12 essential tips for acing your first DofE Expedition
If you have an upcoming DofE Expedition and are looking for the very best tips that most people wish they’d known before they started, then look no further. I have compiled the 12 essential tips to acing a DofE Expedition — and don’t worry, they’re not frustratingly obvious, like “stay hydrated”. These are proper tips and real secrets that I learnt over mine and my teammates' experiences on Bronze, Silver and Gold DofE.
1. Use blister plasters before they become blisters
Blisters on an expedition get really uncomfortable, really quickly, and can turn a happy expedition into a bit of a miserable one. When I came home from my Gold DofE Expedition, I probably had over 10 blister plasters dotted around my body.
This is why it’s important that at the earliest feeling of skin rubbing, just put on a blister plaster. Remember: it’s much easier, and much more comfortable, to prevent a blister than to treat one. Only use Compeed plasters like these — they’re simply the best in the business.
While it’s possible to get blisters all over your body, the most common places are feet, hips, and shoulders, so make sure you have an assortment of blister plasters that, at the minimum, can resolve issues in these three locations.
2. Coordinate dinners with your group
In most cases, everyone in a given expedition group will bring their own dinner, so it may seem strange that I’m (strongly) recommending you coordinate dinners as your group.
The reason you want to coordinate is in order to avoid the situation where some people bring pasta, others bring a rice-based dish, and others bring boil-in-a-bags. I’ve been there and done it, and it’s a real pain — bear in mind you’ll usually only have two stoves between up to seven of you.
It goes like this: person A boils and cooks their rice in water (this already takes at least 30 minutes). You then throw out the rice-tasting water and have to reboil a whole new batch for person B’s pasta, which will take at least another 20 minutes. Meanwhile, the people with boil-in-a-bags are waiting for an opportunity to boil their own water to heat up their dinner pouches (or to pour into the pouch if its a dehydrated meal).
In my opinion, there are two solutions. If you are going for the pasta/rice options, then it’s a lot easier if everyone shares the meal. Individuals can bring their own favourite pasta sauces, but if you are sharing the food that requires actual cooking, you’ll save a lot of time.
However, the best option in my view is everyone bringing boil-in-a-bags. You can squeeze four or five boil-in-a-bags into one Trangia, which means means you can get up to ten dinner pouches heating up at once. Plus, boil-in-a-bags usually take just 10 minutes to heat up, compared to double or triple that for cooking pasta and rice.
If you want all the information you need on what food to bring for an upcoming DofE Expedition — with examples for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks — check out my post complete guide to food on DofE.
3. Use your rucksack’s rain cover to prevent morning dew
This tip is an amazing, little-known secret that I’m letting you in on. Often on expeditions you’ll wake up in the mornings and find that, thanks to morning due, a lot of your stuff is damp — it could be anything from your sleeping bag to your rucksack to your tent. And, while it’s not possible to keep everything damp-free all the time, you can keep your rucksack dry thanks to its rain cover.
Each evening I made sure the rain cover was over the rucksack before I went to sleep, and each morning I woke up to a bone dry pack whose rain cover had just a few collections of water droplets that could be easily shaken off.
It’s worth noting now that not all rucksacks come with a rain cover. I used, and loved, this Vango Sherpa for all my DofE Expeditions.
4. Take off your shoes and socks as soon as you finish hiking
While it may not be obvious, it’s super important for your comfort to take off your shoes and socks after you’ve finished hiking for the day. Doing this gives your feet necessary time breathe, as well as allowing your boots and socks to air and dry.
On my DofE Expeditions this was the very first thing I did after we arrived at our campsite for the day, even before pitching the tent. I spent the evening around the campsite barefoot and never ran into any issues — in fact I quite enjoyed it. However, if going barefoot is something you’d rather avoid, then simply bring with a pair of lightweight flip-flops.
5. Bring the right crockery (it’s less than you think)
Bring only the crockery you’ll need for the food you’ll be eating. You simply don’t need a knife, fork, spoon, plate, bowl and mug. For my Gold Expedition I brought only a mug and a spork, and it was 100% enough.
Think about the food you’ll be eating. Go through each meal and decide what crockery you’ll need. Are you cooking pasta in the evenings, for which you’ll probably want a bowl, or are you having boil-in-a-bags where you can eat out the pouch?
In my case, breakfast and lunch never required any crockery (these ready-to-eat chocolate crepes for breakfast and wraps with biltong for lunch), and for dinner I had boil-in-a-bags, which just needed a spork. I also enjoyed having a hot drink each evening, so brought a mug with too.
It’s important to not bring any items you don’t need, but I’ve highlighted crockery as it’s one of the areas where people most often go slightly overboard. For a full breakdown of what you need to bring with on an upcoming DofE Expedition, check out my post Kit list for a DofE Expedition.
6. Sing
Sometimes on a DofE Expedition the going gets tough. But I promise you, no matter how cringeworthy it might sound now, an arms-flinging, spine-shivering, belly-singing rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody will raise the morale of any group.
