After their practice expedition in April, our Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s group headed back to the Welsh Mountains last week for their gruelling qualifying expedition. Mr Taylor, our DofE Centre Manager, reports on their adventure..

Over 4 days the group hiked and explored the Welsh Coastal Path and Carneddau Mountains, starting from the Great Orme at Llandudno and finishing at Pont Newydd above Tal-Y-Bont…

The route was a mixture of pleasant paths and tracks..

..along the beach and coastal paths..

..and some rough hill walking..

The first day afforded magnificent views from the Great Orme, almost to Conway and Bangor along the Menai Straits whilst day 4 afforded only a few glimpses of the high mountains through bouts of mist and driving rain. .

The group were self-sufficient, carrying enough equipment to complete the whole journey safely..

The weather conditions varied from sunny and pleasant to heavy and intermittent showers..

Home was a series of camps along the route..

The group walked a distance of around 36 miles making for some long, testing days which needed a great deal of internal motivation and teamwork..

Everyone acquitted themselves well, working hard and demonstrating some excellent independence, self organisational and leadership skills..

Well done, everyone!! We are extremely proud of how hard the group have worked and we are very grateful to Mr Taylor, Mr Lawrence and Mr Hickie for making the expedition possible – you’ll be pleased to hear that the tents have now finally dried out..