Duke of Edinburgh handholding thread

[ArcheryAnnie]

....is anyone else's teenager doing this?

DS has a mound of equipment in the living room which looks ridiculously huge for one bloody night (it's a practice run) and he keeps on remembering other stuff he hasn't yet told me about that he needs. It's like getting blood out of a stone.

Also I am having visions of My Baby, Lost On The Moors, which I know is pish.

[ActuallyThatsSUPREMECommander]

Oh god yes. This weekend is going to be The Big Shop prior to the practice expedition. I've got a list as long as my arm but at least her boots fit ok and are broken in.

[FanSpamTastic]

I had to do an emergency run to dd's DofE practice. Turned out that the new sleeping bag she had gone and bought was not the bargain she thought - it was a toddler sized sleeping bag and barely came up to her knee!!! So much for checking all your gear before you go. We took the tatty old one out to her so that she would not freeze!

[Isadora2007]

Well fitting boots- vastly important. My ds lost his big toenail following his dofE main hike...

Long life strawberry milkshake went down a treat though and flapjack... I think he slept better than me as well as I was worried! It was all fine.

[ArcheryAnnie]

Thank you!

DS has been wearing his boots at the weekend to break them in, and they fit fine.

I am giggling at the idea of DS in one of those all-in-one blow-up-mat-and-sleeping bag toddler combos.

[AnathemaPulsifer]

He's going to need to wear the boots for short walks, not just wandering round normal activities.

No other advice, not doing this until next year!

[WhatHaveIFound]

We've got 3 weeks yet but can i find my perfectly sized rucksack that i've had for 20+ years. It's somewhere in the house but i can't face the spiders in the cellar.

Boots are not a problem as we do plenty of walking so well broken in. I'm sure there'll be a last minute packing with regard to cooking...

[WhatHaveIFound]

*panic not packing!

[WankersHacksandThieves]

I have DS1 now doing gold and is kayaking for his expedition. DS2 is currently doing silver.

Bronze now seems so long ago and easy...

[WankersHacksandThieves]

Even better than the long life milk shakes are the breakfast drinks such as the weetabix ones. Lots of energy in those. Dss take a half full peanut butter jar to which we add in dried fruit and chocolate chips and bits of broken biscuit or whatever else they like. They keep that in their pocket with a spoon attached to their rucksack on a bit of paracord and munch on a spoonful when energy flags.

[Davros]

I'm so pleased to find this thread. DD goes on the practice expedition (bronze) next week and we have done nothing! However, she went on a school trip to Iceland last term so I'm hoping lots of the gear will work for DofE. I'm very interested in those snack ideas. I suppose I'd better expect to be sorting it all out this weekend.

[ArcheryAnnie]

DS has been told that pot noodles are an instant fail if anyone takes them! His group have elaborate plans for a big meal, but since the pan they have to share is the size of a milk pan, I am ensuring that all the ingredients that DS is supposed to contribute to it can also be eaten raw...

[ArcheryAnnie]

And he did a two-hour walk last weekend in his newish boots, as well as a bit of wandering about in them in previous weeks, and no issues, so I am hoping that'll be fine. (He's got a big roll of zinc oxide tape to tape his toenails back on, if not.)

[Rolypoly]

Remember that everthing they bring will have to be carried on a six hour walk. Cut back as much as possible on weight. They should be staying somewhere there is drinking water so bring dried food for their meal. Don't bother with toiletries apart from toothbrush and paste, they can smell for one day! Big bags of snacks to share seem like a fun idea but are a nuisance to carry after a while. Everything will have to go inside rucksack (especially sleeping bag, I had one pupil had hers on top - I pointed out she would have a very uncomfortable night in a sopping wet bag if it rained on the walk.) It's a good idea to put a bin bag inside the rucksack as an extra liner. Things dangling off the rucksack also get annoying. DoE website has advice on what to bring and how to pack. One essential is some blister plasters like compeed.

[WankersHacksandThieves]

Some meals that my two have done:

Hot dogs with rolls and noodles. (Rolls are buttered before they go and hot dogs are fine out the fridge for a day, or you can use frozen ones which should defrost). This is dead easy as the hotdogs only need to cook for a few minutes. They had packet noodles with those which they just broke into their bowl and added the seasoning and boiling water to and covered with their plate. They cooked quite quickly.

They've also done noodles with the mattersons smoked sausage added to it.

Pasta with sausage and sauce. Quick cook pasta is best, remember to tie a sieve to the back of the rucksack :) Stir through pasta sauce and sliced in mattersons sausage.

Curry. Vacuum packed curry with boil in the bag rice and mini nan breads heated on the side of the trianga while they are cooking the rice/sauce.

Instant custard with cake (use the ones that are pre packed into individual portions as it seems to be robust enough to survive the pack)

They've also used the meals that you can buy ready made for camping/walking and some come with heat packs too so you don't need to use the gas to heat them. The breakfast ones go down well. Otherwise the porridge pots that you add water to are good.

[WankersHacksandThieves]

For Day 2 lunch, my DS1 likes a tin of mackerel (in olive oil) and he has that with mini pitta breads (quite robust).

[feesh]

I'm quite shocked that parents are so invested in this! In my day etc we just got on with it without any adult involvement!

[ArcheryAnnie]

I'm "invested" in this because I've got to go and buy the bloody equipment, feesh. It's not my idea of a good time.

[ArcheryAnnie]

And I'm fairly invested in DS - who is an urban kid through and through - keeping most of his toenails, too.

[WhatHaveIFound]

Parental involvment on my part only involves finding the missing rucksack. Everything else will be DD's responsibility as i'm out of the country when she goes on her expedition.

[WankersHacksandThieves]

I think it's more a case of providing support rather than being invested. Why wouldn't you support your DC in their endeavours? I don't think anyone is thinking of following along on the expedition in order to provide a three course meal.

[ActuallyThatsSUPREMECommander]

It's going to be a couple of hundred quids worth of shopping isn't it? I guess you could send your fourteen year old with the cash but it's quite a big responsibility.

[haggisaggis]

dd is doing her practice in a couple of weeks. Boots fine but still need to sort a rucksack for her. (we have all the rest from when ds did it but his rucksack is too big).
I never did d of e myself but did do a practice expedition as part of an outdoor education week our school did when I was 14. They provided the food - tinned burgers, tinned potatoes, tinned beans, bacon & eggs! I'd borrowed an ancient steel framed canvas rucksack from a friend of my dad's. Because I had the biggest rucksack my group reckoned I should carry all the tins..I could barely lift it!
dd will be taking dried food or sachets!