Expedition Training - Duke of Edinburgh's Award

I've been out on the North Wales Path today above Llanfairfechan, in Snowdonia, doing some navigation and expedition training with some students. Actually, they've been on the North Wales Path and I've mostly been checking up on them at various intervals! One of the best bits as a participant of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award is the feeling of self-reliance and not having teachers, trainers or assessors like me interfering too much with their experiences.

It's therefore quite a delicate balance for me to make sure that the group are safe and heading in the right direction while allowing them to make mistakes and decisions on their own, without having a checkpoint every ten minutes for me to cramp their style.

 

As part of my 'D of E toolkit', I still have Great Uncle Ken's binoculars and by positioning myself at various high points, could track the progress of the team undetected! They have a fantastic magnification, but I suspect that they might be producing lighter weight versions these days!