DofE students take on the rapids!

Our current DofE cohort have made great progress with all aspects of their Gold Award (Physical, Skills, Volunteering, Expedition and Residential). These activities have included: horse riding, surfing, cooking, sailing, archery, learning to play instruments, and working with community groups and youth sports teams, across the UK and beyond. They are aiming to achieve their DofE Gold Awards before they leave Long Road in the hopes of all being able to go to Buckingham Palace for their celebration event together.

This year for their expedition our cohort unanimously voted for canoeing, largely to avoid having to carry heavy rucksacks- although they’ve since discovered how heavy canoes loaded with barrels of clothes, food and camping equipment can be! This involved training in Cambridge where they practised capsizing and righting the boats and a stunning weekend camping in the Norfolk Broads battling very strong winds and sunburn. Finally, for the qualifier our crew spent 4 days expeditioning along the Riven Severn, travelling 119 kms and deploying over half a million paddle strokes between them*, including through the Jackfield Rapids at Ironbridge. Miraculously only one participant got tipped out!

After 10 days of canoeing this Summer, I think it fair to say this year’s Gold DofE participants are well on their way to becoming expert canoeists!

*Thanks to Leo Bray (DofE Young Leader) for the data.