Much delayed DofE expeditions here due to covid. We’ve had four different weekends postponed due to volunteer or youth illness.

Fingers crossed we are systems go for next weekend (the long one) for Bronze and Silver across the Trossachs.

Still, we were fortunate to get some local windfarm funding for our BB DofE group – I have a pile of shiny tents and masses of other kit to loan gathering in my office
😎

Daughter getting ready for practice bronze, eldest FINALLY doing his residential to complete his gold in the summer, which will pretty much complete his Queens Scout as well 🤞

my boy is, his been running OK. 4 weeks till the main event.

Things he’s learned….

It’s a long walk.
He eats lots
Pasta done in a pan sticks to the bottom.

Mine is pretty keen to get started but only just old enough patience is needed whilst the school get things organised. I reckon it’ll be a great experience and I’m looking forward to hearing the stories of how it all pans out.

Pasta done in a pan sticks to the bottom.

Try blended porridge oats mixed with skimmed milk powder (add some sugar/stevia if you want). Add some dried mixed fruit and chopped dates. Bag it up into portions. Just add hot/boiled water when you want to use it. Won’t stick to the pant then 😉 (of course it’s not pasta, mind you!)

My lads doing his bronze, not actually sure when the main event is, but he’s been volunteering at history club at school, doing life saving (swim) course and going to the gym lots.

He’s really looking forward to the overnighter.

My lads doing his bronze, not actually sure when the main event is, but he’s been volunteering at history club at school, doing life saving (swim) course and going to the gym lots.

Easy to forget it’s not just the expeditions- eldest volunteered at his music centre which became a paid position afterwards, and ended up pmaying table tennis as his sport as it was all he could get to.

Daughter has been volunteering as a young leader with a Rainbows group, and much to her surprise is really enjoying it.

15 year old daughter did her silver practice on Dartmoor 3 weeks ago – back down there for the real thing in July.
Hopefully she’ll remember her walking boots for the real thing!

I helped the Mrs spend £600 of the college’s money last night at Go Outdoors.

Off up the Angus Glens in a wee while, then off up the Angus Glens, the Angus Glens, Cairngorms, Knoydart between now and middle of July. Last year for me, been 31 years with only the Covid year off.

My 14yo daughter doing her Bronze exped next week. I’ve been blown away by the lack of training. They not cooked on stove, not put up a tent, not packed a rucksack. I’ve helped her out with all of the above but I don’t think many of the other kids will have a clue on basic exped skills.

I really would love to help out more with group training but I’m already overloaded with volunteering commitments, simply don’t have the time.

My 14yo daughter doing her Bronze exped next week. I’ve been blown away by the lack of training

Has she not had to do a practice expedition? Daughter doing her bronze expedition in September, there’s a practice expedition in July, last weekend they (she’s doing it through Guides) had an overnight camp to put up tents, use stoves, practical map reading and carrying the kit.

My 14yo daughter doing her Bronze exped next week. I’ve been blown away by the lack of training.

Where i live/ride seems to be a haven from city kids being bused out of London to do DofE expeditions.
There is a massive disparity between the best prepared/equipped (who look like Paras marching up that mountain on the Falklands) to the worst prepared who’ve clearly done no training and have no clue what they’re doing.
I’ve seen girls walking in Wellies, and kids walking in torrential rain with totally inappropriate clothing.
My daughters school are quite well set up for this – they have DofE sessions after school one night per week and have a good selection of quality kit to lend out.
They also do a full practice hike for each level.

The 14 year old spawn is doing his practice expedition in a couple of weeks.

He’s done his volunteering at an animal shelter, skill is cooking which he has nearly finished and his sport is dodgeball.

I think he is excited about the walk, that may change when he puts the fully loaded pack on for the first time.

Loads of DofEers on my local loop on Sunday looking shell shocked/lost.

The girls groups seem better at staying together and repacking their packs.

My lad has his Bronze Expedition in September, but has done his volunteering (Cub Leader), physical (Karate – he’s going for his black belt) and skill (Guitar lessons). Starts his Silver straight after through Explorers.

