On Saturday 28^th September six of us headed out on a backpacking expedition. We were working towards our chief scout platinum award (Duke of Edinburgh Bronze equivalent) and with bags packed full of everything that we would need for a weekend in the countryside such as tents, clothes and food we travelled up to Trentabank reservoir deep within the Peak District. At 10am we left our starting point and headed into woodlands, trekked through fields and over many many styles which seemed to be at every single turn we took. It was a real team experience and despite some of us not knowing each other that well it was amazing to see us all working collaboratively as a team. After 12km we reached Gradbach campsite and after pitching up our tents cooked our meal for the evening, which was a boil in the bag for most of us, which was very well deserved after a hard day’s work and headed to bed.

On Sunday we awoke to dew on the ground and after packing down our tents and repacking our bags we set off optimistically at 9am. It was a challenging day as we hadn’t had the best night’s sleep, and we were tired from the day before. Some people were struggling physically, and so encouragement and support was key to those people which the rest of the team provided. After a day’s hike, mostly walking along the top of moorlands and down scenic paths, we reached Buxton, our final destination and we had completed our hike.

John W.