DofE Silver Final Assessment

On Friday 20th, Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd April, Beechen Cliff and Hayesfield did their Silver DofE Assessment in the Brecon Beacons.

Similar to our pre-assessment, we met at Hayesfield at 8.15am on the Friday, and drove, via Cardiff service station to the first check-point. Each group was then taken and dropped off at a different start point.
We were the third group to be dropped off, and made good time in getting back to the first check-point. Once we were there, we were told that the original route that we had planned was slightly wrong, as we hadn't planned our route in the same room as everyone else, we hadn't been told to avoid certain points on the route.
After quickly amending our route, and eating our lunch, we headed off over moorland, following the contours, to the footpath that we took off the moor.
We then went through an abandoned farm, and followed a river down to the next checkpoint. From there we went through a large forest, where we met several of the other groups, and followed a footpath that had been completely removed (the signs were still there, the farmer had just made it hard to pass through because he had put barbed wire over several of the gates and locked them - Welsh farmers seem to have a habit of this as I have found this a problem on several occasions whilst training for Ten tors and DofE - but only in Wales). We then followed another footpath, until it completely disappeared into new barbed wire fences. Eventually we found a way back onto open moorland and made our way to the campsite for the night. We were the second group there, and I cooked for everyone once we had got the tents up so that we all got an early night, especially as it was just starting to rain. Once we were in our tents, we heard all of the other groups come in, and were told by the staff to check into tir-y-cwm on our way to the first check-point tomorrow morning, and that we weren't allowed to leave the campsite until 8am the next morning.

The next morning, we got up quite early, had breakfast and got our tents down, but because we weren't allowed to go until 8, we helped group 3 get their tents down as well. We then walked up through the forest that surrounds tir-y-cwm, to the cottage, where we spoke to Mr Young. We then followed various tracks through the forest until we came out onto moorland on the other side. We then walked alongside a long wall, and down off the moor, through a campsite, and along to a pub where the teachers had a manned checkpoint. After briefly talking to them, we went straight up through some fields, and the up to a dismantled railway. We met several groups here, and spent a long time trying to find the right way as another annoying Welsh farmer had covered the footpath gate with barbed wire. Eventually we got through, and followed the railway track to the edge of another forest where we ate our lunch. From there we followed the edge of the forest round until we reached a substantial track. Once we picked up this track, we increased in speed dramatically, and it didn't take us very long to cover the few miles to the next campsite. When we got there, it was too early to put up our tents, so the teachers interviewed some of the other people for the schools blog, while everyone else just relaxed in the sun until we were allowed to put the tents up. The other groups then came in and we ate and chatted for several hours before we eventually went to bed.

The next morning we got up and had a similar routine to the previous morning, except we weren't allowed to leave until 8.30am this morning. We then headed back along the track we had taken on the end of the day before acceding Fan Nedd - mountain. As we went up Fan Nedd the weather started to get very bad. At the top, we had been told to wait for the teachers but because the weather was so bad and some people who had brought poor quality kit were getting soaked, we started to go down the other side of the mountain. On the way down we met Mr Mason and Ms Denning who weren't very happy that we had started to come down, but after we'd explained why, they didn't mind. The teachers then spit us up into our groups and sent us off across the 'roman road' footpath that would take us to the mountain visitor center that was the finish line of the expedition. On the walk along the path, despite being the last group to be let off by the teachers, we over took several groups and came in third overall.
Once all the groups got in we were debriefed before driving back to Bath.

DofE Silver Pre-Assessment

On Friday 30th March and Saturday 31st March, Beechen Cliff and Hayesfield did their Silver DofE pre-assessment in the Black Mountains.

We met at Hayesfield upper school at 8.15am on the Friday, and drove, via Abergavenny, to the start point, which was just below Cockit Hill. As group 2, we were the second to leave, and started by heading around 'Mynydd Troed' and down a path, through a farm, and crossing over the A479. Group 1 mist the path, so carried on going around 'Mynydd Troed', leaving our group at the front. We then went up, along a footpath, through some more fields, where we stopped for a while for lunch, where most of the other groups caught us up. Several groups had already left by the time we did, so we were about in the middle. We then headed down a gentle valley, and back up quite a steep other side. By this time we had joined to group 3, and as a result, both groups were moving much slower than they should be.
When we eventually reached the next manned check-point, we were told by the staff that if we didn't speed up, we wouldn't get to where we were camping until 10pm!
As a result of this, we let group 3 go first, and then I forced my group to go much quicker. We soon caught up with group 3, and then other took them as we were keeping up a good pace.
We eventually got to the campsite before 7, but it would have been much later if we hadn't sped up.
We spent the night chatting after cooking before going to bed at around 11pm

