Are you trying for the Duke of Edinburgh award? Getting ready to pack your bags for the exhibition, or preparing to learn a new skill? Maybe you don’t know where to volunteer or what to take in your rucksack. Maybe you don’t know what food to cook for your dinner or what to do for your physical. Well, no matter what your issue and worries is with the DofE award, I am here to help you through it!
The Duke of Edinburgh Exhibition!
To start off, probably one of the most important sections of DofE. It takes a lot of preparation, planning, skills and good, strong mind set to keep up with it. You need to give up your own time to learn about map reading, compasses, root cards and grid references, but trust me, it is 100% worth it in the end.
The Duke of Edinburgh award can really help with a lot for your future. It looks great on University applications and job CVS. Some people say it is the equivalent to an A-level or advanced higher on your references, and it really does make a difference!
Lets start off with the basics, what I took in my bag and how I packed it.
I started off by opening up my big hiking rucksack, and lined it with my rucksack liner (if you do not have one of these, a bin bag works the exact same, so you do not need to go and buy a new one!) I just placed the liner in and spaced it around until it was covering the whole inside and making sure no water can get in. Liners make bags a lot better in rain and snow as they protect your bag from being soaking inside!
Once I have done that, I start off with putting my sleeping bag in! I lie my sleeping bag down horizontally and press it down, so that it is lying across the bottom of my rucksack. I then put in a towel, rolled or folded up, and lay that across my sleeping bag, creating another layer!
I then like to add a few spare pairs of clothes. A great tip I suggest for this is to roll them into a small clothes cannon! This is a great hack since it doesn’t take up much room and you can have a lot more room for other stuff in your bag! However you don’t want to put to much in your bag as you do not want to carry to much weight!
If you would like to watch how to roll your clothes up to take up as little room as possible, click here! It is a great hack and I recommend it!
Once tat is in, I like to put in anything that I might need, but probably wont, so a torch to use at night, a first aid kit and stuff like that! I recommend taking a wee bag with toiletries as well, like toilet paper, deodorant, hand sanitizer, etc. I also put in the bag with my emergency rations here, as hopefully I won’t eat them but they need to be handy!
On top of this, if you have been giving a stove or part of a tent to carry, I recommend putting it in here, but again put it evenly in the middle as you don’t want to carry to much weight on one shoulder as this could injure you.
Once you have put your stove or tent in, I recommend putting in a lunch bag or a food bag, and store your lunch, some snacks and your dinner in this! Sit this right at the top of the bag so that it is easy to access at breaks and meal times!
If you have a mat, heating mat or yoga mat, put this in the straps that is for the mats in the bag! I recommend putting 2 bottles of water in the bottle holder, but if your making anything that includes water for dinner, you might want to put another bottle in your bag!
Also if you want to take a pack of cards or something to play in the tent at night!
Skills, volunteering, and physical tips!
As yous know, for the duke of Edinburgh award, you have to take part in a skill, volunteer and do a physical skill for a certain amount of time. If your struggling for ideas, here are some!
Volunteer:
- Help at a community or charity
- Animal help
- litter picking
- help at a club or event
Another Duke of Edinburgh qualification you need to take part in is a skill
Skills:
- reading
- bird watching
- baking/ cooking
- art
- sewing
- stone collecting
And for your physical,
Physical:
- Gym work
- walking
- dance
- cycling
- running
You can find much more ideas and suggestions for each of the categories on the Duke of Edinburgh websites ‘Inspire me’ section.
Duke of Edinburgh meals!
I mentioned earlier about the water bottles, and the extra as pasta, but for your Duke of Edinburgh walk, you will need much more than that!
To start off with the easy bit, drinks. As I said earlier, you are as well taking 2 bottles of water, or diluting juice/ squash. You could even take fruit in your water, but try and avoid fizzy drinks or energy drinks.
If you aren’t a fan of going to the toilet in the bushes, depending on where you walk, there might not be many toilets, so you do not want to drink too much that you really need the toilet!
For lunch, I recommend a sandwich, a roll or even a wrap, and for your fillings try and have some sort of protein as you will need a pick up! Also takes lots of snacks, some that have sugar, protein, fibre bars, anything that you think will help you keep going through out the walk!
Usually on Duke of Edinburgh, you need to make your dinner by using the stove at the end. So I recommend a pasta with sauce, and add in chicken or sausage, for protein. Protein really is a key tip as it keeps you going throughout the whole Duke of Edinburgh walk. Again, remember extra water to use for boiling!
You can also take extra stuff for after dinner, like a powdered hot chocolate sachet and use the boiling water!
If you would like to read a recipe for a delicious pasta, click here!
