Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award Expedition

At 8:45am on Thursday morning the coach arrived to take an excited group of Duke of Edinburgh candidates on our Bronze Award Expedition.

Each group was dropped off at a different point outside Newcastle to begin their route. Our group were to start just before the beach.  We set off, excited and full of energy, heading first to the town, then on to Tollymore Forest Park.

There was a very memorable moment early on in the first day when we spotted a seal pup on the beach, and it took some persuasion to keep the group moving!

After some confusion causing us to wander across a field full of prickly bushes and marsh, we eventually reached the campsite. Despite having been the last group to leave, we were the first to arrive, and we enjoyed eating our dinner in relative shelter whilst watching the other groups straggle in.

We pitched our tents during a rare dry period, and we were very thankful to crawl in to spend the night away from the heavy rain. At 9 o’clock the next morning we left the site to start our route for the day.

The weather conditions were very bad but we managed to keep going with a smile on our faces most of the time!

Using our last amount of energy to run up the hill, rucksacks and all, we finally finished our expedition. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one that, although having had a brilliant experience and feeling very proud for having completed it, was thoroughly glad to get home and go to sleep!!

By Rae O’Dowd 10B