We woke up quite early, and left the campsite around 8. We headed up to the top of the mountain which were already most of the way up, before going down along a spur. We then followed some paths until we reached the bottom of sugar-loaf mountain. By this point, some of our group were really tired, and were struggling, so the teachers came down to meet us, and helped motivate them while letting the faster people in our group go on ahead. I then met up with group 3 (by this point we were at the back), who left just as the rest of my group caught up. The next part of the route was much easier as I had done the reverse of the route already on ten tors training, so were able to skip out a long path that most of the other groups took, which meant we arrived at the minibuses at the end, 3rd instead of last - over half an hour before the last group.
We then drove back to Hayesfield school, and went home.

Ten Tors Training - Dartmoor 2

On the 23rd, 24th and 25th, we had our second (and for people doing DofE, our last) training session of the year.

We met after school on Friday and loaded the mini buses before leaving for Dartmoor. We spent the journey listening to U2's Glastonbury set-list and stopped at the 'ten tors (Exeter) services' for dinner. We then drove down to the  community hall in south zeal. We unpacked all our kit and then went to bed after looking after the dogs while the teachers went out (and cleaning up after them when they decided the floor would make a good toilet. 

The next morning we woke up and packed all our stuff up, and ate breakfast before driving to Okehampton army base. We headed off after meeting some of the teachers from Norton Radstock school who would be working with us and castle school to check us in so that there were enough teachers to support us on the moor. We quickly followed the tracks around the army base, to our first checkpoint - yes tor. After that, we headed down to the same river crossing that we did on the previous training session where we met Mr Brewer's Dad. From yes tor and the river crossing, we then followed the same route as on the previous training to Sourton tor, then following a track to Kitty tor, and from there, south to another river crossing. We then went away from our old route, and crossed over the river and went to Lynch tor, we we met Mr Brewer and Mr Stewart.

After a brief break, we went across from the west to the east of the moor to Beardown tors, and then back again to Great Mis tor. Afterwards we went down to yellowmeade farm, where we crossed over the road and followed the track over to Black tor where we were camping for the night. Once there we put up our tents and cooked, before filling up with water and going to bed at about 8pm.

The next morning I got up at 4am, while it was still pitch black out side. After packing away all our kit from the night, we got out of the tent and cooked our breakfasts before taking the tents down, and leaving just before 6am. We followed the Devonport leat along to Eyelsbarrow, where we met Mr Brewer's sister who we chatted too for a while, whilst Mr Brewer was telling her what to tell us through their long ranch radio.
We then headed off down to higher white tor, and from there, we walked across the moorland to redlake, which is right next to a large 'rock' which from a distance looks just like a volcano. We had quite a long stop there as it had been a long stretch to get there, and we had another long stretch to go. We then went on to Pupers Hill, where we met Mr Brewer's dad, before heading on to the cairns, and from there to Ryder's Hill. After that we went on to our final checkpoint - some more cairns, before following a footpath (on which I managed to walk straight into a tree), down off the moor to the car park where the over teams were ready to go.

Dragnet Camp 2012

On the 16th - 18th March, we had our annual "operation dragnet", which is when we camp over a weekend with the focus being the Saturday, On the Saturday, the Young Leaders become a hunter patrol. The Patrols - normally led by their PL's, spend the day hiking using army ration packs whereas the "hunter patrol" go around in full combats and hunt the patrols by either taking their lives (cotton wrapped around their wrists) or preferably taking the nicer items from their ration packs.

We arrived on the Friday, and put up our tents. Young leaders have their own tents so we didn't have to put up the 'traditional' patrol tents. The scouts took ages to do this. The young leaders (yl's) set up the food packs and radios etc... while we waited. 

The scouts then collected their ration packs and practiced using a trangia by making hot chocolate on them. After that, the scouts planned their routes for the next day before playing a wide game where they had to 'steal' a torch off us (the yl's), and then going to bed. The leaders and yl's then chatted for about 30mins before also going to bed.

