h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This is what I am handing in for my Duke of Edinburgh diary thing. It is quite long, and it might be boring to most of you but I thought I would inflict it on you anyway!



Silver Duke of Edinburgh Expedition Final to the Forest of Dean.
22nd – 24th April 2005.

People in my group.

Me (Rachel)
Amelia B-J
Amelia P
Katherine
Hannah
Naomi

Day one – Friday.

We started at school and as it was a Friday, people had started coming in before we had left, which made for some very strange comments from certain people! Naomi and Katherine filled up the two large water carriers and left them by the gate to be collected. For the trip, we had a minibus from the boy’s school, because one of ours had a broken window (due to some unfortunate driving a few days before) and the older bus was being used. Fortunately the bus didn’t mention that it was a boy’s school on the side. The journey to the Forest of Dean was not as long as I thought it might be, and on the way we heard several interesting things regarding cars and the systems of school from Mr. Robinson, who was driving!

When we found our starting place, the first thing that happened was that we realised the water carriers had been forgotten (we had departed through the wrong gate)! Secondly, we had a talk with Mrs Rodrigues who was examining us, and we discovered that our purpose was not sufficient and that we had to write these diaries!

So we set off. In the wrong direction. Meaning we had to walk back past the minibus with Mr. Robinson laughing at us. So we then set off for the second time, this time going the right way. So we then walked through a bit of wood and a few open areas, finally going up a short but very steep hill that we later realised we had meant to be going around. This gained us 10 minutes but was very tiring! After a bit, and parts of wood looking like the New Forest (where we did our practice) we had lunch on an old dismantled railway, on the edge of a wood. I found (and ate) some wood sorrel (see picture). Both the flowers and the leaves can be eaten, and they have quite a fresh,
peppery taste. I took some back to the rest of the group and everyone had some, except Amelia B-J. This of course only proved to them how strange and weird I am. At lunch we finally decided on our purpose, as well as eating Amelia P’s chocolate rabbit. We then went through a nice bit of wood and down a strange path that went past some old rubbishy metal and tyres etc, and past an old shack that had, among other rusty things, a shopping trolley in it! This path ended on a track opposite a house and the end of the path had some barbed wire across it. We held down the barbed wire so that all of us could get across, only we had to use our hands, not our feet because a lady was watching us from the garden of the house with her two (very loud!) dogs and we didn’t want to seem like we were damaging the fence. We went up the track and crossed the road, only to find that we were following the other group. We went for a bit behind them, before coming to a junction where due to my wonderful map-reading skills we went the wrong way. We should have carried on following the other group straight on but we went right instead. After only about 200yards or so, we turned back up the path that the other group had gone up. We went on for a bit, through patches of wood, open ground, mixtures of the two and confusing unsigned roads before getting onto the last path before the campsite.

We were camping at a huge campsite, which was a change to the practice, where we wild camped on both nights. I personally prefer wild camping, but in the rain it is very handy having a building to go into and dry off!

We were a bit confused by this last path, but a walker helped us and showed us the correct path. It started raining just as we were arriving and when we did arrive, we discovered that we had to go right back down to the bottom of the hill we had just climbed the top part of, to find where we were staying. We found the right place and pitched out tents in double-quick time in the drizzle while 2 people started the cooking. We had divide the group, so that out of the three people in each tent, 2 put it up and 1 cooked. In my tent, Amelia B-J and I put the tent up, while Hannah cooked. In the other tent, it was Naomi who cooked. After having eaten our pasta (after all, Hannah is the “Pasta Master”), and when the other group had turned up, there was a bit of unintentional entertainment.

The group of men who had pitched next to us had driven one of their cars onto the grass. As it had rained a bit, the ground was a bit soggy, and when they tried to drive off, they got to near the fence and got stuck! Mr. Robinson went over to help, and with a bit of pushing and revving, they got the car unstuck and drove back onto the tarmac.

When everything had calmed down a bit, we had our nice chocolate and toffee sponge puddings, and investigated the toilets. They were not much normally, but when you are tired and wet there was no-where else you would rather be! We went to bed, only to be woken by the loud voices (which I heard) and music (which I didn’t) of the group next to us (yes, the ones who had the car trouble).

Day two – Saturday.

