This weekend I did a practice assessment for dofe in which I learnt how to navigate a map, observe more around me and walk for a VERY long period of time. The weekend began in Saturday when we packed up our bags into a van and set off for Hemel Hempstead in which our assessment would begin. 
The journey wasn't very long and was very quite due to it being around 9 in the morning. When we arrived in was straight into battle mode, bags where unpacked, tents given out and the torture of moving stuff around in each other's bags in order to fit everything necessary in began. Finally we were done and our bags where loaded onto our shoulders and we began our VERY VERY VERY long walk. It started off fine, the weather was nice and sunny and our bags didn't seem to heavy but after the first half an hour and the first uphill a trench everyone was feeling the struggle. Our shoulders where being weighed down by the weight of our bags and sweat was dripping from us. We were clearly very unfit!
The next stretch started off okay as well because we had a short break to catch our breaths and eat some food. Yet again after about 20 minutes we were all feeling the pain again, no matter how tight our bags where to our backs they weight still pulled at our shoulder muscles. We kept walking through and that's when the skies slowly darkend, the clouds drooped and finally it began to rain heavily. We trudged through mud with rain coats wrapped around us right, many slipped and fell on endless fields and we were almost chased by a herd of cows. After a second break disaster struck as I slipped down a muddy slant on a hill twisting my ankle. 
After a quick bandage up and my obviously very supportive friends taking endless photos I was up and going again and we kept on walking ... Still in pain. The day seemed to go on and on, and the bags got heavier and heavier and we got more and more tired. We had a few laughs and tried to encourage eachother to keep going, the many farm animals we met along the way definetly kept us smiling! 
After almost reaching our destination we noticed that our route led to a moterway that we couldn't walk up so we had to figure out a different way to go. That didn't work out too well either as we got lost countless times and ended up trespassing on private land in which we where ushered away very quickly by a rude man. However we pulled together and got going figuring out where we were and best route home... When we finally reached the campsite. Exhaustion took over and we collapsed on the field, the other groups having gotten back 2 hours earlier then us. However their is no rest for the wicked as we had to get on with building tents and cooking dinner. The night didn't go very well because as you can imagine sleeping in a tent on the ground isn't very pleasant and my sleep was broken up a lot but I didn't manage to get a decent amount of sleep before morning. The next day wasn't looking too great for or group, we were covered in blisters and sadly lost a member of our group to another injury meaning we where one man down and needed to repack our bags again. After that was done and we had eaten something and packed up, we stared the shorter of the two routes and began walking. Whilst the pain in our feet was worse somehow the bags seemed less heavy and more manageable and so did the walking. Plus my new strategy was to keep my head down and keep walking, only talking to the group when we had to check the map. This worked very well as I felt time went quicker and I felt less pain but obviously missed out on talking with my friends. We made quick progress with regular breaks and a more scenic area to walk through we were done in no time and where the first group back! 
The other two groups made it back shortly after us and finally we could make our way home. On our arrival most of us limped out of the van, our legs barely holding us up and our feet simmering with every step whilst most of us resembled the hunchback of notre dame, our shoulders so stiff and stuck in the same position. The recovery of the trip was torture, I slept for over 13 hours. Obviously physical exhausted but still my muscles aches but I found a hot bath really helped. Whilst the trip was hard and I didn't have much fun at the time. I'm very glad I went, I had so much fun with my friends and I'm so proud of myself for what I have achieved. Whilst I'm not to excited for my final assessment I know I can do it now. Plus I have learn so much and know more, so I think next time will still be hard but a lot more manageable. 
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