Open Silver Training, Practice & Qualifying

Outline Itinerary

Join us to complete your Silver Expedition Award in one go. You no longer need to do a practice and qualifying expedition separately. Instead, our programme allows you to complete your Expedition Section over six days. 

Important note: the ‘Back-to-Back’ expedition is physically demanding, requiring you to walk long distances over six days. As such, this option is only suitable for participants with good levels of walking / expedition fitness and prior DofE/hiking experience.

Day 1, Training: You'll meet your instructor team and get to know your expedition team mates. Training will cover the Silver DofE syllabus, and will include sessions on campcraft, route planning, first aid and expedition safety. Camp overnight.

Day 2, Practice: You will set off on your practice expedition today. Your instructor will continue to give you input on your navigation skills and may walk with you for some of your route. As the day progresses, you and your team will become more independent and you will be supervised remotely. Camp overnight.

Day 3, Practice: You'll continue along your planned route and finish the Practice expedition in the afternoon. You will have a chance to repack your bags and restock your supplies from your spare bag. Your instructors will give you any feedback ahead of the qualifying expedition and complete all expedition checks. Camp overnight.

Day 4-5, Qualifying: Each day you will walk along your planned route, with instructors supervising you remotely throughout and meeting you at agreed checkpoints (please read here for more info on remote supervision). Your instructors will camp with you (or near you) at the campsites each evening.

Day 6, final day of Qualifier: You'll continue along your planned route to the finish point, where you'll give your aim presentation, and receive a debrief from your instructor. In the days following the expedition, our team will upload your assessor report directly to your eDofE account, and we will be in touch via email to confirm this has been done.

Expedition supplies - You can bring a spare bag with extra clothes and food supplies to our ‘Back-to-Back’ expeditions. This will either be stored in a vehicle or at our office base, and you will have access to this in the evening of Day 3, allowing you to repack your main pack.

Getting to your Expedition

The Chiltern Hills are well connected to London and the south of the country. Your exact meeting point will be confirmed after booking.

Landscape

Rolling hills, green meadows with hedgerows, woodland and picturesque villages.

Route & Terrain

The terrain will be combination of well defined paths and uneven and rocky ground, and you'll be covering between 16km and 19km each walking day (5 days total).

Campsites

Please come prepared for basic facilities, however you can be assured that all campsites have toilets and clean drinking water.

IMPORTANT Our Open programmes are usually set up in a way that requires participants to be fully independent and without needing additional support from the instructor team. If you (or the person you are booking for) requires any additional support or has specific needs, please contact us before booking so we can ensure we are able to put suitable support and adjustments in place.

Cost - £375.00