Analysis of our Expedition around the Gower.

This covers: Unit 5: 4, 5, 6 Unit 6: 5, 4

Introduction
On the 17th of June I and my public service class went on an expedition around the Gower to complete 5 AOs. The expedition consisted of 2 days. In our group there were 9 people who all had different level of fitness. The aim of the trip was to reach certain checkpoints in a certain time to show that we could work as a group and also we had to also do other activities like put up a tent as a group and also cook together. The instructor of the expedition was our teacher Mr. Davies.

Route, Equipment
The route started in Port Eynon and the journey took us through Cefyn Brinn and then ending up in Pennard. The route was off main road and tarmac tracks and was mostly on fields or off road tracks. The track also wasnt flat and the path was ranged from going uphill at some points and downhill also in some points. Some of the equipment that we used in the trip was: Walking boots Compass Rucksack Certain parts of the tent Spare change of clothes Map Food+drink Bin liners Lighter Trangia

We took all this equipment in an 80 litre rucksack that we carried everywhere with us. Because we were walking through the Gower and on some roads there were certain rules to follow. A couple of them are:

Always walk on the right side of the road to incoming traffic. No dropping any litter. The person at the front and back of the group had to wear a high visibility jacket Not allowed to walk through private land or fields Always shut gates after youve left certain areas.

So they are the rules that we followed even know most of them are common sense.

Day 1
On the first day we were all meant to meet by Port Eynon chip shop by 10. We all more or less arrived there on time but of course Rhys Morris was late. Sooner or later he arrived and then we were nearly ready to set off but then we found out that Callum Bradshaw had forgotten his parents consent form that was needed to let him take part in the journey so sir had to ring pasties parents. Callums parents said it was fine so we left the Port Eynon around eleven and set off on our 2 day journey. As soon as we started walking we all stated to complain about the weight of our bags but me more than others. We reached our first checkpoint around 10 minutes of walking and had a short break of around 5 minutes. In the journey I thought that Nicky Jones was the supplier and worker. For example, at this checkpoint we were thirsty and Nicky supplied us all with mountain dew even though we all had drinks and didnt need it. This shows us how loyal he is to the group because we all had drinks but he insisted on us having it not knowing how much he needed for the weekend. I think that this encouraged the group to stay strong because he showed that he was trying to help the group out and was putting other people first before himself. We finished our drinks and set off again up the hill. Half way up the hill we stopped because there were 2 different paths to take. We chose the one that we thought was right and headed up the road. We walked for another 10 minutes along the road until we came to a campsite. We stopped to check where we were on the map and found out that we could of had taken the wrong route. We all decided what to do and came to the conclusion to carry on because the road joined up with the same route we were meant to take. In the journey I thought that Alex Connelly was the supporter and joker. For example as we started to walk again, the rain started to hammer down. Alex could see that peoples faces were starting to get annoyed so he started to sing chants that got everyone got involved in even the quieter ones. As soon as this happened the pace of the group was increased and it got the groups morale up and everyone wasnt complaining anymore. This role of the group was one of the most important because it encouraged people not to think of the negative sides of the journey and focus on the positive sides.

