So I'm having a big sort out, and came across my Duke of Edinburgh Gold Kit List No wonder why my pack was so heavy

I thought I'd share it for some laughs, see link:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/185 ... itList.pdf

holy smokes.....

no wonder they always look like snails with their homes on their back!!

DoE do wind me up with their kit lists. I can't understand why they won't allow the kids to carry less / lighter gear ... they seem lost in 1989. The sight of 5'3" girls weighing 8 stone wet through, carrying 70l rucksacks with the tops towering above their heads and the bases banging them in the back of knees is quite disturbing after a while.

I remember leading a DoE cycling expedition where one lad turned up carrying 12 tins of beans, another with 2 big hardback books and a third with a tent still packed in the box

One of my lads is signed up for DOE.

He's switched on enough to be already sniffing around my kit bags saying
"I reckon I could half the weight of the normal stuff by nicking your kit dad"

I reckon he could carry a 5th or better if he let me choose the list

Back in '95, I took a lightweight tent, a mini trangia stove and a host of other lightweight kit on my Gold DofE expedition. I got some very strange looks! Those Vango Force Ten tents weighed a ton.

The kit lists they request are rubbish. The ask for too much stuff but they need to be risk adverse and safety conscious (although big weights are a risk and aren't fun)

Unfortunately as parents are buying stuff for their kids and don't know how long they'll need or want it for the DofE stuff tends to be robust and heavy, rather than lightweight, but it's probably more durable

I used to help with trips at my local scout group, amazing how much stuff the kids love to take - spare shoes, spare everything, full cans of deodorant and other toiletries

On one trip I carried all my stuff to show it could be done easily (the other leaders stuck their kit in the van), then slept under a tarp (no bivvy) in the same field as the kids. Dropped to about -4 that night, water bottle froze, most of the kids struggled with the temperature and lack of camp craft. The other leaders slept in the bunk house! Enjoyed that one

benp1 wrote: amazing how much stuff the kids love to take - spare shoes, spare everything, full cans of deodorant and other toiletries

I was on Dartmoor last year on 10 Tors weekend. As well as 70l rucksacks with bits hanging off them, half the groups seemed to be carrying all sorts of rubbish like flags and radios. If there was one sentiment in the air that weekend it was probably "regret"