Last weekend our Duke of Edinburgh group completed their hiking expedition in the beautiful Surrey Hills around Guildford.

With Stephanie, Kevin L, Nicolas, Zoe and Vanessa forming one group and Joyce, Melvin, Cindy, May, Kevin W and Yoki the other, they set off from Gomshall Station in the early hours of Saturday with heavy rucksacks, packed to the brim with their clothes, food, cooking equipment, sleeping bags, ground mats and tents!

After a challenging first day, where they covered about 20Km (quite a lot of it up and down some rather steep hills!) the two groups arrived at Bentley Copse campsite around 5pm. After collapsing in a heap on arrival, they managed to pick themselves up and work together to get all of their tents pitched and then cook a well-deserved hot dinner!

Waking up to a pretty damp campsite after quite a bit of overnight rain, they gamely got their cookers out again to make themselves a hot breakfast. After packing up their tents and kit and giving the campsite a quick clean up, they were off again for more hiking through the hills.

Sunday turned out to be a lovely, hot, sunny day and they enjoyed the sunshine right up until the end of the hike where the second group were unlucky enough to get caught in a sudden and unexpected downpour just before they finished!

All of the students did tremendously well to complete an expedition that was both physically and mentally challenging throughout. Congratulations to all who took part!