Our Open Gold DofE Training/Practice Expeditions run over four days and three nights.

Day 1 is a hands-on training day, you will meet us and the rest of your group at a specified starting point, convenient for being dropped off. We will carry out a kit check, expedition briefing and hand out any supplied group kit. You will then head off on a walk in to your first wild campsite under the careful eye of one of our Instructors who will give you helpful pointers and test your abilities along the way. Once at the campsite you will setup camp and go through a stove safety briefing, and first aid update. After lunch you will head back out onto the open moorland for some more navigation exercises with your instructor. You will then spend your evening tracing routes onto your maps and any other final preparations for the following days.

Days 2, 3 & 4 are your official Practice Expedition.

You will break camp and head off on your route, with your supervisor meeting you at prearranged check points so they can help you iron out any issues that might crop up. All of our groups will have a SPOT3 GPS tracker and emergency beacon on, should any issues occur.

At the end of your Practice Expedition, you will take time with your group and Instructor team to ensure all kit is returned clean and dried. Your supervisor team will carry out a final debrief reinforcing any lessons learnt and ensuring you are all prepared for your Qualifying Expedition.

So, if you are looking to complete your award, but your friends aren’t up for it, you or your group can’t make your school dates or you even have a preformed group just looking for an Exped, then this is the ideal option for you! As part of your planning, we will ensure communication between you and the other participants so that you can co-ordinate planning and get to know each other. We will also arrange zoom call prior to your expedition so we can answer any and all questions that you have and make sure everyone is ready to turn up and go!

Please note, we do require minimum of eight people to run any of our expeditions, we will be as transparent as possible about the numbers booked onto any dates you have an interest in.