The summer holidays ended for 32 of our curent Upper Fifth students heading out on their delayed Bronze Qualifying Expedition. The group were in good spirits as they arrived at their base camp at Waddecar Scout Camp in the Forest of Bowland and were met by the team of instructors and assessors from DofE approved activity provider, Sam Sykes Ltd. After brief introductions with their individual instructors, each group was led off and tasked with setting up their camp area, and there’s nothing like putting up tents to test the teamwork of a group! The rest of the first day was spent refreshing their navigation, camp craft and route planning skills, which included a short three hour walk in the afternoon and a lesson in stove safety and cooking. Each group had to cook a hot meal using the Trangia stoves. They were tucked up in their tents by 9.30pm but the excitement of being out with friends meant silence didn’t strike until almost midnight!
The groups set off the following morning on the routes they’d planned the night before. Each group followed a slightly different route, but all successfully made it up and around the area of Beacon Fell, to the Bowland Visitor Centre and back to camp in one piece. Whilst unaccompanied, the instructors were close at hand and met their groups a couple of times at pre-arranged checkpoints. This ensured they completed their routes in the six hour timescale allotted to Bronze expeditions.
