I’ll never forgot doing my DofE silver award. I was still 14 when I started and so the youngest in our group. The practice expedition was particularly memorable as we endured the hottest weather on record. This meant we had to carry additional water at all times on top of all our kit. I never thought I’d be able to carry that weight and complete the route. It was so heavy and a huge challenge. The heat made it almost unbearable. But we did it!

We also experienced extreme weather on our actual expedition as there was severe thunder storms and flash floods which washed part of our route away including a bridge. This meant that we had to change our route on the last day but still got to see the damage the storm had done. It was unbelievable.

Watching the lightning from our tent was both very frightening and fun and this is what I most enjoyed about my DofE.