Duke of Edinburgh Awards

Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award

To achieve the Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award I will do the following activities:
Service: For my service I am part of the student council/Interact Rotary club. I am required to help organise events, meetings and other school-related activities. 
Physical Recreation: For my physical I regularly do to Arena Treningssenter (Stadion Parken, Hinna) where I do my own training routine. 
Skill: For my skill I regularly go to Kampsport huset where I take Krav Maga/Self Defence classes once a week. 

Duke of Edinburgh practice Hike reflection

The Duke of Edinburgh practice hike was very enjoyable. I learnt a lot about navigation, weather, reading maps, carrying gear, cooking in the wild and much more. Personally I think I performed well and worked well with the group, although some things which weren’t only in my control could have gone better and this reflection will include what I did well as well improvements on the factors which were reasonably unsuccessful so I can avoid those mistakes for the official duke of Edinburgh bronze.

My Preparation

Overall my preparation was mostly packing and learning navigation, and reading maps (matching the map to the land) in class, which also incorporated items to pack and how to pack a rucksack.

Walking> For the walking preparation I didn't do much as I am already physically able to hike in the mountains in a good speed, as I exercise regularly and am physically fit. However if I needed to I could do some practice hikes at home on smaller mountains or destinations for example Dalsnuten.

Gear> For my gear I prepared by making sure I have everything and packing it. I bought or replaced kit if need be. I asked experienced and qualified people for help when packing, and for advice on how to be organized etc. I also followed the kit list on the sheet given from school, which was successful although I couldn’t pack everything for example extra gear as there wasn’t space in my bag.

Food> For food I simply prepared by bringing the food and following the meal plan, which we created in class with our tent groups. I also brought extra snacks in case the meal plan wasn’t enough.

Expedition experiences and alterations

Overall my expedition experience was very positive, although there were a few things that could have been done differently:

Walking and weight> My bag was the heaviest in my group, and as no one else had space in their bag I had to carry that weight the entire journey. To avoid this on the real hike, the people who didn't have much to carry at all, who only carried their own weight, could carry some of the other people in he groups weight, for example something like the tent or trangia.

Food and cooking> even though the group and I brought a lot of food it wasn't completely enough. I needed to bring heavy items such as 2 big bags of pasta. The trangia also took a very long time to cook the food and as it was windy, it became covered in black ash and we needed to wash it repeatedly. It also took up a lot of space. To improve this, I could bring something like turmat next time, which takes less space, and less time to cook.

Gear/footwear> During the hike I got two severe blisters, one on each foot. It was very painful and made the journey far more difficult. I did try to avoid this by checking if areas of my foot were warmer than others, and as they were I applied blister plasters to them, but it didn’t help as it simply became worse. To avoid this next time I could possibly to some practice hikes at home to wear and break in the shoes before I use them, to be sure they wont give me blisters. I could also wear thicker socks and bring another thin pair to put on top my socks in case I do get a blister.

Route card> In the hike, we needed to change our route due to the weather and excess time. Because of the wind it was too risky to go back up the mountain, so we changed the route to walk around the mountains, to the other group’s tent site. It was twice as long as what we had planned and some might have become hungry. Our group also split up because of time restraints, and we needed to be quick. When we changed our route cards, we were almost making them all over again in the hills. We had to navigate our way across new land. Next time we could try and predict when changes like this must happen, like knowing when the buss would arrive so we could plan to make it there on time, and also follow the route card better.

Navigation > We did navigate and plan the route in class, although when we changed it, it was sometimes difficult to match the map to the land and we often needed help from teachers. On the official expedition we wont have the accompany and help from the teachers at all time and will need to navigate our way there ourselves. To make sure I can do this, I could read books about hill walking and navigating.

Photographer: S. E. StJ. Warrington