Other favourites include Sweet Caroline, Dancing Queen, Hey Jude, and Livin’ on a Prayer (bonus points to the person that can do the loudest “woah-oh!” in the chorus).
While to some this tip may seem silly, it is honestly one of things that most helped my group hike up Snowdonia mountains in 30 degree heat. There is such an amazing feeling of togetherness, and it makes it that much easier to just keep putting one foot in front of the other.
7. Know what to do if (well, when) you get lost
Getting lost on DofE is a bit of a right of passage — it’s not so much a question of if, but when. The important thing is how you respond when you do get lost.
I developed a three-step system on what to do when you get lost on DofE, which can be very briefly summarised in a few sentences: first stop and try to locate yourself. Failing that, walk a short distance to higher ground or open fields to increase chances of finding an identifiable feature. If this fails, evaluate the situation and consider contacting your assessors.
To find out how to properly respond to getting lost on a DofE Expedition, read my full article What to do when you get lost on DofE: a step-by-step guide.
8. Remove any packaging from your food that isn’t necessary
In general, you want to bring as little as possible, and this includes unnecessary packaging on your food. If you’re bringing mini cereal boxes for breakfast, chuck away the cardboard — all you really need is the plastic pouch. If you’re bringing food that is packaged with lots of air, such as some packets of nuts or dried fruit, then transfer the food into a resealable plastic bag where you can force out all the air and make it as small as possible.
This concept really extends to all of your items: don’t bring a whole roll of toilet paper, because you won’t need it. Only bring two or three spare bin bags, because you won’t need a whole roll. If you can, bring a mini toothpaste (or a nearly empty normal one), because you won’t need a whole tube.
Ultimately, you want to remove any items that won’t be used, because every gram extra on your back makes the hiking that little bit harder.
9. Make sure the weight of you pack is going through the hips
This tip is to do with how you put your rucksack on. Unlike an everyday rucksack, you want the majority of the weight of your DofE rucksack to be going your hips, via the hip strap. Your shoulders’ primary purpose is not in carrying the bag, per se, but in stabilising it. Your shoulder straps keep the rucksack held snug to your back, while the hips take the weight.
If you were to have most of the weight going through your shoulders you’d be in agony very quickly. A fully packed DofE rucksack can sometimes weigh up to 15kg, and that is simply too much to have on your shoulders while hiking. As well as this, having too much weight on your shoulders will result in the beginnings of some seriously unpleasant blisters.
For more information on how to properly pack and fit a rucksack, I’d give my post How to pack a DofE rucksack a read.
10. Break in your hiking boots before the expedition
Breaking in your hiking boots before an upcoming expedition is essentially non-negotiable. If your boots aren’t broken in, you’re almost guaranteeing yourself some form of blistering and foot pain.
You don’t need to go on a marathon in your new boots before the expedition, but do try to wear them as much as possible in the run up to your expedition. At least a week before your expedition, start wearing your hiking boots around the house instead of your normal shoes. After a day or two, go on a few walks around the block and see how the boots feel — they should be starting to feel more ‘moulded’ to the shape of your feet. If you can, try to go on at least one longer walk (try to make it one hour plus) before your expedition.
I’ve written a detailed post on How-to: Look after your feet on a DofE Expedition in 6 simple steps, with advice on how to find the right boots for you, what socks you should hike in, and how to care for your feet during the expedition.
11. Bring a perishable food for lunch on the first day
One sneaky tip that most DofE Expedition providers won’t tell you about is that, for lunch on the first day of an Expedition, you can bring a perishable food item (as long as its appropriately wrapped, e.g. cling film).
This means that you can have a homely comfort food whilst on your expedition, and I promise: it makes a difference. If you’re a fan of Domino’s pizza, then bring some cold Domino’s pizza. If you love a bacon and egg sandwich, then bring a bacon and egg sandwich. The choice is yours. In my Complete guide to food on a DofE Expedition I have a whole section on lunches — both perishable for the first day, and non-perishable for the rest of the expedition.
12. Pick an Expedition aim that’s enjoyable and easy
If you have to spend lots of time on your expedition filling out a survey you don’t want to fill out, or recording videos for a short film you don’t want to create, it will be demoralising. You want to come up with something that’s enjoyable, interesting, and easy.
For example, you could study the mood of the team throughout the expedition. Ask each teammate to rate their mood out of 10 at each checkpoint of the day. All you have to do is record the data on a paper pad (or electronic device if you’re allowed). Then, after the expedition, convert the data into some fancy looking graphs to make for a great presentation!
Not only does this require minimal effort, but it’s fun. It’s entertaining to see which of your teammates rates themselves as the moodiest, or who has the wildest mood swings, or who says they’re the happiest.
For more ideas, like observing star constellations or effectively sharing group tasks, check out my post 7 original ideas for your DofE expedition aim.