As a few of you probably know I have been completing my gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award. Having already completed my bronze and silver awards, and completely enjoying them both, I decided that I was up for a new challenge. So I'm sure that many of you will know (or at least have heard of) the award but I'll give you a quick explanation. For the gold award there are five sections: skill, volunteering, physical, residential and expedition. In each section you have to set goals and aims and there are certain criteria you have to stick to. If anyone wants details about my sections, just ask!
The final section for me to complete was my expedition; a four day and three night canoeing expedition camping in the wilderness. But for me it was a little longer and that is what I'm going to talk about today.
On Monday July 6th, I met at college with my group and the staff coming with us at half past midnight and I was already exhausted after a full weekend in work by that point. We had a long (nearly four hour) coach journey down to Gatwick Airport. Now I love airports, just not flying (yes, I'm a walking, talking oxymoron) so I was looking forward to my first visit to a London airport even though I felt a little anxious. After checking in, I treated myself to a cheese and tomato toastie from Costa (can't survive without it, I swear). We then flew out to Helsinki before another long coach journey to our base camp.
The first thing I noticed at base camp was the breathtaking scenery. The lake was absolutely beautiful so we'll have a few pictures below!
After appreciating the location a lot, we put up our hammocks, cooked our evening meal and then, exhausted, we head off to sleep and prepare for our week. It was my first night in a hammock and, after falling out only once (I'm a clumsy numpty), I was pleasantly surprised about how comfortable
The first thing I noticed at base camp was the breathtaking scenery. The lake was absolutely beautiful so we'll have a few pictures below!
After appreciating the location a lot, we put up our hammocks, cooked our evening meal and then, exhausted, we head off to sleep and prepare for our week. It was my first night in a hammock and, after falling out only once (I'm a clumsy numpty), I was pleasantly surprised about how comfortable
it was and woke up feeling ready for the challenges that awaited. But very little could prepare for the events that followed...
Day one started with a walk, promised to be just ten minutes, that lasted fourty minutes through the local town. The town was much like most English towns except less poundlands and empty buildings. I found a couple of things amusing: the Finnish for 'sale' seemed to be 'ale'; there was an English pub that reminded me nothing of England except for the weather that started on us. By the time we got into our canoes we were wet through and it was throwing it down.
The first morning dragged a little. Morale was low, the weather didn't help and I honestly didn't think I'd manage to complete the week. I was wet underneath my waterproof coat and, when I tried to undo the clips on my bag and buoyancy aid, I found I was shaking and my hands were missing any sense of feeling that they previously had. But at around lunchtime it started to brighten up. Suddenly there was more optimism within our group and the thought of a few more day became more appealing. In total we paddled just over 20km.
When we found our campsite we were quite surprised. There was a children's playground, a lovely area for cooking and eating and plenty of trees for our hammocks. The weather had perked up a little bit and we had a pleasant evening sat around a campfire that we put together.
Day two: We woke up early for the 22km challenge that awaited us. And, probably more importantly to me, it hadn't rained overnight so I had a lovely dry hammock to pack away. We set off at around 9am and had a successful morning of paddling before finding a bird-poo ridden jeti with a half decent view for our lunch. It was quite an eventful break involving melted pans and nearly losing sporks to the lake creating a very light mood. But as we carried on paddling the clouds came over and just as we found our campsite the heavens opened. The campsite was tiny, overgrown and lacking hammock space to the point where people had to bunk with each other. The evening dragged and my motivation to make a meal was zero. In fact, I ended up going to bed at half past six in hope that the rain would stop quicker.
Day three: we woke bright and early to more rain but started of on our 20km journey anyway, only after a short telling off for setting off a little bit late. The odd bit about this day was that the weather cleared up after a couple of hours and we ended up needing to have a sun cream break. We paddled on and on trying to complete more than 10km in the morning to shorten the afternoon leg but, perhaps as punishment for out urgency, we couldn't find anywhere appropriate to stop for lunch and instead had to eat our lunch from the comfort of our boats between a couple of sheltered islands. After a quick (and very necessary) swap of cabin crews, we continued into the afternoon and finished our day's journey at around 4pm. This campsite was very different to the last. There was a lovely long pier position right into the lake, a small wooden shack on the island with a campfire outside surrounded by damp wooden benches. There were only a few trees scattered around but there was enough for the few who decided that they wanted to sleep in their hammocks. The rest of us mutually decided that we didn't want to sleep in our hammocks (mine was soaking wet by this point) and instead we managed to squeeze nine (5 female, 4 male) into the wooden shack using our tarps as a makeshift door. We stayed up late that night, sat on the pier playing cards watching the sun sort of set. Well it does set, it just doesn't go dark afterwards, at all. Which was strange at first but I was starting to enjoy a lot. 
Day four: We woke on day four, knowing that there was a 26km journey ahead and ready to face it. The weather was glorious on our last day but there were quite a few crossings on our final day that meant we had to paddle on quite a lot of rough water. The whole day was enjoyable and it was lovely to see some of the scenery from the first day in better weather and higher spirits to help us enjoy it properly. At around three thirty we found ourselves at the starting point where we loaded the canoes and our expedition was almost complete. I felt so proud!! We did the walk through the town in reverse this time taking the mandatory stop at McDonalds for a bathroom break (a proper toilet!) even if we did have to pay for it. I was quite appalled at that. Everyone else ordered some variety of junk meal whilst I was more than satisfied with my strawberry and banana smoothie.
That evening was lovely. We returned to our base camp where I had a lovely swim across the lake and spent a few minutes in the sauna. We cooked our dinner at a much more leisurely pace and chilled out in the sun some more. At around 10pm the owner of the base camp did a presentation about the area before we split back into our two groups to deliver our presentations. We had a group discussion on the expedition itself and our aim (to look at the effects of canoe tourism on the lake and ways we could minimise negative effects). Very interesting I know! Well, I enjoyed it but I appreciate that it's not everyone's cup of tea. Then at around midnight, we finished and spent our last night in our hammocks.
And that's where I'm going to end this blog post; not because that's where my trip ended but because it the next part gets its own post. But first, I had a fantastic opportunity to have an even more fantastic time. Parts of the week were difficult and parts of the week weren't quite as enjoyable as others but it's something I'd do again in a heartbeat. I've found a new hobby that I love and this won't be the end of it at all!! When you think of a holiday I very much doubt you think of hiring a canoe in a foreign country and wild camping, peeing behind bushes, sleeping in hammocks and washing in lakes. To be honest, I understand why it isn't everyone's cup of tea. But it's something that you need to try before you decide you don't enjoy it. I've had a brilliant big adventure and hope to have more in the future. Let me know about your little and big adventures below.
Keep smiling,
Kathryn x
I feel the need for a disclaimer here though: don't just hire a canoe, think about health and safety a little bit please. For long journeys you need the correct equipment, you need someone with experience to help in an emergency and provide the correct advice but there is plenty of that around if you look carefully or just ask.
Also, I know posts have been few and far between but that should change over the coming months, and if it doesn't, I'm still here in spirit and replying to comments. I just don't have anything really exciting to share with you yet!
