Girls’ Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Expedition

by

Cdt Mortimer

Our Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Expedition took place on the 27^th (Friday) and 28^th (Saturday) of June 2003 in the Brecon Beacons. The people in our group were Cdts Elliott, Ernsting, Garrett and I.

I chose wildlife to write about as the purpose of my expedition.

On the first day we met Mr. Stones and the boys’ and silver groups in the middle of Crickhowell crossroads at ten past six in the evening and got to the campsite at about quarter past eight. In that time, while we walking we saw a lot of farm animals like sheep, cows, several horses and chickens, and domestic animals including cats and dogs. We also saw a few rabbits and lots of rabbit and snake holes and badger setts when we were walking down the footpath towards the campsite. The vegetation included wild flowers, trees and brambles.

The moment of the day though was when Mr. Stones was sitting on a stone behind a tree where we everyone noticed him except Cdt Elliott and he scared the living daylights out of her.

Also we picked up several locals along the way – including a batty old woman in pink clothes, with a broken arm and high heels, who wouldn’t leave us alone for most of the way to the campsite until Mr. Stones rescued us, and she could count as a different sort of species altogether!

On the second day, 28^th, we started quite early about half past seven and finished at the silver groups’ camp site at roughly four or five o’ clock. We saw wild ponies in the hills and sheep and cows in the fields grazing. We saw a lot of dogs being walked along the top of the hills, and when we got down into the village we saw a few cats and even more dogs. In the hills there was a lot of ferns and nettles and brambles (which appeared to take great pleasure in trying to rip us, the map our bags and roll-mats into pieces!) and wild flowers.

When we stopped for lunch (which consisted of chicken pasta and soup), we stopped by a river and saw ducks and ducklings. There were also fish, which we could see from the ripples on the surface of the water. In the afternoon we saw bulls and cows in the fields and more wild ponies.

And once again we found several locals willing to help us including a farmer in a tractor and a hiker (almost half an hour after we set off).