We walked a little further down the road and turned to the right and saw Ben Morgans group making their way through the path. We started talking and then realised that we had defiantly taken the wrong route. They left us after speaking for 5 minutes and then once again Nicky offered food to everyone but mars bars this time. This again showed the same support for the team. We waited 15 minutes and then set off again. We reached sir within 10 minutes and then he pointed us in the right direction. We set off again on a forest path this time, and the morale was still up because it was still quite early in the journey. We walked for around 10 minutes and then we came into a forest. It was around 12 so we all decided to have a break and have dinner. In my opinion Rhys Morris was probably the joker in the group on the expedition. For example Rhys was constantly saying jokes which also kept the groups morale up. This is important to the group because if the morale was down then people would start to give and not want to do anything so because it was up everyone carried on and supported each other through it once we had finished out dinner we carried on walking through the forest. As we came out of the forest it started to pour down even more and we were walking up hill so it made it even worse. At this point Scott Davies suggested for some music to be played so I started playing some music on my phone. When the music was playing the pace of the group increased and we made it up the hill within no time. We stopped at the top of the hill for a break and put on our waterproofs. The groups morale at this point was pretty low but the music kept us plodding through up the hill. So the music was an important part for this part for this trip because without it we would just want to stop but it kept us going. Even though sir suggested to not using electronics and mp3, I think that the music was an advantage to the group because it helped us get through the hard parts of the journey. Also the music was quite energetic music so it helped us to not stop and made us want to complete the journey more. We kept on walking up the hill and we saw another one of the teacher at the top of it so we stopped to talk to him for direction and then carried on. At this point we were close to Cefyn Brinn and our next checkpoint was by King Arthurs stone. At this point I showed leadership because not everyone knew where to go so I took control and stopped to look at the map and made the boys follow me even if the disagreed and carried on walking up towards the next checkpoint. I think showing leadership in the group was good because it took the responsibility off everyone else and it made peoples mind up without arguments and disagreements. This also would help the group because by avoiding disagreements the group would stay stronger as a group and then work better as one unit. We reached the next checkpoint in pain and knackered. Sir gave us the next set of directions and we set off again down the hill. At this point the groups attitudes were at the lowest of the whole trip or thats how I felt. Even though we were going down I thought that this was the hardest part of the trip. Everyone was complaining about their shoulders but we carried

on until we came to the turned over car. We decided to stop and take a look at it. We looked at it for around 5 minutes and then we carried on walking down towards the lake. We reached what we thought was 200 yards away from the lake and started looking for walking paths off the right. We couldnt find any so we decided to ring sir. He told us that there was a not very noticeable path leading off to the right and youve probably passed it. So we back tracked on ourselves and started looking for the path. In my opinion Scott was one of the leaders in the group and took control of the group quite allot and used his compass very well to help us find the right paths. For example at this point Scott spotted a sort of path, which we all decided to take and Scott led the way across the common. We walked in what we thought was the right direction for a shot time and then the pathway seemed to disappear and we were just left with common. At this point the group split up into two groups and all different opinions were shouted from one person to another. After a short while we all regrouped as some of the slower walkers started to drift slowly behind. This showed negativity through the group because half the team werent showing support towards the other half. This may of led the other half to think that they were letting the team down and may lead them to thinking that they dont want to continue. As we were trying to decide a direction, Alex thought he could see a gat up ahead of us in the forest. So we walked over towards the gate hoping that this was the right path. As we approached the forest we realised that it was a gate leading into a farmers field. Once again we all disagreed if we should go with the field route and risk not being able to find another gate and have to jump over the fence. And then once again Nicky showed his commitment towards the group. He put his bag down and jogged up through the farmers field looking for a gate that we could get out of. He jogged back towards us and told us the bad news that there wasnt a gate in sight so we went on the better route around the fields and up the mountain. As we reach halfway up the mountain we had a rest because we were all tired. Some of us had food and Alex pulled out his fourth jam rolley polley. At this point Nick once again showed his commitment to the team and once again put his bag down and started to job up the hill. This once again shoed the team that he was putting allot of commitment into the journey and made the team want to do the same for him as he had done for us and put the same amount of commitment as him. He came back after a few minutes and said that there was a path on the top of the hill. Because we were so far behind our next checkpoint sir rang us and asked where we were. We told him that we didnt really know and he helped us describing how the contour lines would help us to find the top of the mountain which is where our path was. So we rested for another 5 minutes and then set off once again up the mountain. We finally reached what we thought what the top of the mountain was and had another rest. Once again Nick showed his commitment to the team and shared his asthma pump to the group because our chests were tight. This showed commitment to the team because its something that he medically needs so because he supplied it to the team, he could put his health in danger. We all took one pump of it and then when it came to Alexs turn he couldnt do it and he kept opening his mouth and not breathing in when he pressed

