Dartmoor walking weekend

23 volunteers attended Girlguiding London and South East England and Girlguiding South West England’s annual autumn walking weekend at the end of September. Participants came from all over the UK to walk in Dartmoor, Devon, including South West England, London and South East England, Anglia, Cymru and Midlands.

Walking weekends focus on navigation skills, route planning, safety and leadership, giving participants confidence in taking girls walking in the countryside safely in accordance with the Girlguiding walking scheme.

The weekend was open for training and assessment at Level 2 of the walking scheme as well as social walkers. Over 48 hours, 3 volunteers successfully completed their Level 2 assessment course, with a further 11 completing Level 2 training, and 2 walking socially, completing walking days for their logbook.

"I found the training itself to be well structured and easy to follow, and while I would have loved to hike even more in the beautiful Dartmoor, I feel there was a good balance of indoor and outdoor activities. I’m keen to complete my qualification and make good use of it - I have been thinking about organising hiking camps like I remember from my girl scouting days. The qualification itself and knowing that there is a support network in Girlguiding will help making this dream true," says Magda.

“Some leaders do a walking qualification to take girls out on Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expeditions. Others compete in challenge events with their units and lots of leaders say that improving their walking skills gives them so much more confidence to take girls out on trips and residentials," Helen says. “You can start at different levels of the qualification depending on what you want to do. Our team of trainers make the sessions fun, they’re packed full of useful learning and, whilst we do go out in all weathers, we ensure that people are comfortable."

Helen explains more about the different levels of the walking qualification: "At level 1 the countryside is typical of that around the London and South East England region, where there are fields, lanes and tracks. The recent level 2 walking qualification weekend was held in Dartmoor and covered skills for that kind of area where there’s lots of space and you need to be good at finding footpaths. At level 3 and Mountain Leader, we go out into really high ground and can be in the wilds several hours from the nearest road."

Have you thought about going for a walk with your unit or fellow members? Everyone from Rainbows upwards can enjoy getting out into the countryside. Why not complete our Walking Challenge badge? It's full of fun ideas for all sections.

To find out more about the Girlguiding walking scheme, keep an eye out for future training or contact Helen Smale, our region’s walking adviser, at walkingadviser@girlguidinglaser.org.uk.