The Chronicle 682

26 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

To the Peaks! By Tom Holdsworth, Head of Outdoor Education

Avenue Shells on their DofE bronze expedition: Rose Brabyn, Haha Smith, Reine Lam, Emily Orpen, Lena Screech-Dean, Omolara Sowande and Yasmin Wolcough

Late June saw the entire Shell year group head for the new location of the Peak District for a fast-paced four days of outdoor activities. For most of them this included their two-day DofE Bronze expedition, where each group walked independently whilst carrying all food, clothing and equipment to be self-sufficient. All groups were successful in passing the expedition section of their award, with some quickly discovering the importance of detailed navigation and working as a team. This was a steep learning curve

for many, especially Cooper Lodge who managed to walk off the edge of the map and finish day one closer to their starting point than the end! The remainder of pupils were ably guided by teachers through the beautiful limestone gorges and dry-stone walling of Monsal Dale and Monyash, with some groups lucky enough to sample locally made Bakewell tarts in the town where they were invented. When not on expedition everyone completed a range of outdoor activities including high ropes and team building

exercises of various complexity, with teamwork becoming increasingly challenging throughout the week as tiredness levels rose. The highlight for many was the previously unknown activity of ‘weaseling’, otherwise known as ‘ferreting’, ‘snurgling’ and ‘slithering’. This turned out to be a highly entertaining game of squeezing through smaller and smaller gaps, mixed with scrambling across the gritstone boulders and cliffs of Higgar Tor. Pupils were kept busy well into the evening. Activities included the ‘nightline’, where pupils were challenged to follow a