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The following report on the recent Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award qualifying expedition is from Group 15: Olivia Campbell, Saskia Williams, Kitti Holroyd, Amelie Bischoff, Florence Davies and Alohi Dragon.

Day 1

After a delayed start to our day due to a long 2.5 hour journey to the New Forest, a debrief of our aims, rules and other important information as well as us receiving our tents, trangias and gas canisters, our group had set off for a 25 km trek to Ferny Croft Campsite.  We started very well, we were on time as we had predicted with a steady walking pace on the correct path, the map work was brilliant, teamwork was excellent and overall had high morale. As the day went on our group experienced many ups and downs, we had tears but always comforted one another and took breaks when needed. However, we also had many laughs, saw loads of horses and again got very very scared of the cows which we thought would charge at us. Unfortunately we got very lost which set us back 3 hours behind, stuck confused in many open fields where all trees and paths looked the same, we eventually got back on track and ended our day walking over some stunning rolling hills as the sunset over the horizon. As half of us set up our tents, the other half got a quick start on dinner, after a lovely comforting meal, we all got quickly off to bed. 

Day 2 

An early morning wake up at 6 and some warm porridge began our day 2. Indeed a much better day than day 1 in that we didn't get lost at all really. A lovely easy path that was flat and simple faced us that morning until a short snack stop turned into a stressful tick removal session which fortunately we got rid of thanks to our first aid knowledge. At lunch we met with another group, and had a lovely long and much needed break, chatting with the others about their experiences so far. At this point we crossed over with the other groups coming in the other direction so many friendships were reunited. The afternoon was relatively smooth, again saw some lovely views of the New Forest accompanied by many laughs and giggles and a bunch of sweaty teenagers. A very long path ended in our final destination for the day at Wilverley Cottage luckily much earlier than the previous day so we had time to relax and chill with other groups, again a lovely warm pasta for dinner and some hot chocolate was very comforting after the long day.  

Day 3 

A shorter day of only 16 km long although still challenging felt like a breeze compared to our horrible day one. We woke up swiftly, packed our bags, again had porridge and felt well rested for our last day of walking. Many of us with pain in our backs and feet were glad to be nearly done but still excited for a day of adventure and laughs. A long distance of woodland and forest for around 8 km meant quite a few hills alongside hotter temperatures, but finally we reached our assessor Matt where we had our conclusive debrief of the past 3 days. A long lunch break involved eating the last of our favourite snacks, a game of catch with a tennis ball and many many random conversations. The relief we all felt when we still had about 800m but saw the car park once again with the coach, teachers and assessors was incredibly rewarding knowing all our hard work had paid off and we had completed our qualifying expeditions, even more thrilled to know we had passed. Unfortunately that did not mean the end as 3 hours later everyone clapped and cheered as the last group arrived and meant home time.