After getting up, we had our breakfast of readybrek and packed up very fast, as usual. We left early, stopping by the loos for Amelia P. to brush her teeth. It was still raining by the time we left.

We went through a large wood, getting a bit confused about things, going up and down, and finally, going up an absolute mountain! Honestly! It was both huge and steep! We then were in the woods for a bit and going through a bit where they were logging. The men working there had to stop their machines to let us through! The piles of pine trees at the side of the path had pink heartwood in the centre and pale yellow sapwood around it. At times it was almost like a huge long wall running down the side of the path! After a bit more up and down (seemingly more up than down), we walked past a cemetery to Mrs. Rodrigues’s car. We spoke for a minute or so, and just as she had driven away, Mr Robinson came in the minibus, so Mrs. Rodrigues came back! Mr. Robinson told us that just after we had gone, the group next to us had been chucked off the site because several people (not just us) had complained about them! We carried on, going across the road and through some more woods for a bit. We had a break at a place where a car had been burnt out (you could tell from the black ground and charred fence), thinking it was out checkpoint. After we came to a place that we could find on the map, we realised that it wasn’t. A bit dis-heartened, we carried on along the road. After a bit we had spread out a lot along the road and been separated. After this we instituted a walking order. We put slowest first and gave one map to someone in the front, and one to someone near the back. The order was: Amelia P, Naomi, Hannah, Me, Amelia B-J and Katherine. This ensured that we wouldn’t get separated like that again! We got to the end of the road and went down a really nice path by the river Wye towards where the minibus, Mrs. Rodrigues and Mr. Robinson were waiting. It was now that we found out about Amelia P.’s miserableness and Katherine’s political views!

After setting off again, we got a bit confused by a new housing estate and ended up going up some steps (which is terribly hard with a huge rucksack on!) and along a path running about parallel with the one that we should have taken. To cut a very long story short, we got horrendously lost, we went down a path the wrong way and had to turn back (it was a pretty path as well, but I don’t think I appreciated that very much at the time), we went up hills we shouldn’t and thought we were in the wrong place when we were in the right place eventually, Amelia B-J and Amelia P found were we were and directed us the right way. By this time, the group morale was exceedingly low. To be honest, it was probably only minutes until we would all have sat down, burst out crying and refused to move! We went for a bit along the right path before having lunch outside a farm. I ate a lot of peanuts then, for protein! We carried on, over fields and stiles and miraculously on the right path! It was hard crossing the stiles with my waterproof trousers on (it had only just stopped raining after lunch), as they are too small so I can’t lift my legs very far!

We carried on, feeling much better than we were before and even at one point had a strange discussion about the flower fairies! The fields seemed endless! Katherine gave Amelia P. a couple of tablets of Ibuprofen for her headache, which seemed to work very fast and this cheered up Amelia! So after lots of jokes about her being on drugs, we finally got to our checkpoint! Mr. Robinson and Mrs. Rodrigues were waiting and starting to get a bit nervous about us being so late. Our checkpoint was at a place called Bearse farm, which Mr. Robinson really liked because he really likes bears (and wild boar apparently)! Re-watered we carried on along the road then up a very muddy hill. We crossed a stile and went down a very muddy path between two fields of horses (which couldn’t understand Elvish, however much Katherine tried). It was so muddy that we could only get through by edging in single file along the edge, hanging on to the fence. Hannah got electrocuted by the electric fence that was on the other side of this wooden fence. Apparently she had missed the large yellow sign with lightning bolts on it and decided to grab it to stop herself from slipping. We never heard the end of that one.

After the mud, there were endless fields and stiles, only stopped by the last huge hill. I had to crawl up the top of this one, I wasn’t getting anywhere by walking, my feet slid down as much as I put them up! There was then another stile, and another uphill field and another stile (where Naomi found a blue balloon) and another uphill field to where we were camping! We came in before the other group again but not by much! There were emus kept in a field there, as well as a huge pig and a free-running and very excitable dog! My feet, which I investigated, had got slightly damp so were all pale, wrinkled and smelly! We set up our tents and ate our food which was rice, veggie sausages, tomato sauce and sweetcorn (basically, everything except the sauce I carried!) The loos this time, being basically a portakabin were not that great, but, as it wasn’t raining they were not that important! There was however, loo roll with bears on!

