I’m not gonna lie I don’t really know where to start. Just thinking about dofe genuinely makes me smile. It’s easy to be cliche but I say it to everyone... I really, REALLY enjoyed it (especially the expeditions!) and so when my sisters’ silver dofe expedition was cancelled last year due to COVID I was so gutted for her.
I was lucky enough to do all 3 dofe tiers through school but we were put into groups with people we didn’t know very well which in itself was lovely as it meant we got to know people we may not have done otherwise- I actually met my boyfriend of 3 years on my bronze dofe!
The expeditions;
Bronze dofe: incredible! We got lost so many times and ate junk food the whole weekend but I wouldn’t have it any other way. It was 4 years ago now but I still remember having SUCH a laugh. Basically my whole year at school did it which helped!
Silver dofe: for the practice it rained A LOT and then it was bright sunshine for the qualifying 2 weeks later... very typical of England!
Gold dofe: a big step up but it feels amazing to be able to now say that I’ve slept in a bothy, woken up BEFORE the sun, walked up mountains in beautiful snowdonia (with a 20kg backpack!), basically slid down an old mine shaft (oops) and made a pretty good vlog of it all haha! I really liked the fact we couldn’t have phones so it was such a nice break.
I really feel like I achieved a lot through dofe- on the expeditions and also through cooking as a skill, volunteering and weekly football for my physical activity. Stuff that I wouldn’t have probably done otherwise- I gained so much confidence and I’m so proud of myself.
I’m so grateful to HRH Prince Philip for giving me the opportunity.
I’ll treasure the memories forever I’m sure of it :)