Over Thursday 30th and Friday 31st March, around 30 Hampton School boys went into the beautiful New Forest as part of their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award.
D of E has been around for 61 years, with a total of 119,892 awards achieved over the past year and all around the country. It has been set up to broaden our horizons and teach us very important skills for life, such as survival, navigating with a compass and endurance. In order to achieve an award, you must complete a volunteering, physical and skill section as well as doing an expedition (lasting two days for bronze, three for silver and four for gold) that is run independently and lead by a group of teenagers.
The first day of the trip started late morning, where there was not a single cloud in the sky. The boys set off in their groups with high moral and eagerness to be the first one to reach Avon Tyrell campsite. Each group had their own route to follow that lasted for 15 kilometres and they had to be navigated with just a map and compass. After trekking through endless forests, plains in the most isolated places imaginable and many swamps, our boys made it to the site without a scratch! In the evening, everybody sat around their tents, cooking their nutritious meals with a simple trangia set. Lights were out very quickly due to long day that they had gone through and the even longer day that lay ahead of us.
The next morning, we were gently woken by the soft chirping of the birds, but little did we know that there was an 18 kilometre journey waiting for us!
A total of 12 hours and 33 kilometres of walking has been covered over these two days, but the Hampton boys stayed strong throughout and have hopefully had a well-earned rest!
