On 2nd July, a group of LVI girls set off for the Lake District to complete their Gold DofE Final Walking Expedition.

On the first night, the girls stayed in Keswick and met their assessor, who went through the safety briefing, and the following morning the girls split into two groups and began their four day expedition. The girls faced some extremely challenging routes, walking up steep mountains, including helvellyn, and across some rough terrain. One group walked across towards Ullswater, while the second group headed for Buttermere.

On the first day it was hot, while the second day brought rain and humid conditions, attracting many unwelcome midges! The girls walked about 22km each day with heavy rucksacks which contained all of their kit – food, supplies, tent and their clothing for the four days. They demonstrated their resilience as they were met by fresh challenges each day, climbing up to 2,000 ft in difficult conditions.

The girls used their micro-navigations skills, often walking in low cloud, and they all completed the expedition with flying colours, with the assessor commenting on how impressive they had been during the expedition. Many congratulations to all the girls.