Evaluation of D of E

Introduction On Friday 17th and Saturday 18th me and my public services class did an expedition in Gower. Our aim was to start in Port Eynon and finish in Penard the next day, spending the night at Nicholston farm. Me and the group who included Dominic Cooling , Alex Conelly , Luke Robbins , Callum Bradshaw , Nicholas Jones , Scott Davies , Kieran Fitzgerald and Joshua Park all had to pay a deposit on the equipment that we used which included Tents , Trangias and Rucksacks I think it also included maps and route cards , all together the class paid 17 each , 2 the whole class chipped in to make 20 for the equipment deposit and 15 for the campsite . By doing this expedition and this write up of it I will be completing 5 of my assignments three from unit 5 and two from unit 6. Equipment There was quit a lot of equipment to take on our expedition so we decided to try and brake up some of our group equipment such as the tent , me Nicky and Dom was sharing a tent so what we did was I took the inner of the tent and Nicky took the outer and Dom took the Trangia and the tent pegs. We did this so all of us would have a good time when we were walking so It didn't bring morale down. This had a positive impact on the group because it made us happier walking so we didn't moan about our bags being to heavy and it was just a fair way to even out the equipment. This is a list of some of the other equipment we used . Matches Torch Meths Trangia Tent Route card Camera Map First Aid Kit All of our equipment was high quality especially our tents as the weather on our expedition was horrible. It rained nearly all of the first day which had a negative impact on our group as it made us all a bit grumpy. So the tents helped quit a bit as they were waterproof so at night we didnt get soaking. The bags had a positive impact on the group I think because they were comfy to carry as they had straps around them with cushions on them so it was nice to carry. Planning and Organising Before we went on our expedition we did a lot of planning in class , such as discussing the country code and other certain rules we had to follow when doing our expedition e.g. always stay on the right hand side of the road when walking on the road. We remembered this by our class saying right is right . We also planned our route card before we went on our expedition with the help of our teacher Mr Davies. Mr Davies was reliable to help us plan our route cards because he has a qualification in mountain leaders. I did a little bit of research on what this actually means and basically it means that Mr Davies has the skills required to lead and instruct pupils on hill walking, mountaineering, mountain and moorland walking and rock and ice climbing and other similar activities that take place on similar surroundings. I got this information at http://www.mltuk.org.

An area I could of improved on is making my voice heard when we were planning our route card because I felt a bit left out as I missed a few lessons due to exams so I didn't really know what was going on. A hazard that could have been a bad one for me was lack of organisation when I was packing my rucksack for the expedition as I put bin liners in my bag and then my spare clothes separate so when I got to camp all my spare clothes was soaking wet and then I felt horrible sitting in wet clothes for the rest of the night so I think this had a negative impact as my grumpiness might have effected my friends moods. I think one of my strong points was organising food and drink. For my expedition I took two bottles of Lucozade for energy and a 2 litre bottle of water that I refilled after I finished it. For food I took a can of beans and sausages , two pot noodles , super noodles and a can of macaroni cheese. I felt this was one of my strong points because I don't think I ever felt hungry on my expedition and I always felt hydrated. We also had to get our parents to fill out health and safety forms in case something happened to us e.g. falling and braking a bone. Another poor planning and organisation error was the group not deciding on a team leader. I think it would have benefited us if we did decide on someone before we went on our expedition because we argued a lot when we got lost and it just got a little bit tense between everybody. Even if we did pick a team leader we still would have argued but at least we could have had a voting system or something anything instead of just shouting out your ideas and nobody listening to them. Health and Safety One health and safety rule I have already mentioned in this assignment is the right is right rule where we have to stay on the right side of the road when walking on the main roads. We had to follow this rule so drivers can see us when they are driving past , we also had to wear high visibility jackets so we stood out even more. A hazard I noticed was that the two people that was wearing the jackets were supposed to be one at the front and one at the back. I was one of the people who was wearing the jacket so I was trying to stick to the back of the group but Scott was sticking near to the middle of the group I don't think he meant to do this I think it was because to much responsibility was put on Scott because he was the only person with a compass so he was also put in charge of reading the map as well so I feel like he was concentrating on to much and therefore put a risk on the groups safety. Another point I have also mentioned in this assignment is Mr Davies being a capable supervisor as a week before we went he gave us a list of items we would need for our expedition this shows he is a organised supervisor. Day 1 On the first day everybody met at Port Eynon at 10:15 and we left roughly at 10:30-10:35 as soon as we left everybody was happy and excited for the expedition with everybody sharing sweets and telling jokes. Our first decision came when the road split about 10-20 minutes into our walk and all the boys sat down and had a think and we decided to go right which ended up being the right track. Moral was very high this day from the excitement of being on the expedition but I think it started to drop a little bit when we got off the main roads and went into the forest were it began to rain. Even though we were getting wet and muddy moral was still high as we were all sticking together as a group singing songs and laughing. I think moral stayed high until we went quite a way out of our route and we had to go back on ourself s and I think this Is when the arguments started to take place. We carrying on walking through fields by the main roads even though we didnt know where we was going until we reached the top of the hill again which we just walked down. This is when we started going off into our own little groups this was a hazard because if one group got lost with out a map or with even a map they would be lost without a compass and also the other group would most probably get lost looking for them. When we all got to the top of the hill Kieran got cramp in his leg and was not able to walk but none of the boys notice and carried on walking until we realised we couldnt even see them so we stopped for about 10 minutes and then Josh came and told us all. We waited about ten more minutes and finally Scott and kieran arrived. After Scott and

