Hey Blog! To return to the note my lovely, helpful and rather brilliant editor made in my last post, I am indeed going to tell you about the Duke of Edinburgh\u2019s Award and what I\u2019ve been doing to get my Bronze qualification!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first time I heard about DofE is a little stuck in my memory, even if the details are not certain. The family and I were in the car on the way for a walk somewhere and we noticed some older kids with big rucksacks and someone remarked that was probably for DofE. I only really concentrated on it when I progressed from Scouts and became aware that Explorers offers a DofE program, as 14 is the first age from which you can start it; and the three top awards in Explorers (Platinum, Diamond and King\u2019s Scout) run concurrently to the Duke of Edinburgh\u2019s Awards (Bronze, Silver and Gold). However, at 14 I felt I had enough to be getting on with for the time and decided to wait for about six months before starting. While initially completely unsure of what I wanted to do for the three sections apart from the expedition, I was able to come to a decision to choose Young Leading with the Beavers for Volunteering (which I was already doing anyway \u2013 you\u2019ve heard a lot about it and I probably don\u2019t need to tell you much more); Cricket for Physical (which I was still deliberating about continuing, but decided to go for it, loved it, and am certain I will next year \u2013 once again, I\u2019ve told you about this so I can pass it over), and Baking for Skills. Let\u2019s start with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can see now that this is a join-the-dots of my work so far. Baking, something I was planning to learn (along with cooking \u2013 maybe that will be for Silver) was the only thing I needed to do above and beyond what I already knew. I know how to make shortbread by heart \u2013 the only thing I already do know from memory \u2013 but decided I want to make an afternoon tea. I must have been mad. But then, so far, it\u2019s going well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have made several varieties of biscuit, maybe needing one more batch to round it off; I have further practiced four different cakes \u2013 chocolate, banana, Victoria sponge and lemon drizzle \u2013 the last two have been particularly delicious and are contenders for the tea party I plan to bake for next week. I have made two batches of scones, one with fruit and one without, because I forgot to put it in \u2013 they will definitely be on the table. I have tried flapjacks, which went down very well on the expedition; muffins, with After-8s on the top at a friend\u2019s suggestion, which are delicious;<\/em> and I need another practice at bread and that will be it \u2013 so I know what I have left to do now!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back to the expedition. Because I have done lots of walking, am accustomed to carrying heavy backpacks, have practiced with a camping stove, and can keep going while traveling very fast, I had no issue with the expedition \u2013 in fact, it was probably the easiest part for me. My biggest boggle was the packing: in advance, when I had to work out what would be needed, how often, and when, and try to pack accordingly, and on the expedition, where I had to unpack and repack what I used overnight, which messed it up a bit. The only other problem was with food. Though I am quite slim, I usually eat quite a lot, and the recommended \u201ctwice what you normally eat\u201d would leave the rucksack unable to carry anything else. While dry food would take up less space, it still constituted much of the bag, though this rapidly decreased as I ate over the week. However, due to a convenient packing system of zip lock bags from the supermarket, designed by Mum, I was able to compartmentalise my food for the week into daily ration packs. This was certainly a great help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The expedition I signed up to was a back-to-back expedition, consisting of a practice walk for two days and the actual, qualifying expedition for the second two days. Seems I should have just skipped to Gold DofE standard \u2013 I was there just as long, and the extra walking wouldn\u2019t have been too much harder. The preparatory days gave participants a chance to get to know each other first, and so be ready to walk together on the last two days \u2013 besides having the chance to practice navigation, camp cooking, and not irritating the others to death \u2013 all of which I had zero problems with. Checking we had everything we needed and knew what on earth we were doing on day 1, we then went for a short walk to demonstrate our map skills on day 2. Starting near Hathersage on day 3, the groups walked to Pindale, before returning on day 4. It was really good \u2013 the walking was straightforward, if fast-paced and over reasonably bumpy terrain, the cooking was as good as camp food can be (I must remember to get one of those stoves!) and the people were friendly and worked successfully as a team. Now, I need to go and bake some more cakes and get ready for working on something for Silver DofE!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hey Blog! To return to the note my lovely, helpful and rather brilliant editor made in my last post, I am indeed going to tell you about the Duke of Edinburgh\u2019s Award and what I\u2019ve been doing to get my Bronze qualification! 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