Conditions were just right for the lucky groups of students that I’ve been assessing this weekend for their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Expedition. No threat of rain, enough cloud cover to keep cool and temperatures that were warm enough for camping but not too hot for trekking.

The bank holiday weekend meant that we planned a route to try and avoid the tourist ‘hot spots’ as car parks were filled early in the morning. We followed the slate trail through the Nant Ffrancon and to a camp near Tregarth.

The campsite was idyllic, with plenty of space, a beautiful river, dry ground and not even a single pesky midgy in the air. It was a good night to be under canvas, and all the teams cooked some impressive meals on the little trangia camping stoves.

The staff team even had a bag of freshly ground coffee, served in the celebratory mugs the next morning to start the day off!

My checkpoints on the Sunday were also very nice indeed. Where sometimes I can be sheltering from the rain under a tree, this time I was joined by a student teacher and we made a very comfortable stop off by the river waiting for the team to arrive!

All in all, a long and at times tiring, but ultimately very successful weekend for all involved!

Once everyone had completed the two day trek and all the kit had been cleaning and packed away, I just had time to head over to Llanberis with Clare to have a drink with a couple who we’d met in Australia years ago and were visiting the area! The drive over the hill was a stunner.

We got home around dusk, feeling shattered and definitely ready for a shower and a sleep….