He’s go no worries about the expedition as he’s done double the distance with Scouts & Explorers. His biggest problem is trying to find someone who will have him in their team!

I wish I’d done DofE. Think I was put off by the volunteering/meeting people/having to interact with normal humans stuff, and I was shy and lazy. But I’d have loved the expedition.

My son is doing his Bronze this year & into next, practice October and proper one in March. We have most kit but want to get him a rucksack, don’t want the first time he walks with a load of kit to be his expedition. Any recommendations? He’s 5’10” and growing so will need one that fits his height. The school will lend them tents, stoves, etc. Do they all have to use Trangia’s or can they take a little gas stove and their own cookware?

Although my son is doing his volunteering and other bits and they’ve had a practice walk, he hasn’t done any other practice stuff, that we know of anyway.

I was asking him if he’d need to cook for himself and what kit he needs, but he didn’t know. I never had the chance to do DofE when I was a kid so know nothing about it.

My lad’s school are very proactive with the training. They’ve had weekly after school lessons for a few months now. Pitching tents, map reading, navigation cooking on Trangias and so on.

They’ve got a practice hike in a couple of weeks where they will set off from school and navigate around a circular route through the local farms for a couple of hours. He’ll be fine because a) he knows what he is doing and b) we live on the route, so it won’t be much of a test. However, I suspect that some will struggle.

Can I just take the opportunity to say that if your kid wants to do more of this they could do worse that join a local Explorer unit. Ours are doing DoE Silver then Gold. The opportunities that are available are phenomenal if they want to have a go.

This was the Scout’s expedition that they did as 13 year olds last year. https://www.strava.com/activities/5680283328 Starting and finishing at the same place for logistical reasons, but the still had to carry their kit. I did it with them as a supervisor and it was a great, if knackering, experience.

@chowsh our lad has a Vango backpack – he went from 5’9 to just shy of 6’in the course of the bronze, silver and gold, and you can adjust the straps/back length.

Daughter can manage with it for bronze, but if she carries on we’ll have to see if there is a more suitable one for a female torso.

What sort of size ruck sack will they need? I’ve no idea how much stuff they’ll need to take.

I have pretty much everything he’ll need but could do with getting him a nicer ruck sack that’ll be a bit lighter than my old thing….

We got J a Vango 60L pack, seems good for the money.

https://www.outdooraction.co.uk//vango-contour-50-60s-rucksack-p1545/s5440

It’s not Osprey quality but it’s fine for the few days he and hopefully his brother will use it.

cool, thats looks like a decent price. Was just going to get one from Decathlon but thats half the price!!

Pasta done in a pan sticks to the bottom.

not enough water and too much heat

Random navigation Q, when I learnt map reading etc magnetic declination was about 5/6 degrees so add to map etc was necessary.

Now it’s fallen to about 0.5 deg, do they still teach it – and even if they did, would anyone bother? I assume not…

Met a bunch out last weekend on – feasibly – day 2 of their Bronze – judging by area and terrain. First encountered the supervisor, some way ahead, sitting on a tree trunk with map and book..

Mrs t-r mob never stopped.

during covid they did all the skills other than the physical sleeping in the tent part(still carried it pitched it and cooked a meal on a trangia) as other than having individual tents you couldn’t risk assess the sleeping part away….they also couldn’t travel in a bus….. So lucky there’s good expansive woodlands/hills near by the school

But then it is part of the curriculum in their school if you choose it so as one of the few outputs( non exam based learning) from the course they had to find a way.

We’re on what seems a pretty standard route. So far have helped two groups with their map reading and one group by giving them use of a bathroom! All were in good spirits!

Loads of groups out today between Nethy and Glenmore. Looked like DoE material (excessively large rucksacks, stuff hanging off, general surliness).

Drove up past Glenbrook in Hope Valley a month or so ago at 9am on a Sunday – was like a star burst of DofE groups scattering in all directions with their bright orange rucksack covers.