The three qualifying groups met at Broadstone Warren campsite on Tuesday afternoon and began setting up their tents. There was Team 1 – “Extreme Team”, Team 2 – “Q2”, and Team 3 – “Team Reem”. We ran through their equipment, food, cooking, navigation, and safety procedures before they got on with their cooking for the evening. Some had brought some very fancy noodles (like Pot Noodles but just better looking), some had sausages (which made a real mess of their trangia!), but my personal favourite was the frozen bolognaise. In hindsight, Team 1 conceded that defrosting it the night before was perhaps the better option – trying to defrost it in a trangia looked like hard work! Nevertheless, all groups had a good feed before retiring for the night.
There was rainfall in the night but it did not seem to deter the teams. They ate bacon, porridge, muesli bars, and were soon chomping at the bit to get going. Pete, their assessor arrived and asked each team various questions about their expedition before they set off into the wilds of Ashdown. The fourth team who were on their Silver expedition training, also arrived and after going through the essentials, were off too.
They arrived into camp in good spirits and in good time. The rain hadn’t soaked them completely just quite yet but arrived just after the teams had eaten, the heavens opened. Soon the campsite was looking more like Glastonbury than scenic camping!
The following morning, the teams left the mud pits and began their day’s walking. Unfortunately one member of the training team decided it wasn’t for him and was picked up. The remainder of the team put up with their wet feet and carried on.
One member of Team 2 had brought two tins of SPAM, both of which were consumed hastily, despite the common conception that this such foodstuffs are left for real emergencies – like war time. Apparently, the mere sound of him munching it made many other team members queasy!
All four teams arrived into their campsites in good time and were soon going through what were now the rituals of expedition life – sit down, breath, put tents up, have a look around the site, find the loos, begin cooking. By this stage, much of the teams’ kit was wet but they all knew they had only one day left. One more push and they were home and (not so) dry.
The final morning, all teams were up early, hoping to get back to base as early as possible. After breakfast, they packed up and left. Teams 2 & 3 got temporarily misplaced on their first leg but were soon back on track. The training team left in good time, as did Team 1.
The boys arrived back at Broadstone Warren for a debrief with Pete, their assessor. All teams had performed extremely well, put themselves through a real challenge, but would certainly feel the benefit of a hot shower and home-cooked food once they were home. I do not envy the unlucky people giving them lifts back though!
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