Going for Gold – again!

Following on from our last post, here’s a brief overview of the Residential and Expedition portions of the Gold award from one of our past participants, Emma.

Residential
The residential is something that doesn’t exist on the awards below Gold and is one of the more challenging elements of the Gold award, but there are a wide range of different options for your residential trip. A few of my favourite ideas are:
* A wild camping course.
* A cooking camp.
* An outdoor pursuits course.

Spending time away from people you know may seem daunting at first but can provide you with a chance to explore who you are as well as to practice mindfulness and learn a new skill, plus you get to meet new people!

Expedition

The expedition at Gold Level is again a big step up from the expedition at Bronze and Silver, one of the hardest lessons I learnt on my expedition was that it was not just a day longer! In fact, the hilly and difficult terrain you will experience on your Gold expedition will challenge you a lot more than the extra day of walking will. My tips for your Gold hike:
* Try to go in the summer or late spring, you will avoid carrying as many warm heavy clothes, you will also have more light to hike in and cook dinner and breakfast at camp!
* Pack more food than you think you need, you need to refuel your body after a long day of hiking or you will struggle even more the next day.
* Pack food that excites you, if you only have boring food you will be less likely to want to eat it when you are tired on expedition.
* Train before you go!

Thank you for reading and click here to find out more about booking your Open Gold Expedition with us!