Who remembers Duke of Edinburgh Award?

[Happy-Go-Lucky]

Just wondering after inspiration from the "camping in the Highlands" thread on the advice page, who remembers the Duke of Edinburgh Awards? Did anybody do them? Anyone got any good stories about them? Ah the treks, those were the days.

[ever_nocturnal]

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[Happy-Go-Lucky]

Wow. I only ever did Bronze. Some of my mates did Silver though. There seemed to be a bit of a lottery with the midgies. Some people are just "tastier" than others. I never had much trouble, but one of my friends looked like she's had chicken poks afterwards.

Tell you what, I've NEVER been able to eat a chicken flavour Super Noodle again.

Oh, and the blisters on our feet by the end of it were something else.

We were very lucky with the weather though. Beautiful and sunny, but not very hot, just mild with a nice cooling breeze. Perfect.

[ever_nocturnal]

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[Rapunzel]

The first time I attempted my Bronze, my group and I got so lost that when they eventually found us (in the middle of the first night), our location wasn't even on the maps we'd been given. I believe we'd crossed county lines.

The following year, I retook my Bronze and did my Silver concurrently, so every weekend for about a month and a half saw me hiking thousands of miles across the English countryside. I don't think I've done anything countrified or exercise-y since.

[niall]

due to my BB company captain never let me do the expeditions with other companies i never did bronze, however, i did complete my Queens Badge (highest badge in the BB) so if i were to do an expedition and the interest i'd have done enough to get my DoE silver award

[Happy-Go-Lucky]

Did other people have those little meths-cooker burner things? God they were crap. And sometimes you could sit there for ages before realising that the flame had blown out.

[hidden_elephants]

D of E!!! So much fun! But oh the pain!!! By the end of both my bronze and my silver my feet were just like one humongous, horrendous blister. Also we were very lucky (not) and managed to do both of our expeditions during heatwaves! Oh the Joy!
The funniest moment during my bronze award occurred when we gave iain the map. We just followed along, an hour later asked where we were. Iain looks up blindly saying 'what, what? I was following you!'. It seemed quite funny until we asked a handy passerby whereabouts on the map we were, only for it to transpire that we had walked off of the bloody map.

Another group, doing their broze at the same time took a wrong turn, not realising until sirens started going off and big dogs arriving that they were on a M.O.D training base. Oops.

[helen b]

Meths burner cooker things? Trangias? horrible horrible thigs! We knocked ours over and burned the heather all around it. Oops

[harmless loony]

Oh my God! The memories!

I did my bronze, silver and gold. Bloody Hell!

Everytime I promised myself on an expedition I wouldn't do the next award, I found myself being talked into it again and again. So much so that I'm actually helping to supervise a gold duke of ed group at home and I even went on another goddamn gold expedition last year despite havin finished the award 2 years ago!

The midges, the mud, the horrible smell of the bog, falling chest deep in to the bog :S, slipping down a cliff face, walking in dense fog, the non stop rain, being attacked by a low flying helicopter.......aaaah what beautiful memories! Having said that to date I have done a total of 7 expeditions and never ever got a blister! (That's just jinxed me for this summer then....)

Not a good advert really am I?

EDIT: I just remembered my silver expedition when we were chased by a farmer with 7 big dogs and a rifle because he didn't want us walking on the footpath through his farm (it was a public right of way). Oh and the next day we were chased by a random fat naked bloke sat by a river and the teachers had to call the police in after we told them of our experience......

[S.P.I.G]

yeah - I did all three - bronze, silver and gold. Bronze was easy enough, losing cooking pots and diving for them etc. being the worst/best part. Silver involved the Isle of Arran and watching Scotland get beat by Brazil - which was not the highlight of the trip, gold group got lost, I lost the silver group and walked so far as to find the gold group and walk past them :S Gold was kind of dodgy - I think it was in Wester Ross, but it might have been elsewhere - involved loss of coooking pots, attacked by goats and cows, midnight panic regarding a mouse which people thought was a snake, gale force winds, and an hour spent harasssing locals in a highland swingpark. But, does anyone find DofE important after university? All I've found is that it helps with the personal statement for uni. but careers say that it's worth shit after graduation.

[ever_nocturnal]

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[Guest]

There is a DOE open Award group in Dundee.So you people who still wnt to complete different sectons can do it through them. I might be doing my DOE gold expedition with them if im brave enough. But after hearing the perils described before me i'm not so sure anymore...