the button so the air was just leaking out of his mouth and he didnt get any. Even though he didnt mean to be funny, this showed Alex to be the joker because he made the whole group laugh. After we rested for 5 minutes we set off and the group was pretty down at this point. A few of the group members thought it would be good to walk as fast as they could up the mountain because we were so late so half of us walked up in front. A few minutes later we stopped on top of the mountain to wait for the other people to catch up. Josh reached us and told us that Kieran had cramp and was not walking very fast so we waited for Kieran at the top. Looking back at it Im disappointed in myself for not walking back down to help Kieran. I think the reason for this is because at this point we were working as a unit and it might of lead for him to think that he was letting the group down Kieran reached us in 5 minutes and we had a 5 minute break for him. After we rested we seen the girls group coming down the hill from the route that we thought we were meant to be taking. They stopped and told us that we had to go back up a different mountain and there was a little path that wasnt very noticeable to follow to get to our next checkpoint. So we set off again and went up the path they told us. After walking for around 20 minutes on this path we decided that we had come too far and we and missed the path. I told the boys this and they didnt want to turn around and go back but just walk straight down the mountain through all the thorn bushes. So once again we argued which direction to take and eventually I persuaded them to backtrack. At this point sir luckily rang. At this point Kierans leg was badly hurting him and he said that he couldnt walk much further. So sir decided to tell us that we needed to walk to the farm in a more direct route instead of using the route we were given. We reached the farm and all the other groups had arrived. We set up tent in our 3s and some of the boys went for showers. We cooked food and then we stayed up and talked for a short while and then went to sleep.

Day 2
I woke up early in the morning to find that some of the groups had already left. So we decided to get up and start to pack our stuff up. We started to pack our tent up and Josh could see that we were struggling so he came over to help us. This showed teamwork because he didnt have tom come over and we didnt ask him so it was something he willingly done. After we packed everything up and all the other people in our group had then we set off back up the mountain where we ended off. At this point Dom realised that instead of going around the mountain and then up we could just go straight up and gain 30 minutes to our time. Dom Cooling in my opinion was the worker in the group. I think this because Dom does no physical activities and his fitness levels are quite low. But throughout the expedition Dom was at the front of the group and was putting 100% effort into it. Because Dom showed this to everybody else then it lifted the group and showed an example for everyone else to do the same.

So we all came to the decision to walk up the mountain and save us some time. Also I think that Kieran Fitzgerald was also a hard worker in the group because he didnt have a high level of fitness going into the expedition but he still managed to complete the weekend. The fact that he showed so much effort brought the teams morale up because it showed the other people and example and then the other people in the group would want to do the same amount of effort as him. So we staring walking up the hill and we walked and walked and then eventually got to the top. As we reached the top we, once again saw Ben Morgans group heading towards us. This to us was a great achievement because they left 20 30 minutes before us and by making a decision as a group we managed to use our knowledge to shorten the route down. I found this part the journey extremely funny because you could see Bens face try to be happy for us that we shortened our route , but you could tell that he was really angry and was jealous of what we did. Because we were all really tired we decided to have another break at this point and Bens group left us and carried on. The decision that we made in my opinion was a very useful and good one. Even though we were meant to stick to the route, we had made a whole decision as a team and also helped Kieran to get up it. Also the fact that we caught up with Bens group also made it better because it was funny to see how angry they were. At this point of the journey the group was very strong and was worked well as a team. Also I was struggling at this point with my bag because i had brought a heavier one compared to the rest of the group so Callum offered to carry my bag up the hill. This showed teamwork towards the group because he offered to help me out instead of me asking him, I think this also boosted the team as a unit because then when we got to the top of the hill, Nick carried it for a short period and then Rhys carried it for a very long period. As we set off the group was much stronger then the day before, we walked until we got to the next checkpoint which was at three cliffs campsite. We reached there and without break we carried on. Our next checkpoint wasnt far down the road but on our way down there we saw some cows right up close to a fence. We stopped for a short while and Rhys was stroking one of them when one of them tried to mount the other one. It doesnt sound very important but it made the whole group and it increased the groups mood which made the walk more enjoyable and it seemed to go by quicker. Josh Park was, in my opinion was the helper in the group. He didnt give his input for allot of the disagreements but he was there to constantly help and he helped everyone plough through the weekend. So we set off once again and reached sir within minutes. We rested for 10 minutes and then set off again. We reached the path we were meant to go up on and we thought it would be more fun to just go straight up through the forest track which was very steep and very slippery. This was one of the most fun moments of the journey for me because it was very funny seeing everyone getting half way up the hill and then slipping back down again. So we all got up the first track and then there was a path going to the right or another steep dirt track which was even steeper this time, so we decided to go up there. A few of us reached the top with difficulty and then Dom and Kieran were still down the bottom. Dom surprised me in this point because at first he said he couldnt do it, but then he just went for it and made it up pretty fast. Next Kieran didnt

