The Gold Duke of Edinburgh award is, in my opinion, one of the hardest things I have done. It tested my body, my mental endurance and my friendships, all in an attempt to better yourself and for an unbelievable experience.
It was Monday morning, about 7:00 and the group (Simon, Josh, Laura, Kalvin and myself) started to slowly, very slowly, assemble on the school car park. All but one had arrived. When everyone was in place, we set off to Stansted Airport.
Once we arrived at the airport we queued up and got through with minimal effort, except for Andy Greensmith and Mr Hepple who both had overweight bags with the excuse: ‘I thought it was 20kg’ it was soon sorted out. Then it was customs.
I don’t know about you, but I always get nerves when I go through the metal detector, and as soon as I stepped through it went beep. Oh dear, I had my iPod in my back pocket. And that was it but still I was searched and sent on my way.
It was only a 2.5 hour flight to Sweden. Sweden is gorgeous. The land was flatter than England’s and the roads were better, too. We took a bus to a train station and caught a train to Halmslad, our departure point. After getting off the train we soon got lost and had to ask for directions from a taxi driver but soon arrived at our campsite. It was a good campsite, however more walking. Our spot was another 700 metres down a road at the end of the park.
The teachers soon arrived and we went to collect our bikes. The bikes, well how can I put it, they were no ordinary bikes, the front brake leaver was on the wrong side and there were no back brakes, however, as we soon found out if you peddle backwards you stop, and you stop fast! We then went back to the campsite, making a stop along the way for food and our lunches for the next four days.
Day 1: It was cold when I woke up. I was beyond cold, I wasn’t shivering, not good and I had a bad headache. I got up fast and no surprise; I was up first. Soon the trangier was set up and food would soon follow. After waking everyone up I had a cup-a-soup and fed my tent mates (though, not sharing a tent we were still in a group). We soon set off on the longest leg of the whole trip; about 65km.
The first day, in my opinion, was the hardest, although we had good weather, it was still very hard work, stopping along the way to take pictures and make notes on the villages and towns as we passed. Our first night was our first wild camp. We set up our tents and started to cook; Laura and I boiled some rice and added some chicken soup sauce, better than anything the school had given us for our food on previous hikes. After our meal we cleared up and headed to bed.
Day 2: Wow, the night was slightly warmer, however, we still had to get up, again waking up first wasn’t great, but I got the trangier going and the smell of food soon brought out the sleepy fatigued group from their tents. After food we packed up and went on our way. However, today’s weather forecast wasn’t great; with the promise of rain our spirits were dampened. We set off and continued on our way to our first check point, where we visited the church.
With tolerance of each other wearing thin we decided to go to another wild camp, but at the last 2km mark we made a mistake and ended up going up and down for about 8km until we found the site. Everyone was in a rather bad mood, so we set up, had tea and went to bed. The wild camp was in long, wet grass, with ants nests and spiders.
Day 3: We had got into a routine now. Everyone was up, fed and out of the campsite, accidentally running into the teachers on the way. As soon as we set off it started raining again. Never-the-less we pressed on. We also looked for and found two wild campsites on our way to our last campsite. Well, it wasn’t really a campsite, but the lawn of a hotel; of course we had full use of the facilities such as a sauna and toilet.
That night it was so cold! Both myself and Josh were on the edge of hypothermia I think, and in the morning we moved into the toilet block and then into the sauna which wasn’t on, but was still much warmer. After a painful night it was a slow start in the morning, both Josh and I were grateful that Kalvin looked after us.
Day 4: A slow start to the morning and a short cycle to our last camp site, we set off aching and groaning about the legs, feet and rear. Soon we entered the realms of what we knew and we found ourselves looking at the campsite. Once again we set up our tents and went back into town to get some information about the town and to buy some cake for Mr Hepple’s birthday. We went out for pizza and then back to the campsite for an early night ready for our last early morning.
Day 5: The long journey home today was the best day of the trip, taking the train, bus, plane and mini-bus back to school.
The train journey was good, we were moving at about 70mph and doing nothing. We soon arrived at the airport and boarded the plane. Once we arrived back in England we had a short bus ride in the mini bus back to school and then home.
Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible, the teachers; Mr Palmer, Mr Hepple and Mr Greensmith as well as everyone in my group for putting up with me.