Day 1

I swear that D of E expeditions are cursed! Either that or i'm cursed. I felt sure that this summer, having had a heat wave, we would have glorious weather for our Gold assessed expedition. How wrong could i be!!!

I was lulled into a feeling that it was going to be a nice day when we left the campsite in the minibus to get to the start point. The weather was mild, white fluffy clouds in the sky, it all seemed like ideal walking weather. Little did i know that this was the last that we would see of blue sky and the sun for 3 days.

Feeling like luck was on our side i decided to risk wearing a waterproof coat but no waterproof trousers - that was a school boy error! Just as we got up to the top of the first hill, the heavens opened and drissled on us for the next 8 hours or so. Needless to say, team spirits were low. The rain eased up after lunch and actually stopped as we approached Pen y Ghent, however seeing pen y ghent for the first time but seeing that monster of a hill looming ahead of us did nothing to reassure us. As we approached pen y ghent from the really steep side, it looked incredibly scary! We couldn't even see the top, because cloud had started moving in and we got wet again. Normally i would have been glad to get to the top, to see the view normally gives you a sense of achievement, but up Pen y ghent all we could see was rain and cloud.

Luck was clearly not on our side, because the rain just got heavier and didn't desist until we had got to our campsite in Horton in Ribblesdale. By this time, i was completely soaked through. Even my previously invincible boots had given in and i had been walking in small reservoirs for the past 3 hours.

Needless to say, i thought that team morale had reached rock bottom, little did i know what the next day had instore for us...