's always going to be that one person who takes the lead and stays positive, for those who need it to keep them going! DofE has been a great experience. It's been most certainly fun and I'm so proud of my group. But most importantly I have learnt many things from it, that I'll take away and remember and one last thing to say... bring on silver!!!

The robot had finally died!

Bronze DofE: The "real" expedition - The Cotswolds! Day 1...

Here it is. The real DofE expedition! Motivation, determination and encouragement. These words are what you need for DofE, especailly in the real thing. You don't have your supervisor with you on any of the days, so it's up to you to take charge. This weekend was definitely different compared to the practice, from the weather to emotions. However it was so much fun doing it. I've learnt many things over the weekend and one of them was never trust the weather. The forecast for saturday: lightning and rain. Great... Everyone was thinking the same thing, we were all very unlucky about the weather again for our DofE expedition. Everyone was making sure they had their waterproofs out, spare pairs of socks and layers packed. Did we get lightning and rain? No we didn't, saturday was cloudy with a few showers here and there but there was certainly no lightning or heavy rain. We were an hour and a bit on the coach to our starting point. Long Compton. Off we went: me, Lucy, Hannah, Georgia, Frankie, Amber and Emma, our newest member who joined us and took the Moniques place. So we were off, it was half ten and we had been walking for about two minutes before a lady and then a man helped us find the path we needed. I remembered then, in our practice expedition Mr Simmons, our supervisor, said 'You always go the wrong way to start off with!' However we were doing alright, we were just debating on what way to go. So the man and the lady kindly pointed us in the right direction.

Georgia and Lucy are looking happy!

A short stop before we reached the first check point. Hannah
and Lucy look comfy!

Our groups 'focus' was gates. (Thanks Hannah for that creative idea) so at nearly every gate it was photo time. So during this weekend we had everyone posing by the gate to show that we actually had walked through it. Everyone was so far happy. After the first snap shot we had to walk up a hill and that was a sign that it was going to be tough, I knew from the beginning it was going to be a steep climb... Literally, physically and mentally! Just because there's a obstacle in your way, giving up isn't the way to go about it. Obstacles don't have to stop you, if you run into a wall (which would be pretty hilarious if you didn't realise there was a brick wall infront of you) don't turn around and give up, figure out how to climb it, go through it or walk around it. And none of us gave up, which was good because we had a lot more to conquer, not just hills but emotions and the pain from our boots and rucksacks! We somehow we ended up on a muddy, wet and very slippery track, which was shaded by trees which created a tunnel. We slid down the track, filling the silent woods with laughter and the occassional scream from Georgia. No one had fallen over, yet. The only thing that had happened was that I slipped and my foot got suck in a puddle which was pulling me down but then Frankie came and helped me out. Time passed and we had reached our first check point and it was good timing because it was lunch time. (Always the best part) Hannah found a new friend on the way too. It must of been forty five minutes or more before we found the right path, I still don't even know if that was the right way but hey ho we risked it for a biscuit. (There was no biscuit involved, that was slightly disappointing.)

Come on Amber, there's no time to rest and waste!

Hannah's new best friend! A cat!

The pea field which we managed to walk through was rather eventful. Again we filled the silence of the countryside with laughter, well I did. With Lucy and Amber in front and the rest behind, all you could hear was a continuous sentence being repeated. Frankie would say 'tractor track' or 'muddy bit' then Hannah would repeat, then Georgia would repeat. That would carry on all the way down the field, which seemed like forever before we got the end. That was it, after the pea field we were lost, we didn't know what way to go or where we were on the map. We walked trough fields, around fields, we had to turn back on ourselves. It was like we were going in circles, it felt like we weren't getting anywhere and everywhere looked the same! I could feel a slight sense of panic and frustration amongst everyone, however we all had to keep calm and carry on! We would eventually get back on track.

The beautiful Cotswolds!

We ended up in this house back garden! Not bad being lost here!

