From 6th-8th July, 33 Year 11 pupils set off on their Silver Duke of Edinburgh expeditions, ready to take up the challenge of three days walking and camping with their teammates in the beautiful English countryside. Luckily, nice and sunny weather accompanied us during the whole of the three days. The girls walked on the first day and camped at Dalesbridge. They had a great time making dinner together and gathering around the stoves. The teamwork was particularly impressive when it came to putting up the tents, with some teams being faster than the others, instructors and WGS staff were amazed by the kindness of the girls, who helped the other teams getting their tents ready once they had finished. The spirit was positive and cheerful, despite the tiredness after walking and going up and down hills all day.

On day two, the girls walked from Dalesbridge to Ribblesdale camping, again with their 12 kg backpacks. Everybody went on route early in the morning of day two with a big smile and a lot of sun cream! By the end of Sunday, the students clearly had learnt valuable map reading skills and had even created a bond with their instructors, who taught them to trust their instincts and work together. It was clear that the whole group of students had created a strong bond, by seeing how happy they were cooking and having tea together in the evenings, when they claimed to be tired, but did not want to go to sleep because the day had been too exciting!

The girls did their last walking day on Monday 8^th July, and they all agreed that the last day was much easier, having become much more confident about their map reading skills and having walked already for two days. They all were very proud of having completed the expedition together and to have developed remarkable skills. The positivity and resilience were fantastic throughout the whole weekend.

By Sen A Noya, who accompanied the girls on the trip.