Through the glorious sunshine of the last 3 days, I’ve had the pleasure of running a Silver DofE Practice Expedition for a group of 4 lads from the local secondary school. I actually did their training back in April around the Shropshire Hills near Church Stretton, but they are looking for a slightly more remote area for their assessment.

I actually walked with them on Thursday morning, jus to check that everyone was okay and that the more demanding environment of the Berwyns didn’t cause major issues. Some of the route, which was planned to follow rights of way, turned out to be across wide open area of access lans with limited navigational features. However, the visibility was fantastic, giving little overall problems.

With the group settled into the swing of things, I pulled back and started to supervise more remotely, just seeing them through check points. They kept a good pace going and arrived in the first camp site at Pistyll Rhaeadr with plenty of time for a relaxed evening not far from the foot of the waterfall. Food was clearly high on the priority list, as the boys experimented with a number of menus and combinations.

Friday always looked like a long day on the route card and, in the end, the combination of the weather and the demanding route persuaded me to cut it slightly short at the end of the day. The sun was so unexpectedly hot that the group weren’t properly prepared (neither was I!), and they were starting to flag by mid afternoon. It’s amazing what a difference a cold drink from the local store can achieve.

Today saw them heading from Glyn Ceiriog, over Vivod Mountain, towards Moel Ferna and down to Carrog Station. They coped really well with this, and seemed to enjoy the remoteness of the Berwyns. A good job really, as this is the area they’ve selected for their Assessed Expedition in August.

After a successful practice, they’ll now need to start planning their route for the assessment. Hopefully we can get that wrapped up within a week or so.