Overall the DofE award has given me a purpose to try and stick with something new and challenging. It has given me the confidence to make new friends by providing a way in, of which many are still there.

A great highlight of the three awards was the expedition for the Gold award. I had done the Peak and Lake districts before and had wanted to do something different for this top award. And so I found myself on the Isle of Arran off the Scottish coast. I probably wouldn't have considered it before for anything and looking back I probably would have regretted that. It had all of what I enjoyed from the Peak and Lake Districts and so much more. It had mountains, beaches and just about everything else in between, and I experienced all of those different areas over the course of the four day expedition. It is somewhere I would love to return to one day, a thought that wouldn't have been possible without the DofE.