At the beginning of April, I was working for Oswestry School on their Gold Duke of Edinburgh training package. This weekend was the turn of the Bronze candidates, many of whom had had little or no previous experience of camping and navigation before.
We based ourselves at Carrog Station Campsite, about 10 minutes drive from Llangollen. It’s an idea venue as one side of the valley offers an area of footpaths and linear features, whilst the other side heads up onto the Berwyns with a much more remote feel to it.
Having arrived at Carrog, the skies were looking fairly threatening, so the first task was to get the tents up to provide a bit of shelter. With several different designs of tent going up, it took a little while to get them all sorted, but we managed to finish before the heavens opened.
We then spent some time looking at safe use of Trangia stoves, appropriate expedition kit and how to pack a rucksack before heading out for a 4 hour introduction to navigation. It was during this walk that one member of the group decided to use a stick as a walking pole. Due to it’s length making it look more like a staff, he soon earned the nickname of ‘Moses’ which stuck for the whole weekend. Fortunately, most of the group soon got the basic techniques of navigation, and we didn’t end up walking in circles for 40 years!
Thankfully, the rain held off for most of the evening, making it relatively pleasant to prepare and cook dinner. As is almost always the case with those new to cooking in this environment, there were some interesting choices of meals. Some were very good, and gave me a few ideas, but others will probably be rethinking for next time.
Although the heavens opened for long periods of the night, everyone managed to stay remarkably dry in their tents, and were up and busy surprisingly promptly in the morning. Groups often underestimate how long it will take them to get ready in the morning but, on this occasion anyway, they seem to have listened to my hints the night before.
Just as we were about to leave for todays walk up to Moel Fferna on the Berwys, the rain came down with a vengeance and my group retreated into the minibus. To make use of the time, we talked about emergency procedures in the event of an accident, but everyone was relieved to be on our way once the rain eased off a bit. We did a bit of work on pacing and timing distances, as well as basic compass work and contour interpretation. The DofE syllabus doesn’t expect much knowledge of compasses and contours at Bronze level, but it’s certainly good to have a basic understanding of them.
By the time we reached the top of Moel Fferna, it was getting a bit on the breezy side! So we grabbed a bit of shelter from the rock shelter at the top to have a bit of food before moving on. All three walking groups had performed pretty well, so we made the decision to let them make their own way back down to the campsite unaccompanied. This gave them the chance to see that they can do it themselves, grow in confidence and have a bit of independence.
As is always the case, some seemed to enjoy the experience more than others, but everyone grew in both ability and confidence over the weekend. They’ve now got 2 weeks to rethink some of their kit and food choices before a bit more training and their practice expedition later this month. From what I’ve seen this weekend, they shouldn’t have too much trouble.
