GOLD DofE NEW ENTRANTS' EXPEDITION TO PEN ARTHUR
On Friday 6 October, 15 Lower Sixth pupils set off to Pen Arthur for their Gold DofE New Entrants’ Expedition. The weekend is designed to give a flavour of what to expect on Duke of Edinburgh's expeditions and provides training in navigation and campcraft. The group stepped out of the minibus to conduct their navigation training on Friday afternoon and experienced typical Welsh conditions, battling rain and thick mist to practice navigation around the Black Mountain. They then set up camp for the night at Pen Arthur and plotted their routes for the rest of the weekend.
On Saturday, all of the pupils tackled routes around the Usk Reservoir; they were fortunate to have excellent visibility which greatly helped their navigation over challenging terrain. The pupils showed great resilience and comradeship in supporting and helping each other as many had no experience of either the terrain or load carrying.
On Sunday the groups enjoyed glorious warm and clear conditions as they made it on to the Bannau Sir Gaer Ridge where they enjoyed some splendid views. Hopefully all of the students are now looking forward to their next expeditions at Easter.
Mr Orme would like to thank all the pupils for their excellent attitude and especially the staff who gave up their weekend and ensured the smooth running of the trip.
Mr GE OrmeTeacher of Geography
