DofE

24 November 2016

As other School trips headed off for sunnier climes in the first week of the October Half term, a hardier group of Stoics struck north for the Lake District to complete a variety of Duke of Edinburgh Award Expeditions.

A group of Upper Sixth Formers led the charge from Keswick on their Gold Assessed Expedition, heading south over Catbells and Maiden Moor into Borrowdale where they crossed paths with a group of Lower Sixth Formers who were completing their Silver Assessed Expedition. Meanwhile further south a larger group of Stoics were starting a series of training exercises in the stunning surrounds of Eskdale in preparation for their Gold Expeditions later this year.

Once again the Northern Weather Gods smiled upon us and provided glorious weather for the groups to enjoy some of the most iconic Lakeland fells - unfortunately clear skies by day meant temperatures plummeted at night and both staff and Stoics had the quality of their sleeping bags tested by sub-zero temperatures. Over the course of the week the groups were treated to some testing terrain to try out their navigation skills through the Langdales and the peaks surrounding Eskdale.

On the final day all groups had the opportunity to summit Scafell and experience what proved to be a very testing mountain day. I hope that all of the Stoics who joined us on these Expeditions learnt something about themselves, working as a team and decision making over the course of the week - after all that is what the Award is all about! Congratulations to both the Silver and Gold teams, who completed their Assessed Expeditions on some of the toughest routes that we offer at Stowe.

Gwilym Jones, MiC DofE