We woke up the next morning and packed up all our stuff, as well as dressing partially in combats. We left ahead of the first patrol and set up our ambush in a quad bike track that they'd have to cross. The first patrol (Kestrel's) came through first, and we successfully got all of their lives. The patrol then responded by running off with one of our day sacs.
After we'd got our day sacs back, and the Hawks had moved on, we waited for the next patrol (Eagles). They went for the run as fast as you can and re-group later technique, however we still caught them all. Most of the patrol then went off, and accidentally left two members of the patrol in the wood, who we had to return to the patrol before they got too far away. We then waited in the same place for about half and hour until after talking to the other two patrols over the radio we realised that they had gone wrong and wouldn't go past our ambush point.
We then went to the cars which drove us ahead of all the patrols to another ambush point. We ambushed the Merlins, who had somehow massively overtaken all the other patrols, first and quickly sent them on there  way. PJ and Lewis - two of the leaders, than met us and helped us ambush the Eagles and then the Hawks as they came through. The Kestrels then came through the wrong gate which meant that they saw us before we could ambush them. We made a quick emergency get-a-way in the cars so that we leapfrogged in front of them until we found a spot where we stopped for lunch with the Hawks, who were now in the lead by a long way. After the hour of truce was over, the Hawks left and we waited for the other patrols. We were 'camped' at a crossroads which each patrol would have to come through twice (except the Hawks who had already been through twice and the Merlins who had already been through once).
We cooked our lunch while we waited for the other patrols. The Eagles came through first, then the Kestrels, then the Merlins, then the Eagles again and finally the Kestrels did there second crossing.
After they past, we met up with Simon just as it was beginning to rain. Half of us then went back to the campsite while me and Alex went with James and Lewis to keep tabs of the Eagles and Kestrels who were both going quite slowly because of the rain and where quite a long way behind where they should have been.
We played 'sweat box' and listened to Disney songs in the car while we waited for the patrols to reach us.
When they did reach us, Lewis and I got out, while Alex and the most tired scouts, were driven nearer to the campsite. Lewis and I then attempted to motivate the scouts as we walked them further along the route while James dropped off the scouts he'd taken and then came back. The next 'batch' of the scouts then went back in the car and Lewis and I took the last 3 or 4 on to a petrol station where we waited for James. When James had come back, and taken the final 3 or 4 scouts, he finally came back and took us straight to the campsite where Tom was just about to leave (he wasn't staying for the second night). While the final few scouts came in, I went with James and one particularly cold looking scouts to the fish&chip shop where we picked up the nights dinner from a incredibly scary Chinese lady.
When we got back, we ate and chatted around the campfire for the rest of the night. Kathryn from WSJ also turned up because her parents had been invited by Simon as they are district commissioners for the area.
After the campfire we all went to bed.

The next morning, Alex and I sorted breakfast out for the scouts and drinks for the leaders before helping Lewis to set up a blind ropes trail.
Before lunch, the troop was split in two, I went with the Kestrels and the Hawks, and did archery first with Simon and PJ, followed by the blind ropes trail. We then had lunch, followed by striking camp and cleaning the hut. At about 4, we went home and the camp was over.

Bath Half 2012

On Sunday, I helped with the Bath Half marathon. I arrived at 7.30am to help set up the Leukemia stand, and then helped on the lost children stand with scouts. On the day, we had our lunch stolen twice, and received to high quality running base layers and a running top which looked and felt like it was made out of a bin bag. We also 'acquired' a large amount of lucazade for the scouts to use on future camps.

Ten Tors Training - Dartmoor 1

Over the weekend, we did our first ten tors training weekend on Dartmoor of the year. Despite there being a lot of interest for 45 (the mileage I am 'applying' for this year) there was a maths GCSE on the Monday after which didn't involve me, but did involve most people meaning that there were only 4 of us in our team.

We met after school on Friday, and after loading our kit into the mini buses (and fixing a broken window), we drove down. On the way we stopped at the 'Ten Tors service station' (Exeter), and had burger king for dinner before driving down to south zeal. We were staying in the community hall there.
After we had unpacked every out of the minibuses, we did a kit check, before planning our routes for the weekend. We then had drinks and biscuits before going to bed at around 11pm.

The next morning we had a slightly more relaxed start to last year, when we had to be up at 4am and ready to go at 4.20am! This year we woke up at around 6am, and leisurely packed up our kit and had breakfast. Mr Stewart than spent about half an hour explaining to one of the 35 teams, that they had taken too many tents, and repacking their bags for them before we loading into the minibuses, and drove to Okehampton.
Once we got to Okehampton, Mr Stewart gave the 35's a tour of the base while we walked up to the start point with Mr Brewer.

