DofE means the world to me, it helped me find myself and my inner strength.

Bronze was a lovely walk through the Bromsgrove Countryside, and for our Silver we hiked up the Welsh Mountains. Both trips were absolutely incredible.

And ultimately it led me to cycling John O Groats to Lands End with an amazing group of people. It took us 14 days on the road and we made sure that we all crossed the finish line together. There were days we got to the next camp at 3am and days we got in ready to watch the sun set. It was absolutely incredible.
I remember coming in to Lands End with all our families and members of the public just cheering us on, it was so loud and so brilliant.

I didn't think in a million years I would tell people I'd hiked up Mountains and cycled the length of our country. But thanks to this incredible award I can! I did!

Receiving my DofE was an incredible experience too, I was lucky enough to be selected to meet the Duke (and a whole hose of celebrities) at Buckingham Palace for the Diamond Anniversary. I met HRH Prince Phillip, and he told me he liked my hair and laughed when we told him our expedition had taken us 2 weeks. He was so kind and showed such pride for all of us there. It was great.

My DofE journey has carried on since then with opportunities to share of blog detailing our Gold Expedition, to featuring on the Royal Website with my blog.

I am so thankful for the DofE award and how much it has changed my life and helped me grow.

As a teacher now, I am hoping to support children and young adults in their own DofE journey.