Gold DofE

Last week, I went on my Gold DofE final expedition. I was really dreading it because I was sure something bad would happen to me. The expeditions are really hard because you end up in so much physical pain (because of our rucksacks carrying everything we need) and this expedition was going to be the hardest. We had 4 days of walking and 3 nights of camping.
So here's the breakthrough of the week:

Monday: travelled down to Conwy in Wales where we lodged in a youth hostel.

Tuesday: official start of the expedition. Had 25km to walk... we started off early about 7:50 and arrived at camp 12 hours later. We didn't get lost at all but it started raining heavily and I was completely soaked through. My waterproofs proved not to be waterproof. Even my walking boots were soaked but luckily my socks remained waterproof. We wild camped so we were surrounded by sheep poo and set up our tent by a broken down ruin on the middle of a hill. Thinking back, we are very trusting to camp without any sort of supervision and protection... I guess thats the good thing about the UK. We seem to be much more relaxed about our personal safety compared to other countries. Oh yeah, we were first to camp! We also had music and sang and danced for motivation.

Wednesday: left at a later time. The walk was only 10km and it was very sunny. Fell in a bog which wasn't fun. Half my right leg went in and it was like quick sand. I was screaming and everyone was amused. Arrived in camp at about 4. First there again woo :)

Thursday: woke up at 2am to serious toothache. 20km so left early. Weather was very mixed. We worked so well as a team. Got to camp at 8pm and it was such a relief. We were the only dofe group there. We were invited to sit around this man's (and son and son's friend) campfire which was so lovely and warm. Made toast :)

Friday: woke up at 4 (the the alarm clock music being the circle of life haha) and started walking at 5:20. Dropped one teammate at a car park to be picked up at 5:30. 7km. It rained so much. Got a bus to Porthmadog train station. While walking to the station,  I was genuinely worried I was going to get hypothermia because my clothes were soaked and the cold early morning wind was drawing all my body heat away. I got changed on a bus that we were taking shelter in until our mode of transport actually arrived. Even though we finished walking at 7:10am, because of public transport and waiting for it, I didn't get home until 2pm! We were hysterical with tiredness and very sarcastic so the people around us had a much more entertaining journey.

Once I got home, I felt so relieved. I showered then had a bath then showered again. My whole body was in pain, even my tongue! On Saturday,  I went to my cousin's house and my aunt gave me a full body masage which was so good:)

It was very difficult both mentally and physically but I couldn't have asked for a better team. We all glued so well and looked out for each other unlike other groups that we could hear constantly bickering. I also enjoy the camping aspect (though I did miss my bed) and it's a nice social. I did enjoy it, I loved camping. But the walk is pretty intense and to be honest,  its your rucksack that makes it difficult.

So now I need to finish off my volunteering,  skill and physical activity and then I'll meet the actual Duke of Edinburgh to receive my certificate!