D of E day 4, back to Wasdale

Day 4 and the strain is starting to show for some of the participants. G3 who are Chinese boarders have no walking or even sporting experience and move exceptionally slowly. One told me that before starting the award the idea of walking a whole mile horrified him. Finally getting going at 11am doesn't really help either.....but they are teenagers!
However on some level that misses the point - this is an award that is about personal challenge, pushing at your own boundaries and developing some life skills, and all the teams have done just that. In their own way they've grown and gained confidence, in tiny measure they're not the kids who arrived.
The debriefs can be stressful, but on any course they're usually one of my favourite parts. G3 are just amazed they've done it, G2 have really learnt to work together and G1 feel like heroes after their epic Sunday night adventure which has now escalated to climbing cliffs and fighting off killer sheep. Best of all many of them want to go on and mentor the next year to come through the award. They've earnt the right to feel proud of themselves.