Route Cards From Our Expedition

Monday

Monday was our longest walking day of the expedition. Being 24.35km long, we had to use our breaks effectively and walk quickly when moving. Monday, being the first day, ensured we were fully energised and ready for our four day experience. As well as being the longest, it also involved the most assent of any of the other days during our expedition. Despite being both of these, we much preferred it being on the first day than the last.

 Tuesday

As seen above, we had three alternate routes for tuesday’s walking. The top route card describes the route for a day with good weather whereas the one below it is for a wet weather day. Despite the weather being fine for walking on day 2, we made a decision to change our route slightly with the aid of our assessor. We knew that one of our group members had suffered from a strain on the first day and took this in to account when planning our alternative day 2 route. It saw us follow similar paths to that of our wet weather route card, but taking slightly longer due to more incorporated breaks for recovery. I was impressed with our ability to produce an alternative route in a short amount of time and it worked well.

Wednesday

Wednesday’s route, on a map, showed little sign of shelter. Forecasts went against what we had hoped and described how the day would be flooded with showers and possibilities of thunder and lightening. We did however made good progress throughout the day as we took fewer stops due to the uninviting weather.

Thursday

Thursday began with an early start, as we began walking at 6. This is not shown on the route card as we had discussed and changed our starting time with our assessor the day before to allow for the possibility of an early finish. We had multiple small peaks to navigate and passed many reservoirs during the day. I think that the route we had planned for our final day was a great way to finish four testing days of backpacking.

H. Stringer