Orla's Duke of Edinburgh Expedition

Orla wrote up her experience:

On Friday 2nd June 2023, I began my bronze Duke of Edinburgh expedition. Getting the DoE Bronze award involves four things: practicing a skill (piano) for three months; doing regular exercise (walks) for three months; volunteering (acting as assistant/helper in a primary one classroom at Holy Cross) for six months; and finally, the expedition itself. The expedition would involve walking 12km the first day, camping overnight, and then 10km the next day starting at Clachan of Campsie and finishing at Killearn.
 
I was originally encouraged to do DoE because my friend Megan was going to be doing it, however the expedition dates were too close to her dance display and so she postponed doing it until the next one in July. So, I was going in with no friends. It was intimidating – but despite being acquaintances, I had known most of the people doing it for years. One of the girls in my group – also called Orla – went to my primary, so I knew her pretty well. The other three I had at least spoken to before. The fifth one, Eilidh, I didn’t know very well, but she was the one I was going to be sharing a tent with.
 
We arrived at Clachan of Campsie by minibus. Each group had to set off five to ten minutes apart from each other, to prevent groups from just following other groups instead of following their map. The weather couldn’t have been better – beautiful sunny skies, if you could ignore the heat. I had been leant walking poles by my Auntie Katie, which ended up being a lifesaver later; I probably would have collapsed without them. The first part of the walk wasn’t so bad, though it was very same-y. I quickly realised that I was the slowest member of the group, but I managed to keep up with the quick pace everyone else had.
 
Eventually, things started to hurt. The bags we had to lug around with us reached from the bottom of our waists to ten centimetres above our heads, and weighed as much as a baby elephant. As gross as it sounds, you could feel the water seeping out of you – and there wasn’t much time to stop for water breaks. We had to keep going to prevent being overtaken by the previous group. I wasn’t the only one struggling – Eilidh was, too. The other girls were quite annoyed with how often we had to stop. 

Reaching the picnic tables marked on our map was a joyous moment. I threw off my bag and inhaled my lunch. The boys group was there to greet us – I didn’t speak to them (I didn’t speak much at all, really) but it was fun listening to the conversation around me. We had to wait an hour for every group to reach us. We departed shortly after the boys did.

The second part of the walk was, arguably, the worst part of the whole trip. We were marching up a hill with boulders on our backs in the blazing sun. I don’t entirely blame anyone for being annoyed or snappish – we were exhausted, after all – but the atmosphere was tense to say the least. We overtook the boys because one person in their group, Harry, was having a lot of trouble with the hill; we saw him actually collapse a couple of times. The girls were shouting at the boys to stop pushing him too hard (literally – they were pushing him up the hill) and yet they were pushing Eilidh to stop taking so many breaks and were honestly apathetic when she said she was feeling sick.

So yeah, the second part of the walk wasn’t very nice. By the end of it I was dead on my feet, and it felt like my shoulder straps were going to cut my arms clean off. I was too exhausted to be anything other than relieved when we finally reached the campsite. I couldn’t move for fifteen whole minutes.

Once I had recovered, and more groups had joined us, Eilidh and I pitched the tent. By this point I wasn’t speaking at all – I was hangry. I didn’t feel hungry in the way you usually would; instead, there was a hole in my stomach and I could physically feel the fatigue in my bones. My body was screaming at me for food. As I sat waiting for my pasta, the hanger morphed into being hungry-depressed. I felt like crying for no reason other than I wanted to eat. I eventually got my sad bowl of plain pasta, which I wolfed down in a grand total of less than a minute. I didn’t wait for sauce because it would’ve taken another five minutes to cook – and when you’re hungry, each minute waiting for food stretches on for hours.

The pasta pacified me. I wasn’t upset or angry anymore, but I was tired, and my social batteries were significantly drained. The campsite was also infested with midges. Thank the heavens for midge-nets and repellents, because you were guaranteed to have at least five midges in your face anywhere you stood. These two factors combined, I took refuge in the tent and read on my phone for the following hours. You weren’t supposed to be on your phone (so you could ‘appreciate nature’) but given the circumstances, I think I could be excused.

When it came time to go to sleep (around half-eleven), Eilidh came into the tent to tell me she would be going home. Apparently, her mum was going to pick her up and she wouldn’t be doing the rest of the walk. I didn’t think much of it at the time (I didn’t dissuade her because it meant I would get a tent to myself) but looking back, it was a shame that she did all that months of work and volunteering just to pull out at the finish line. I knew she was struggling, but I also thought she was definitely capable of finishing the walk. I guess she just didn’t want to. 

I felt a million times better the next morning. And that still wasn’t great, mind you, sleeping in a tent is not comfortable – but at least I had gotten some sleep. The midge problem was back tenfold, so we got packed up quickly (I had to deal with Eilidh’s stuff) and left around seven. We were the second group to leave behind the boys, and again soon overtook them. 
The sun was back with a vengeance, and we had to march up more steep hills. I feel slightly bad saying it, but we were way faster without Eilidh there. Unfortunately, I was now the slowest in the group, but everyone else had sworn we wouldn’t stop for breaks every five minutes, no matter how much we wanted to. So, I powered on, even though it felt like I was walking on hot coals and at any moment my legs or arms might fall off. We made sure to stay hydrated, though.

By the time we stopped for an early lunch, it was no surprise I had blisters. Luckily, Auntie Katie also gave me an anti-blister kit which was also a lifesaver. As usual, I scoffed my lunch, made sure to refill my water, and sat in the shade surrounded by conversation. At least I had no lack of entertainment – I can recite the relationship drama and crushes of at least ten girls off the top of my head, now.

Once we had recovered, we set off again – this time, we were first to leave. Minus one steep climb through a sheep field, the final stretch was the best part of the whole walk. It was relatively flat ground, with periods of shade, and that’s not to mention the gorgeous views. I was so determined to carry on that I didn’t even register the pain anymore – I just kept on going. There was some real conversation, too; we were even singing at one point. I will never be able to listen to ‘American Pie’ without thinking of this experience.
When we finally reached the teachers at the end of the path (who had so conveniently driven there), they told us to go find the local co-op, and we’d be picked up by our parents there. The moment I saw that co-op was the single happiest, most glorious and most triumphant moment of my entire life. We had done it. Finally, we were actually done! 

I collapsed face-first into the grass. After a brief recovery, me and two of the others went into the co-op to get ice creams (we had Soleros). Soon enough, Mum, Auntie Katie and Gran came to pick me up to go get some proper lunch. 
 
I remember sitting in that campsite waiting for dinner, and thinking to myself that I regretted doing this. I was half-delirious, half-hysterical, and too tired to argue with myself. After everything, though? I don’t regret a single thing. I hated it while I was doing it, but the feeling of finally finishing it (and the treats that came afterwards) really did make it worth it. Even though hated it, I’m glad I did it. I always end up regretting the things I didn’t do far more than the things I did. That being said, I’m still not doing silver. I’ve had the experience once, thank you very much. I’m never going camping again. 
 
That sentiment is shared among everyone who was asked. Absolutely nobody wants to do silver. That is, except one person – Harry. Despite being the slowest, and struggling, and collapsing, and being pushed around and shouted at by his group, he was the only person out of everyone who wanted to do silver. There really is a difference between struggling and not trying. I didn’t say anything (which I do regret), but I thought that was really cool of him.