Saturday, 15 April, 0900
After a frantic final meeting on Friday to finalise arrangements, we had decided to leave from the Old Bridge in Ilkley on Saturday morning. Our ultimate destination was to be Appletreewick, north of Ilkley, and near Grassington. Everyone arrived (relatively) on time, though I did have to make a quick detour to Yeomans for a new canister for my gas stove! It a relief to see that everyone's rucksack was just as big as mine, though we all were grateful for the use of the wall when it came to put them on!

Once we had set off, we quickly realised each other's optimum walking speed. It was unfortunate that we did not all walk well at the same speed, but this was a problem that could not be avoided. We stuck to our 'rest-every-hour' strategy for about an hour, which I would say is pretty average on any kind of walk, but then continued making good progress by resting whenever someone began to fall behind.

The first stages of the walk were pretty interesting, with people discussing what food and equipment they had brought, and the occasional curse when someone realised what it was they had forgotten!

Saturday, 15 April, 1600
On reaching the campsite, the entire group collapsed apart from Jamie and Matt, who were lumbered with walking even further to pay for the night's stay. This was even worse when we, foolishly, had raced each other the last 200 yards up the hill! The chore was eased slightly, however, when we returned from paying, since we simply sat down on the nearest point of grass and let them come to us!

Once everyone had laid down their packs, trainers were extracted from bags, and boots were unlaced. It was a good thing we were outside - you could almost see the steam clouds rising upwards and it wasn't very pretty, I can tell you. No one wanted to do anything after that, but soon enough people started thinking that it might be a good idea to start putting the tents up - and we did. By this time, our little patch of grass was beginning to look a bit like a war zone - but who cared - the weather was great! With typical British inevitability, of course, just as we were finishing putting up the tents it began to rain - after dashing about picking up the last bits of debris and throwing them into the tents, I dived in after them.

Sunday, 16 April, 0730
The night passed mostly uneventfully, though some of you may wish to inquire of a certain Corporal how long it took him to perfect his excellent monkey noises. I'm pretty sure the rest of Appletreewick enjoyed them just as much as those lucky enough to be in a tent with him…

After a lazy start, we slowly began clearing up the considerable mess we had managed to create round the tents. Some of us disappeared off to get washed - I won't embarrass those who didn't! After pulling down the tents, and packing our now considerably lighter bags, we put them on and got ready to go. We then realised that the two female members of our group were still in the wash rooms. We sensibly laid down our bags once more, and sat on them. We were just on the brink of sending out a SAR team when they returned. We grabbed our bags and were off on the second day of our journey. On this day we were to sample the delights of the opposite side of the River Wharfe - and very interesting it was to. As with the first day, the weather was great - the only bit of rain on the entire expedition was that five minutes at the campsite. Everyone was very happy as we walked along and talked about such intellectual things as hairy radishes. (No joke) After much serious contemplation, the group as a whole took the unfortunate decision to halt the walk at Addingham - we would still have walked the required amount, but, due to our tired and depressed states, simply could not make it to Ilkley (honest).

Sunday, 16 April, 1500
The walk finished at Vicki's house, where we proceeded to spray water at each other until our respective parents arrived - pretty normal behaviour, really. I don't know about anyone else, but when I went home I had a nice long bath followed by a roast dinner - a great way to finish a really enjoyable weekend!

Our report delivered, our books signed, and our expedition assessed, we now only await our awards - Duke of Edinburgh is still one of the best activities available to cadets.

04/00

Back