We walked further on, through more fields and there was a gate with some 'friendly' looking cows in. This moment of DofE will always stay with me. It was a highlight of the weekend! You're probably thinking why on earth would a field full of cows make my weekend?! Well I've never seen anyone run down a field so fast before. So there I was I said I would walk up the field to see if there was a gate and Hannah followed me up so she could called the others if there was a gate. I marched up to the top of the field, the cows still grazing lazily, and there was a gate. I turned around to call to Hannah and the cows were running towards the others as they were all trying to get back through the gate to safety! Then before I knew it Hannah had dumped her rucksack on the floor and sprinted back down the field, waving her arm like some mad thing, she definitely was one then. I was thinking what the hell was she doing? Suddenly this one cow started to run towards Hannah and that was it, I thought the cow was going to eat her and everyone else and I was going to be left by myself with Hannah's flourescent orange rucksack with the man eating cows! I have to admit Hannah running down that hill was pretty hilarious. Well it is now but it wasn't then. After that eventful situatuion with the cows we ended up in someones back garden/field. Then the words came out, the words that I didn't want to particularly hear "We need to phoned Sir. Call schoool" There was no way I was going to call school to say we were lost. Yes were lost, we were lost for ages however there was no need to panic. There was a house which had a drive so there for there must be a road cross to get to the house in the first place. So taking the lead I said we weren't going to call Sir, they can't do anything and the whole point of DofE is to learn to cope with getting lost and to try to find your way back and most importantly NOT to give up, that's not the answer to situations like this.

Luckily this cow was not a man eating one!

We walked down the long drive and me and Lucy went to knock on this houses door. This lady opened the door and the first thing she said was "You're lost aren't you?" So she obviously knew we were doing some kind of expedition. (I think our rucksacks gave it away.) She called her husband down to help give directions and he was telling about his day playing tennis. He finally gave us directions to our second checkpoint and we were back on track. I was trying to make sure everyone was ok and happy. We finally got to the check point and a man in a bright yellow jacket on a white motorbike came up to us. I suddenly thought it was the police so I was trying to think of what we had done wrong! As I was running through the day in my head, thinking we had done something wrong, I realised he had the same map as us and that he was a teacher.Thank goodness for that! He said we were not far from the campsite. So we trudged on, willing to get back before the rain came and finally we made it back.

Hannah and Lucy doing the plank after we saw the teacher on his motorbike!

Relief washed over me and I was proud that we got back and that we had completed the first day. Mr Simmons gave us all high fives and at that moment I thought how on earth did you manage to keep everyone going on the practice expediction, it was hard today, I felt like I was doing his job. I didn't mind though, someone has to keep everyone going and to lead them even if it was the wrong direction. Sir helped us put our tent up because it had started to rain. And that was that. The rain had stopped and we all had hot food and cake because it was Lucy's birthday and it was a good way to end the day.Time, I thought, had gone slow that evening. I gave the best hugs to Natalie and Alice for doing well that day because I wasn't in there group. It was getting on for half ten and we all went into our tents. I got in my tent and a hand randomly appeared through the door of our tent which scared the life out of me but it was only Simmons doing the tent up for me. We were all laughing at Hannah until a stern, serious voice that belonged to Simmons called us out of our tent. That also scared the life out of me because again I was thinking what have we done now. We all scrambled out of our warm sleeping bags into the cold and all the girls had to meet by the toilets because they were a mess and we had to tidy them up. Natalie and some of the others weren't impressed that the teachers had woken them up but it only took ten minutes and then we all dragged ourselves back to bed. And off to sleep everyone went, worn out and happy that we had successfully completed our first day of walikng. We had now only one more day to conquer...

My amazing group!!!

Life's a beach!

You can't get much more bluer than this!