have much confidence that he could do it on his own so Nick went down and grabbed his bag and then took that up. Next a few of the other boys went down and helped him up. Kieran made it up also within the next couple of minutes. This was one of most times that the group showed very good teamwork and we helped each other to get to our destination. We rested for another 5 minutes and then set off again. At this point I think I took leadership of the group because I had walked this track a few times and I knew the route we were going to take. In my opinion I think that Callum Bradshaw was the joker in the group. I think this because he was constantly making up jokes and making people laugh. I think that it is important to have someone like this in the group because its keeps the mood up and makes people enjoy the overall experience more. We reached three cliffs castle and didnt have a break because we wanted to finish as quickly as we could. So we carried on walking around the golf course. I think that the group didnt show much group work at this point because a few of the boys seemed to plough in front including me, and didnt realise how we had left a few of the boys behind. We did stop and wait for them but this could of knocked their confidence or made them want to stop because it made them feel like they were letting the other half of the team down. So looking back on this point I think that half of the group could have been a lot more supportive at this point. We waited for them and when they caught up we carried on walking making sure that we stayed more as a group this time. We reached a certain point of the route where we had to cross a little part of a golf course and then carried on walking. We had reached the bottom part of the beach by three cliffs bay. The next part of the journey was a quite hard part of the journey as we had to walk back up a mountain to reach the top to get on the path to Southgate which was our next and last checkpoint. We walked half way up the mountain and then we seen Ben Morgans group again. We ran up to them and talked for them a bit. And then I remembered that on top of the hill there was a thing you could you jump off and it was really fun. So both out groups went up there and had a bit of fun for 10 minutes. Then Bens group said they were going to meet sir at their next checkpoint so we stayed and had another break for a short time. I think that this part of the journey also made the journey more en enjoyable because we made it fun. Also because it was fun it made the groups overall attitude better and then we were then exited to finish and be happy at what we had accomplished. So we set off for the last time and even though we were knackered we were exited to finish off our task. We kept on ploughing through the route until we got to the final stretch where we could see Bens group sitting on the floor finished. At this point me and Alex went to see Kieran and encourage him as much as possible and show him how much effort and how proud we were of him. I think this helped him finish and I think it showed him how much of an achievement it was. As we reached the other boys, you could see the relief on the faces of everyone and also I think everyone was glad to finish. I think my role in the group was leadership. I think this because I felt like I took control of the group allot of the time. I think it is important to have someone in the group like this to lead the group into the right decision and make their minds up on things that they cant decide on. I

also think its important because if we had one leader then there would be fewer disagreements because you would have to listen to whatever the leader decision is.

Conclusion
The points that I thought went well in the expedition are: When we worked as a team we worked very well as a team We all pushed each other to complete it We complete the weekend We all used our different roles to work as a balanced team that worked well Allot of the boys went out of their way to help other group members We found different ways to complete it that worked well If there was a disagreement then we got over it and didnt hold any grudges and we got on with what we had to achieve

The points that didnt go well and we could have improved on were: Didnt always work as a full team Were certain time where we did argue We had too many leaders I think the group was too big so there was too many people wanting to do their own thing Not our fault but the weather conditions could of been allot better and it put negative attitude on the day.