The Duke of Edinburgh's Gold Award

aka D of E




So...went back to school at Salisbury to prepare for the journey..getting equipment such as sleeping mats, rucksacks, waterproofs etc
It was a 4 hour drive to Wales. It would've been 3 if there wasnt a massive traffic jam at Bath.



Anyway we arrived at the travel lodge at 8.30pm where i shared a room with Kate and Pip.

After packing our rucksacks, we decided to play card games. Pip brought her pack of cards along.
I thought them how to play chor dai di and they love it xD *not that im a very good player but at least i know the basic rules and tricks :P*

Hannah was supposed to come to D of E but since she was totally sick she couldnt so we're short of one member *minimum 4 ppl in each group* so our teacher in charge decided to add 2 members from other groups to ours. Each day the couple will be from another group. So we had a variety of ppl =)




1st day :




The first day out it was drizzling. Great. It always rain here anyway not a surprise.

Lots of sheep = lots of SHEEP POOP

Little lambs!! awwww >w<

I ran up the hill..i thought it would be easier that way but hell no.

Some woods

Ponnies!!!

Nice car park

Yeaaah another friendly cat!

Sometimes when we're climbing a steep hill i wish i wasnt there. It was SO bad. It would've been okay without the rucksack though..but omg..it was like hell and i couldnt wait to sleep on that first night.

After 8 hours of walking/hiking/climbing uphill downhill we set up the tent. We were the 2nd group back :) We got back at around 5.30pm and we quickly set up the tent (we refering to only kate cuz shes the only pro one at this xD pip is a beginner like me haha) and we also started the fire. No we didnt use 2 rocks or 2 stones or whatever..we had proper matches and green goo in a can as fuel :) yeah green goo literally. And we boiled water.

I ate magi mee while the other 2 ate spagetti without the tomato sauce *hannah was supposed to bring that lol*

Inside the tent. That black thing hanging in the middle is a mini torch. This is actually my first time being and sleeping in a tent.

Since it was still early we played chor dai di again then went to bed at 8. We were very exhausted.

The wind was howling outside but we were safe inside.

Kate : 'The wind is blowing like crazy outside but we're inside the tent..its like..screw you wind!'

I had difficulty entering sleep cuz of the sound of wind..i was mentally cold.

2nd day :

zomg steep hill x..x

the loose rocks weren't really helpful either *grumbles*

Normally after a big hill we would have a break.

When we start to feel cold, its a signal that break time was over.

We were walking on a hill and somehow the map readers of my team got confused by the map.
There was supposed to be a plantation ahead of us instead of a bald hill. So we were wondering whether the map was outdated. But anyway they decided to go to the other hill opposite us which is the picture above.

In order to do that we had to cross a barbed wire fence cuz this isnt a footpath.

After the fence we had to cross a river *no big deal*

THEN

the ultimate challenge : climbing uphill

I swear it was a 70 degree incline.

Since im last most of the time..i saw my team mates ahead of me crawling in all fours in order to get over the hill. I was like laughing to myself cuz i thought they were over reacting or something.

As i got higher up the hill i got my body lower and lower till i was like crouching..then i came to a conclusion that i REALLY had to get down on all fours or else i would definitely fall off the hill backwards! Dont forget we're carrying heavy rucksacks =x

Flat surface!! *mentally kisses ground*



See this? that was that bloody 70 degree incline
Luckily we met a hiker coming down from the pink dotted lines i drew on the hill. And he told us that we were on the right hill. So he told us the quickest and best way back to our camp site.

Btw this is the same hill with the pink dots on the other picture.

Im always the last in uphill climbs. Pip is second last. See how far i was from the rest!!

A zoomed in version from the previous pic with the dotted circle =x

A view from the top..well not actually the top..yet x.x

Then we had to pass through this creepy dark forest.

Downhill T^T

You think downhills are good?

well the answer is NO cuz its almost as bad as going uphill.

Think of going downhill for an hour straight carrying a rucksack. Not very pleasant for the knees and ankles.

The sun was setting. This wasnt good. Cuz we're about 6km (or more) away from the campsite.

There was a crazy downhill i had to face after taking this pic behind me.
After crossing another barbed fence, we decided to just dump our rucksack off the hill as it was way too steep.

We continued our journey guided by the glow emmited by the twilight.

Though it wasnt bright enough for me to avoid all the poop..but wut da heck every muscle in my body cried in agony and it made my head swim..just gotta keep walking as kate said.

We saw the school mini van on the road about 1km away from us. We were still very high up and obviously they couldnt see us. They would pick us up if we were on that road..however we were far from it and so we moved on.

Finally after crossing a couple of fields (prolly even stepped on the world's biggest poo) we finally reached the road.

Except the fact that we were on the other side of the fence. Unfortunately it was barbed and we couldnt get over cuz it wasnt on ground level. So close yet so far.

We walked along the fence to find an exit to the road and we finally found one!

But the school bus didnt pass the road and we didnt know which way to go. We asked for directions and we finally reached the camp site at 9.30pm.

It was freezing cold that night. I quickly boiled some water while kate set up the tent and pip holding the flash light for kate. Apparently everybody was late (not as late as us tho) and we were the 2nd last group back. My whole body was shaking like mad and i couldnt help but to drink some of the almost-boiled water.

It was burning my tongue but at that time i was desperate. After wolfing down my dinner i wrapped myself in my sleeping bag for awhile and went to sleep.

3rd day :

This was how the camp site looked like. We didnt know how it looked like cuz it was pitch black when we arrived that night.

Weather forecast for today : very sunny :)

That's the school mini van

This is the toilet.

No flush. Just a seat.

But i could deal with it cuz i faced the toilets in china

The killer mountain. Its called the Sugar Loaf.

The name came from its looks when its covered with snow. Its super duper steep..thank god we only passed through the shoulder of the mountain.

This was the last hill we had to climb. We would then see a carpark with the van parked there :D

True enough the van was there and i was so excited till i couldnt feel the pain anymore!

I wouldve run towards the van except that it was downhill so i took care of myself just in case i fall badly at the end of the journey. That would be pretty embarassing...

We were the first group back! And so we waited for the other groups to come. It was then i felt the pain kicking in..walking was hell.

Anyway..the journey back was nice..this is the bridge connecting Wales to England.

Bought KFC popcorn chicken on the first stop *MEATTT*

3.5 hours later we arrived school. I stayed over at kate's place for a night and went back to London the following day =)

On the whole i think it was fun. But there were times when i wished i wasnt there.

This is the route of our journey

One of the steep hills..cant remember which one..they all seem the same after awhile haha

The other side of the map which had our route as well x..x

So in summary :

I fell 4 times

I saw 5 sheep skeletons *accidentally kicked the 5th one's skull xD woops*

Avoided countless poops of various animals using my poop detectors : my eyes

We do 4km an hour

We walked approx 60km

Im better at downhill than uphill

I shoulda brought MORE FOOD