Having spent last week with Shrewsbury School, working on their Bronze DofE assessed expeditions, I was drafted in at relatively short notice to supervise a Gold DofE Practice expedition. They were actually due to do their practice in April, but it had to be postponed due to the excessive snow for the time of year. The group will be doing their assessed expedition in the Peak District, but four days in Snowdonia was aimed at preparing them properly. By chance, I spent some time last week with the instructor that ran the group’s training back in October, so I managed to get some useful information about their strengths and weaknesses.
After the routine kit checks, we headed out to Capel Curig at spent the afternoon around the Craig Wen area to the East. This was a chance to get out and brush up on some of those navigation skills, without having to worry about carrying large expedition rucksacks. We also found time to run through emergency scenario procedures before heading back down to the minibus.
The school had actually booked us in to the Swallow Falls Youth Hostel, which proved to be very comfortable and the staff were very accommodation. We even had access to a work room in which the group could prepare detailed route cards, for the coming few days and their assessed expedition in August.
Thursday morning saw everyone getting packed up before driving round to the car park to the north of Llyn Eigiau Reservoir. From there, the group spent the day winding their way round to the Ogwen valley while I supervised from a distance. Gwern Gof Isaf camp site proved to be ideally situated, but the still evening and resulting midgies were a nightmare and forced everyone to retreat into their tents pretty swiftly.
Friday’s route had the group heading north, past the Ffynnon Llugwy Reservoir up onto the ridge towards Carnedd Llewelyn, Foel Frach and Garnedd Uchaf before dropping down to a wild camp site by Craig y Dulyn. By the time they’d made it onto the ridge, the cloud had drawn in and visibility was very poor. I found myself feeling the need to remain with them – still allowing them to make all the decisions, but being there in the background just in case. Although they soon became disorientated after the summit of Carnedd Llewelyn, they actually coped very well with difficult circumstances.
The wild camp site turned out to be a fantastic venue, and their seemed to be a sense of achievement and pride in having reached this precious spot. Things got a bit blowy overnight, with one tent starting to blow away before someone had chance to get in it, but it added to the wild feel of the place.
Today was all about getting off the hill and heading back to school to finish off all the necessary planning for their assessed expedition later in the Summer. After the last few days, it seemed pretty straight forward with the big challenges behind them.
The thing that stood out for me over these last four days was how well everyone got on with each other. They were all looking out for each other and being supportive wherever it was needed. No big egos, just a fantastic group to work with. It really has been a pleasure to work with them. I wish them every success for their assessment.
