Gwilym's Adventure Blog

  The last 2 days I have been working in The Brecon Beacons with a groups from Bristol Cathedral School

 The last 2 days I have been out and about on The Mendips hills conducting a Bronze DofE Assessment for Churchill Academy. 

 I stayed local on The Quantock Hills this weekend working on a Bronze DofE practice expedition for Somerset Adventures . 

I have just got back from a great week in The Lake District assessing a Gold DofE Expedition for Bristol Cathedral School .  It was mainly dry at the start but got wetter during the week to end with a very damp days. The pictures are from the first 2 days before the rain set in.

4 days of assessing Gold DofE on Dartmoor. Great to get out and about myself whilst seeing the group in various location throughout the expedition.

This sums up my last three days. I have been on Dartmoor assessing a Silver DofE group as they moved from one shady spot to another via a few km of relentless sun.  Super early starts and sensible decision making to reduce the time spent in the direct sunlight as most of the shade spots already taken by sheep, cows or horses. DofE expeditions are meant to be challenging but this one was another level. Big effort from my team to successfully complete and I am sure the same for any other team out over the last few days (at least 10 I know of)

I stayed up in Snowdonia to work on a Gold Duke of Edinburgh Expedition for Churchill Academy. 5 groups out walking through the national park (3 practice and 2 assessed) whilst I was doing some remote supervision, checkpointing and sitting in the rain.

Out on a wet and misty Exmoor with Churchill Academy l assisting with some Silver DofE practice expeditions. I think the pictures explain it well!

Yesterday was dry and very pleasant up high in the Brecon Beacons with a summit of Fan Y Big with a Gold DofE training group from Bristol Cathedral Choir School . Today was very wet and somewhat windy, so it was a short 3 hour "wet weather" experience for the groups before we turned and ran downhill back to the minibus and the journey back to Bristol

4 very mixed weather days in The Lake District working with some Gold DofE groups from Bristol Cathedral school. A full traverse from Ravenglass to Coniston with a wild camp out under Scafell pike for my team giving me the challenge of moving a minibus and running around the hills. Now sat in a cafe waiting for the second team to come in so we can get on the road back to Bristol. Going to be a late one methinks.

Yesterday and today I was back in the Mendip Hills and surrounding area assessing a number of teams from Churchill Academy . 8 teams in total (although only 3 for me) all coping well with a variety of weather From North Wooton, through Wells, Wookey and Ebbor Gorge was wet at the start but still gave us a lovely evening for camping.  Off on my holidays tomorrow so stay in touch for some Motorcycle Travel posts

Yesterday and today I was in the Mendip Hills and surrounding area assessing a couple of teams from Churchill Academy . 7 teams in total (although only 2 for me) all coping with some pretty wet weather at times. From North Wooton, through Wells, Wookey and Ebbor Gorge was wet but it finally dried out after that ending in a lovely evening for camping. Today was on and off showers and all the groups were in and finished by 4pm. Must be a popular weekend as there were hundreds of others out and about from various schools around the area.

After another long drive back to Bristol on Monday afternoon, on Tuesday morning I drove the same minibus back up to Snowdonia with the second wave of groups from Bristol Cathedral Choir School for their Gold DofE practice. Similar routes and yet again we had amazing weather during the day but it was certainly cold at night with temps dipping below zero and ice on the tents. I really enjoy working with the staff and students from this school and look forward to their summer expeditions to The Lake District this summer.

After a long drive back from Wales on Thursday (in a blizzard), on Friday morning I drove a minibus back up there with groups from Bristol Cathedral Choir School for their Gold DofE practice. So different by the time we got there with most the snow gone other than a few patches on Cadair Idris and Aran Fawwddy. We had amazing weather for the trip with only light drizzle on the first day. Some lovely evenings in the campsites and a pleasure to be sitting around on the hills waiting for groups. Tomorrow morning it all starts again with the next cohort.