I’ve been involved with Shrewsbury School’s Bronze DofE assessed expeditions for several years now, but have generally found myself unavailable for their training weekends. So it was a nice surprise to find that I was still available to do the training weekends once the dates were confirmed.

Having gone through kit checks at school, we headed for a farm campsite near Church Stretton in the Shropshire Hills. With a limited amount of time, we managed to get the tents up and food cooked before the daylight ran out. It may not sound like much, but the lads certainly had lots to reflect on about food selection.

With the whole of Sunday to play with, I took my group over to the Hope Bowdler area for some concentrated navigation revision. Some of the group were very eager to prove their worth by heading off on their own. So after a couple of hours of recapping some basic skills, I sent them off on a 2km loop to prove their worth.

It all seemed to be going so well to start with. Unfortunately, it transpired that after stopping for a break under the group shelter, three of them headed off leaving the other two to pack it away. By the time I saw them next, the first three had disappeared with only the two making it along the correct route. Apparently, they were unable to find the front three who had gone too far ahead without waiting – and then got lost!

That left me with a fair amount of running around to do, but I eventually found them. It it certainly one of those mistakes you desperately hope they learn from. At the end of the day, it’s better to learn this one on a short walk with a day bag on than on a full day’s walk with expedition rucksacks on. We’ll see how they do on their assessment next month.