We then headed off, starting with Roos tor, which is right by the army base. We then walked along one of the military tracks to East Mill tor, where one of the teams from castle tor (Beechen Cliff sometimes train with them as Mr Brewer's sister teaches there) went in completely the wrong direction.
From East Mill tor, we walked in a direct straight line over the moorland to Yes tor. When we went around to the other side of Yes tor, we were almost blown off our feet by the incredible change in the strength of the wind. We started to walk away from Yes tor, but soon it started to rain, so we stopped to get on water proof trousers etc... We then set off again and it started to hail before we went down a very steep drop, over a river, and up the steep other side to Sourton tor. We then took a path which led us past Gren tor, and up the Kitty tor. Once there, we met a lot of the teachers, and had some food for lunch. We then went a few hundred meters before having to stop while Sam sorted out his shoe. In this time, a team from Millfield came over to us, and when I looked at their map for them, I realised that they were on completely the wrong side of the moor! After I had pointed them in the right direction, we went down to a river crossing where we met Mr Brewer's brother. We then headed back up to Chat tor, before going across to Great Links tor which was our final tor of the day. We then headed down of the tor where we met Mr Brewer's sister, who showed us to a good place to camp. We then pitched up, ate dinner and went to bed at about 7pm.

The next morning, we had a lie in, and didn't have to wake up until 6am. As we were expecting, it was raining, but it wasn't very heavy. I quickly packed up my sleeping bag etc... and started to heat up our breakfast on our trangia. We then packed up our tents and went to the campsite where the teachers were for 8am. We were meant to be being driven back to Okehampton, so we could walk on the east moor, but due to lack of teachers in the misty and wet weather, our route was changed, so we started from where we finished the final day.
We started by walking up the steep slope that we had gone down the previous day. We went slightly too far to the left, and ended up at little links tor instead of great links tor. We then headed directly up to great links tor, from which we took a bearing down until we hit the path that we had taken the previous day. We took this path along to Sourton tor. Afterward we went back along the river crossing that we had done the day before. We then went directly over the moor (meeting the teachers halfway) to Okehampton camp, which was our finish point.
After that we drove back to school via the 'ten tors services'.

Bathampton Scouts visit to PGL Liddington 2012

This weekend, I went to PGL Liddington (near Swindon) for the second time, with Bathampton Scouts.

We arrived 20 minutes late due to bad traffic coming out of Bath, and were shown to our rooms and introduced to our host - Nicky (who had taken us for crates last year). We then had dinner, which was fish & chips. After than, we played a wide game in one of the huge fields on site.
At 10pm the scouts went to bed while the leaders and I went to the 'Library' before going to bed just before midnight.

The next morning I got up just before 7:30am for breakfast at 8:05am. After breakfast we were split up into our groups and Nicky took us to meet our instructors for the morning. My group (2) did aeroball while the other group (1) did abseiling.

Aeroball

When we got to the aeroball (basketball on trampolines if you didn't already know), we found it was layered in sheets of ice, with snow of the netting of the roof.
Each time we went on it, the layers of ice on the trampolines would break up into freezing cold shards which had to be swept out and made all our feet go numb. I scored to highest score - 8 'goals' in a row.

Abseiling

We then switched over and went to abseiling. Everyone had a go and we were quite quick so we each got three goes abseiling down the 40ft tower.

We then all went inside and had lunch and got prepared for the afternoon activities which were archery and crates.

Archery

We then went to archery where we played several games etc... where you had to hit specific colours and parts of the targets.

Crate Challenge

We then swapped with the other group and went to crate challenge. This is where you have to build a tower out of milk crates and climb it as you do so, and try to make it as high as possible. This had previously had been the scouts favourite activity but we felt that it had been made over the top with health and safety as we now had to clip the crates together with little carabiners and had a base to start from. Despite this, it was still enjoyable and we reached about 11 crates high (18 the year before, but there was a time limit this time instead of going until it fell over like last year.)

After crates, we all went inside and had dinner. At 10, the scouts went to bed while the leaders went to the 'library' where we wasted all Simon's money playing an eggheads quiz machine. Afterwards we found that we had been locked out, so had a snowball fight at about midnight whilst trying to get in the building, until eventually we were let in by one of the PGL staff, and went to bed.

The next morning we got up at about 7:30am and went to another soggy and bland breakfast. My group then went to fencing (in which I beat everyone) and then went to climbing (in which everyone beat me) - I'm very bad at climbing!
We then went in for lunch and got ready for the afternoons activities.




We then went to the first of our afternoon activities - Quad-biking, which was quite good but we only had one quad bike so there was quite a lot of time when we couldn't do it while others were. We then went on to our final activity, zip-wire. This, again was quite good, but not nearly as good as last year where we got 9 goes and set the record for the number of goes on an activity.

After this we went inside and ate dinner before packing up and changing into our uniforms and leaving.