Kieran had a rest we carried on walking down the hill. All of us was tired so we tried to take a short cut right down the side of the hill were there was a lot of brambles and stingy nettles but as we started making our way down Kierans leg got worse so Luke had to call Mr Davies so we could go to the campsite . As we got there it was such a relief seeing all the other groups from school but it wasn't over yet we still had to put our tents up in the rain. I felt that me and Dom let Nicky down a little bit because Nicky took control over setting up the tent and we just let him get on with it instead of helping him as much as we could this could of made an impact on nicks mood as it made him a bit aggravated. As soon as the tent was up we made our self's our pot noodles and mingled with a few other groups from our school then we just chilled in the tent for the night. Day 2 I didn't have a good nights sleep as my sleeping bag wasn't waterproof and got wet the first day and when I did finally get to sleep I got woke up at 6 in the morning by alistair evans a boy from another group. After I was properly awake we got the trangia started and started cooking our breakfast I had beans. After we all had breakfast we started to pack up the tent but I went to clean the trangia out but some people was having a go at me so I think everyone was just a bit cranky so I didn't really care and carried on doing what I was doing. When we were all finished packing up we had to wait ten minutes for another group to get further in front of us before we could leave. When we did actually leave we were walking for a bout 5 minutes when we notices that instead of walking around this big hill that we got to we could walk straight up it, so that's what we did unfortunately we overtaken a group that left before us so we had to take at least a 20 minute break for them to get in front of us but that was ok for us as the hill we just climbed was pretty big. After we started off again and met Mr Davies at our next checkpoint we came to a gate of cows. I have never seen to cows jumping on top of each other and thought It was funny. This raised moral for the group again after a terrible first day of weather bringing them down. After this we met sir at the Sheppard s checkpoint we also seen the other group at the checkpoint with Mr Davies we had a sense of accomplishment catching up with the other group but I dont think it really counted as we did cheat a little bit. When we set off again we came up against a massive steep muddy hill and most of the boys was up for climbing it so we started to climb it but keiran had lost belief in himself that he could do It but Alex pushed him and we finaly got to the top of the hill after falling over a few times on the way. About ten minutes later we were at the castle and we were all feeling a bit fatigued just wanting to go home. We carried on walking and caught up with the other group for the third time whilst nicky scott and kieran were trailing behind we had a rest , but alex being the gentleman he is went back to help keiran again as he still had his leg injury and so was nicky and scott because they were carying his bag for him. It was only a ten minute walk from there until the finish line we all stopped and sat on the bench waiting for Mr Davies , we waited ten minutes then lewis decided to ring sir and turned out he was waiting for us at the other side of the car park so we all walked over and Mr Davies said it was over. Conclusion I feel a lot closer to all the boys now and I thought it was a really good way to cover these assignments. If I could do anything better it would have been to choose a team leader to stop arguments or to help the boys when they need it more. I am glad that I went on this expedition because now I know how to put up a tent and use a trangia. Rhys Morris