Yes I know another blog about Cornwall, but why not? Cornwall is always full of surprises: from food (The famous Rick Steins fish and chips) to coastal walks to long sandy beaches. Cornwall has it all. Sun, sea and sand! This is about the beautiful Cornish beaches that come in different shapes and sizes! You can discover them by just walking along the cliffs, every corner you turn awaits another cove or bay! All of them are stunning in there own special way! Yellow soft sands and crystal turquoise shallows that fade into the deep inky depths of the sea, that stretch out into the horizon! The salty sea breeze is beautiful and refreshing. The colours vary from the rich greens of the cliff tops to the sun kissed yellow sands; from the bright coloured flowers that sway in the breeze to the shades of blue that create a captivating postcard picture of the sea! Why fly away to a sunny place when you get the same here? The coast of Cornwall, the brilliant beaches and the spectacular sea's...

                                    

The life boat station at Mother Ivey's Bay!

Mother Ivey's Bay is one of my favourite beaches, it's just a small walk around the corner from Harlyn Bay. It's not a big beach, it's a small and mostly quite bay that looks out to the life boat station. The sand is unspoilt by litter and other types of rubbish and only a few people stop on that beach meanwhile the rest just walk on, round to the next. The sea is calm and the waves are small which is ideal for swimmers but not for boarders, plus  there's no life guards patrolling the bay. Over all this cute little cove is near the top of my list of beaches that I love in Cornwall!

As you walk from Mother Ivey's Bay
to Constantine Bay, this is the view! 

This is the rocks on one side of

Constantine Bay!

Walking through the over grown grass of the cliffs, that shape the beaches of Cornwall, the next beach is Constantine Bay. It's link to a small beach called Booby's Bay. Yes it's a funny name I laughed the first time I heard it too! However dividing the two beaches is rocks that create rock pools that look like mini lagoons when the sun is shining. Constantine Bay is a long beach and either side there's rocks that shield the bay. One thing about Constantine Bay is that even when it's sunny and there's no wind, the waves are massive and they come from different directions and if you're boarding you don't know whether to take the wave, go over it or go under it. Either way you have to quickly decide about what you're going to do or the wave will take you under i self and pull you back with it! It's quite scary when a wave is suddenly standing over you. A wave of panic seems to wash over you at that slight second, even though it seems like ages before the wave breaks! It certainly not a good idea for swimmers to go out or the current would just drag you out! The life guides definitely keep an eye out for you here. If you're a tad out of the flags you'll know about it! The sand dunes shelters you from the wind and makes a boundary between you and the golf course that is behind you. You then walk around the next cliff bend and another surprise awaits...

Constantine Bay!

                                    

Treyarnon! This was a funny looking beach, it wasn't long as a normal beach which stretches out for miles, but it was long as in more vertical, so you had a lot of beach to walk down before you got to the sea, maybe it was because the tide was out! Who knows? It was a quirky beach anyway. It was sheltered by cliffs and rocks, one rock pool was big enough and deep enough (well for a child anyway) to swim in. This rock pool too look like a mini lagoon. The water was a lovely greeny blue colour when the sun was out. The sun made everything brighter especially the sea! All these beaches are special however my favourite beach, and it will always be my favourite, is Harlyn Bay!



Treyarnon Beach!



Treyarnon beach with the rock pool in view!



Harlyn Bay! It's a bit cloudy!

Harlyn Bay! The one place that is special and perfect to me. I don't need to travel far to get blue sea's and yellow sands, I don't need to go to exotic places to make me feel like I've been on holiday to a special place! Harlyn Bay is my special place, rain or shine it's still a favourite of mine! It can be a place to relax or escape to or a place of discovery or even a place where you can release all of your energy. With a long stretch of beach that is golden from the sea that suddenly turns into a white soft blanket between your toes and the sea which creates perfect waves for surfers and swimmers; that shimmers in the sunlight! The sea transforms with the weather, if it's sunny and hot the sea will be a brilliant bright blue and calm, however when the weather comes in from the horizon and its heavy rain and wind, the sea will suddenly turn rough and the waves would fiercely crash into the cliffs! Hot or cold; sunny or wet either way Harlyn Bay is number one! It's a special place and it always will be...

Harlyn Bay from a different angle! It's sunny!