ZIMZYGIRL DIARIES | DUKE OF EDINBURGH EXPEDITION | SILVER

Hey me lovelies,
Welcome to Episode 2 of ZIMZYGIRL DIARIES
So recently during my half term holidays I went on a expedition for the Duke of Edinburgh! It was a 3 day expedition therefore the Silver's had to say goodbye to the Bronzes on the second day and continue their journey of walking through rocky footpaths, muddy footpaths and creepy forests !
So for those of you who are wondering what is Duke Of Edinburgh here is a brief explanation.

!!! WARNING !!! NO MAKE UP SELFIES AHEAD !!!

What is the Duke of Edinburgh
Duke of Edinburgh is a scheme set up for teenagers to young adults which was set up by........ It involves a number of activities which as a group you participate in some are weekly and some are through the course of 3-12 months. You have three activities/tasks to complete in each stage of the Duke of Edinburgh award .... A Physical Activity, A Skill Activity and a Voluntary activity. The good thing is you can pick which of these tasks you want to do for a shorter period of time to a longer period of time! Last but not least is the dreaded walk but for some they would probably call it the exciting walk. This can range from two days to four whole days of hiking from one area to another.
However by then end of all this there is a thankful prize, a ceremony with the Duke Of Edinburgh himself! So not only will you benefit meeting him, you would have gained new skills through out the months that would help you for your future from careers to just meeting new people! Check out their website for more information
http://www.dofe.org/

Day 1

Rainy day !
So day one started of in the morning around 7:40 where I was woken up late and we were meant to be by the train station at 8:30. So here is me in major manic panic mode rushing and all doing last minute.com packing and obviously brushing my teeth and stuff in between!
Once all that has finished and I finally arrive at the station, it turns out that only half the group is there and some of them are still at home eating cereal...!
Our first stop and which would be our starting point was East Grinstead which I am guessing is close to Brighton! Now I wanted to make sure i was the first to read the map and direct where we were going so the rest of the days I could just sit back and let everyone else go ahead with the map. So around 10:30 we began our treck and erm for about 30 minutes i read the map. This wasn't a brilliant idea after a whole because we sorta were heading in the wrong direction but erm here's the thing, no one noticed it was me, so hey the cat got let out the cage quite quickly. (wow does that even make sense)
After about an hour of walking, that's when the tiredness started to kick in, lucky enough there wasn't any sight of hills just grass and grass and more grass with beautiful houses in between. Trust me this area is full of large beautifully constructed houses. By the way I forgot to tell you earlier that I made a best friend for this Expedition and his name was Mr.Stick....well yh his basically what his name is.... Instead of buying one of those walking hills sticks I decided to get one for free. All you need is to find a good strong stick that preferably is dry so it doesn't break in half, to walk with. This apparently as I was told removes 70% of your weight from your legs....something like that so it makes it easier to walk especially up hills. After several times of thinking we arrived at our destination we came across a field and were told 30 minutes left. But wow that thirty minutes as you will hear over and over again was like 2 hours more of walking. Walking through the muddy ground, sweating like Niagara Falls water.Upon arrival I was so happy that I was not responsible for carrying my tent so it meant I didn't exactly have to set it up buttttt of course I was Santa's little helper and being a kind person I obviously helped out. Although as soon as it was set up I was already in my tent ready to sleep having ton forget about the biriyani my group had made but there was always the next day. So I left the other to enjoy their marshmallows and me to enjoy LALA land.

Day 2
Not tired?
Day 2 wasn't as bad as the next day to come. I at least didn't get a late night, I new exactly what I needed to do and that was to get as much sleep for the next day. The morning was quite relaxed although I'm not going to lie some of the other guys were a bit noisy so it did in fact annoy me for half the time! Nevertheless we got out of the camping zone with just the Silvers so the group was smaller than before. Of course I had my trusty friend with me much like a walking stick I guess (sorta prompting me about what life would be when I'm probably in my 70's)
Aside from all that the scenery was okay despite the rain as usual so it did look like a muddy footpath through out our walk. Luckily for me I wore my raincoat unlike last time on our practise run, when I didn't wear it and almost caught a bad cold! (NOTE: always carry a raincoat with you!)We realised we had walked almost to Brighton beach however due to the rain and cold we couldn't of course take a plunge in the sea so we just had to make our way to the camp site. It was so unfair seeing our leaders in cars and the us having to walk for miles and miles.
Not long we arrived at the camping site which was not as 'aesthetically pleasing' as the one before. It was damp and full of those tiny bugs that when you hit them they come even closer like they want to start a war with me! So the usual set up happened...Stacey stood there watching the others set up tents..lawl I'm joking I did happen to help out while me crew spoke in their language but I did manage to catch on to quite a bit obviously being the only known speaker the only thing you could do was try to learn it. Once those were all set up and bellies were grumbling food was the next thing on our mind as well as the fire place. Biriyani was on my mind and for dessert marshmallows so I did have quite a luxury camp dinner rather than just the usual camp style 'POT NOODLES'. I don't know why but this day I stayed up until late. I guess I didn't really care any more because the next day was home time so and in my head all I thought was the walk will only be at least three hours. However this was not the case which I was going to find out the next day!

Day 3
Early wake up call!
I was soooooo tired but it was the last day so all I kept picturing was me soaking up in the bath and of course my bed!
Once we finished packing and having breakfast which was noodles (first time me having pot noodles), we all set off. My feet were actually out of battery seriously I was running on no battery life! Day three was like a struggle. Even though we set off early and our expected time for arrival at the train station was 1 pm this walk seemed like a whole days walk. I just took my time with almost everything so yes I was at the back for most of the time. The grass was green yet it was so wet so I was almost drenched in water and of course mud. (not a good look if you would ask me).
Don't forget that you will be walking across good landscapes so I did take a few pictures.
Now what really got to me on this days walk was the long stretched out path way. Seriously it was like walking into hell. I mean I am not much of a complainer but wow was this path dreadful. Thinking it was going to be only like an hours walk, turned out to be like nearly 3 whole hours. This path used to be a railway track but over the years it was run down so it was covered in concrete so you can imagine how long this track was! At times I would see the same people walk past two times or maybe I was imagining it but wow if they were we were probably walking as slow as a snail. Even with a hardly any breaks the walk was still long!The scenery was beginning to get boring seeing the same thing getting repeated aka trees and greenery and ...dogs too... My advice would be for this point make sure you have comfortable shoes maybe a nice pair of slippers or something with cushions because your feet will be dancing the wild dance.
Once we reached the end of the railway track I was ready to speed walk which I did but kept ending up at the back of line. Seriously when I'm at the front of the line people always find a way to catch up with me and I end up turning into a snail. Many people in town kept starring at us especially me with my wooden friend of mine, I guess I didn't want to depart away from it. Others just decided to drop there's before the train station.
Upon arrival to the trail station we were greeted by our leaders/Duke of Edinburgh assessors and were told to run for the train which was departing any minute. Lucky for some they still had a bit of energy to run I however lost battery so I crawled to the train, thank goodness I made it on as the doors were closing.It was all over with a big sigh of relief my bed was calling me and so I went to my bed...actually I took a long soak first!