Duke of Edinburgh

The context
Will has been working towards his DoE Bronze award for most of this year - no mean feat given that for the most part we've been in lockdown and he hasn't been able to get out. In addition to a two day expedition, you have to show that you have learned a skill, been volunteering and also undertaken specific physical activity.  The skill was quite easy, he did beekeeping with me; helping set up for spring, inspections and extraction. For the physical he'd already got signed-off for his boxing. Unfortunately the volunteering he wanted to do for Newbury Mencap just wasn't possible with Covid. I thought maybe he could help as part of a working group at Snelsmore, but they weren't running in lockdown either. The volunteering has been put on the back burner. 

The expedition
To the expedition. William's team had to plan a two day route from Hungerford Common back to St Barts via Linkenholt and the Wayfarers. About four weeks ago (when it became apparent that the big day wasn't far off and no one on the team had done anything), William and his best mate Taylor spent an afternoon together poring over ordinance survey maps and plotted Day 1. The following weekend, with Taylor away on holiday, no input from the other team members (despite various WhatsApp messages), Will and I sat down and planned all the meals including who should bring what, and Eddie helped with the route from Linkenholt back to St Barts on Day 2. 

The plan
We saved everything on Will's Google Drive, then emailed out the links to the various documents to the rest of the team. Five minutes later William's phone started binging as the team members who had done nowt (everyone except Taylor), started to panic....As I said to Will, the most important thing at the end of the day, is that you are able to prove that you told them what to bring, and shared the route with them. You gave them time to speak up and make suggestions, and if they chose not to, that was their decision. Copper covered. 

The weekend
The weekend itself was a stunning September of crisp sunshine, a light breeze, cloudless sky and warm colours. Perfect for a yomp across beautiful country. William was in his element and set off full of beans, with a backpack bigger than he is. Unfortunately because of social distancing, the teams were asked to set up their tents at home, rather than camping out in Linkenholt (which made no sense to me - surely we could have been given the choice). So we picked William up at 8pm, he came home for a quick cuppa, teeth clean and change, then went straight out into the garden and into his tent. 

The return
On Sunday morning I was up early, making a packed lunch, breakfast, cuppa and generally helping William get a heads start ready for Day 2. He emerged at 6.30am, had a piece of toast and his tea, and was ready to get back to the trek. It was another perfect day, so I took Dolly up onto the Gibbet for an early walk before heading home for a bacon sarnie followed by chukkas at South Wonston. Returning home there was a message from Debs to say the boys had arrived back early, so I jumped straight in the car and rushed round to pick a 'broken' Will up.

The tossers
I got that he'd be tired and bruised, but what I hadn't accounted for, was how disgustingly behaved his team was going to be. In fairness, three of the group were fine, but the other three were apparently effing and blinding all the way round; complaining that hills were too steep, the route was too long/difficult, calling William a Control Freak...it was a long and ugly list. This from boys who had done absolutely naff all (the worst of whom thought it acceptable to eat Skittles for breakfast). 

The very proud Mum and Dad
Not surprisingly it got William down, after putting in all that work to make the walk a success. To add insult to injury, it subsequently turned out that all the other boys had gone home to bed - their own beds - overnight, rather than camping out. So in the end, William was the only one who really took it seriously and did it properly. I feel sad for him, because we've walked that route since before Will could walk; when he was in a backpack bumping along with me. And it is stunning. I'm raging that a bunch of teenage tossers have the nerve to ruin it for him. I hope he knows that and can look back on this experience as a positive one. In terms of leadership and resilience, William has certainly shown what he's made of and Eddie and I could not be more proud of him.