By Ishita N, Year 10 Journalist Leader

Year 10 just completed their bronze DofE expeditions made up of one night of camping and two days of walking and it was much harder than we anticipated. Here’s what we learned from our journeys so that you know what not to do.

• Don’t give the compass and the map to different people

Every time we wanted to navigate the next leg of the journey, someone would have to attempt to run with their massive bag to the other person just to figure out what direction we were facing. It was very time-consuming but quite entertaining.

• Don’t stop walking

We learned the hard way that standing still is worse on your feet than keeping yourself moving (barely) so the moment you stop walking, your feet will start killing you. That, or you will feel the need to sit down immediately, and then someone else will sit down, and then more and more of the group will keep sitting down until the whole group is on the floor and people have their snacks and water out and it’s a full-blown break.

• Don’t attempt to get off the floor by yourself

It is very easy to feel like you’re independent enough to get your backpack on yourself and stand up but the next thing you know, you’re rolling around on the floor like a beached turtle and someone has to grab you by the hands and pull you up just to get you moving again.

• Don’t trust straight lines

There were many occasions where we looked at the map, thought the route was a straight line and kept walking, missing the tiny, inconspicuous path off the side that we were supposed to take instead, even when it was very obviously labelled with “DofE people, this way!”

• Don’t try to estimate how much time you have left

Basing an ETA off of a bunch of blue squares on a map doesn’t sound like a good idea in theory, and it isn’t in practice either because 5 km is never just 5 km and a 5 minute break is never just a 5 minute break.

• Don’t undercook your pasta

We get it. It’s late, you just walked 10 extra kilometres, you’re sharing one tiny stove between 7 people and you are starving. But wait for your pasta to cook! Cooking on a camping stove takes so much longer than on a regular hob, but it will be worth it when you get to finish your day with pasta that is not crunchy.