On 2nd July, 14 LVI (Year 12) pupils left school to travel to the Yorkshire Dales, ready to start their Gold DofE expedition.
The journey was long and hot but all the girls were in a confident mood. The three teams met their assessor that evening at Hawes Youth Hostel, their base for the night. They impressed him with their organisation, paperwork, knowledge and well packed rucksacks. They were dropped off at each of their starting points the following morning, ready with plenty of water to take on the challenge of the expedition. All of the groups had wonderful views with the bright hot sunshine; this weather made it more challenging to walk the 20+ km per day, however they were all up to the challenge! With layers of sun cream, insect repellent and sun hats, they walked off into the distance.
All the teams were met to replenish water and to check everyone was ok during the day and then on their campsites, which ranged from small commercial sites to a farm field shared with the locals (four legged woolly sheep!) The Geographers in the groups saw a number of features that they had studied from limestone pavements to Mallam cove to sink holes and everybody was impressed by the beautiful landscape! All four days were very hot but the teams found shade during the day to rest and have lunch and recover before completing their planned route. Everyone worked well within their teams and completed their expedition at Settle railway station. Well done to everyone who completed this challenging expedition.