Day three – Sunday

I was vaguely woken up by Amelia B-J getting up, (much too early as usual!) and got up a lot later at about 6! I left my trousers at three-quarter length because the bottom parts were sodden with mud, after the last bit of hill the previous days. After all the stuff in the morning, we were ready before the other group (again!) so we wandered around for a bit looking at emus and playing on the scarily creaky swing.

When we went, it was down a rather large and dusty track, leading to a turnoff, that we were supposed to go down but could not see the path. It turned out it started at the bottom of someone’s garden, which was a bit odd. We could see that the other group had gone this way because all the silvery dew had been worn off in one track along the path! We had a break by the road and Mrs. Rodrigues drove past and waved, before coming back and telling us that we could go on. We went through a nice wood and over several fields before crossing one that had a herd of horned cows in (they weren’t bulls as some people said because you can’t keep more than one bull in a field) they ran across our path several times, before deciding to follow Hannah, Amelia B-J and I out of the field. We ran towards the stile, and by the time I was getting over the stile, I was last, they were only a couple of yards away. After I had got over, a couple stick their heads through the stile and mooed at us! We crossed the next field and went down the wrong track, through a smelly farm, towards the road we weren’t allowed to go across, crossed it, so we could walk on the right side of the road, got back into our walking order, walked down it, crossed again, to go up a path leading back towards where we were meant to be. We found the correct road, going the right direction (up) had an encounter with some horses whose riders stopped to have a chat with the driver of the car they were passing, and found the right path leading through a field. We crossed that one and the next one, then couldn’t find where the path crossed the field boundary so carried on to the bottom, and crossed an old wobbly and rusty gate. 2 of us held it, while a third crossed. We stopped to have a break there and spoke to a nice man who had seen the other group go past. He told us about the adjustments that had been made to the path running over his land and about the path we had just come down. we were going over several fields, and across several bridges, one of which had a lot of nettles on the path leading down to it. The rest of the group went before me as I had three-quarter lengths on, but in the end, only Hannah got stung! We went over many more stiles, fields and bridges and eventually got onto the last road, at the end of which was our stopping point! Amelia P and Amelia B-J ran the last bit, which I would have thought was impossible, but as the others were linking arms and creating a ‘line of freedom’ behind me, against running, I decided to quicken my pace and form my own line of freedom, towards the Amelia’s! The minibus was not waiting for us, but we were sure it was the end point, so we sat on the grass verge and ate lunch. It turned up after a few minutes; they had been waiting down the wrong end of the road! We sorted our stuff out, wafted feet etc, when Louisa from the other group turned up and said that they were waiting for the minibus at their end point. We went to pick them up, them we went to a petrol station to get ice creams (I got a white chocolate ‘dream’ one)! The ride back seemed to make me very sleepy, but I didn’t go to sleep because Mr. Robinson said he had made a bet about who would go to sleep first (he may have been lying though, he does a lot of that)! It felt unusual seeing School and my mum afterwards and I was very tired, but I went straight to unpacking my bag and airing the tent when I got home, and I went to bed at about 7!

Many thanks to both Mr. Robinson and Mrs Rodrigues for all their help throughout the expedition!




well, If you are still here well done! you have read the longest journal entry in the history of h2. I am just glad I didnt have to type it all out again from word. oh the marvels of copy and paste!

Why were you up so late missy Glad you had a good time though

adventurious weekend. you will get on in the world!

Traveller in Time on his head
"So I was stuck in the mud for a couple of hours but I managed

Memories of long ago about crossing the fields with luggage bags for no end. We were supposed to sail not walk, but windforce twelve did convince us it would be tricky to sail our little boats accross. No bridges, just wading, no horses but sheep. Memories. . .

Well good girl you have managed! Just one aspect not clearly stated out, how was the social development within the group? On such occasions you often see shifts in who likes who and who is good for what job. "

Reminds me of when I did Silver D of E we spent a good deal of time following sheep about just for the hell of it, and we were sure they'd know the way we were ment to be going.... We got lost a lot too I seem to recall, but more intentially than by accident as we were pretty niffty on the old map reading and checking back bearings every mile or so hows the feet: recovered yet?

my feet are fine thanks, and as to social development, a bit happened, but I think that as we have been friends for a while, less than there could have been.