EF Academy Torbay Impact Magazine June 2015 | Page 8

After that, we walked through a field full
of thorns and it was ridiculous. My friends
and I had to walk as if the ground was
teasing us. Sometimes, some of us were
lucky enough to take a slightly different
path which was a lot less painful, they
avoided these thorns. But the best part
was when we stopped at a giant group
of rocks where we decided to have
lunch there. The view was stunning as
I have never seen a terrain with hills so
perfectly curved before in my life. It was
a wonderful place to be.
As my friends and I walked even further,
we were able to see a small village called
Widecombe In the Moor. That place was
our finish line. But before we could get
there, we had to climb several more hills
and we were constantly bombarded by
strong winds which almost tore our map.
The group learned to only open the map
in a place where the wind couldn’t blow
it away such as beside a massive rock,
if not, we would end up running around,
chasing the map. But thankfully, that

3 | Back Underground
It Requires Training

wasn’t the case, but we did struggle with
the cold, it’s not an easily place to be in.
When we crossed the finish line, we
decided to have a little break to wait for
the taxi. We sat on a bench where we
bought ice creams, hot chocolates and
small snacks to celebrate the success of
our first taste of the Duke of Edinburgh
Expedition. The team began to reflect on
what we’d been through and when the
taxi took us home, we laughed! It took the
taxi five minutes to drive us from the finish
line into the parking lot where we first
started. It wasn’t hard because it’s just a
fraction of the real expedition. Personally,
this experience is paramount for physical
training and teamwork. It takes risk-taking
to another level as it is all about your
mental state, it’s whether you believe you
can achieve it. I’m looking forward to the
real expedition next academic year! And
I am sure you will read about it in one
of the issues of IMPACT next academic
year.