DofE gold was a very challenging experience for myself but one that I am so thankful happened. Having achieved this award brings me such pride and proves to myself that I can over come any obstacle no matter how challenging it might be. My DofE gold expedition was especially hard as over the course of five days my group dealt with a heatwave, floods and fog. All this meant bringing extra clothes for certain weather and extra equipment which added on to our very heavy bags. All of this combined unfortunately lead me to have a severe panic attack on day 3, I was so overwhelmed I considered quitting but my team and DofE leader were so helpful in allowing me to see that I had the strength to carry on. Carrying on lead to some amazing memories with my team. One memory that will always be remembered is the last night. We had all gone to sleep and both me and my team mate who I was sharing a tent with heard movement at the bottom of our tent in the middle of the night, I ironically thought it was my friend going for a midnight snack since that was where both of our food was. She thought I was looking for something, I even went to the extent of patting the bottom of the tent to see what it was. Since we were both exhausted we just went back to sleep. In the morning we woke up to a freezing cold tent and didn’t know why. We both awoke to find a huge whole at the bottom of our tent and my team mates food completely eaten, including a chicken pie. We had no clue what had eaten into our tent until our DofE leader told us that he had left his hand out of the tent last night and a chicken had pecked at his hand and probably eaten through our tent and the chicken pie. Stories like that made this experience unforgettable. The feeling I felt when I got to the end of those 5 days is indescribable, I felt so much joy and pride that I had accomplished the expedition I thought I couldn’t. Having done DofE gold has lead to amazing memories, great experiences and some lovely new friends.