Finally, after many years, my time has come. At last I have completed my Gold Duke of Edinburgh expedition, now for the second time but at least this time I have a signature in my book. For the setting of our final expedition we chose the Isle of Mull, let me now introduce a few of the cast. Most importantly is my group, Team Egg; firstly we have Timmey , a cheerful chap with many a Scout song up his sleeve (of which we'll hear more in a while), then there's Cerys who can make a handbag out of anything and finally Angela who is frankly hard as nails with a smile which only got wider the worse things got, and then of course there's me, Col, the less said the better perhaps!. We had two teams out, the other team consisting of Connal, Nick, Neil and who could forget him: Joel. Waiting in the wings in case anything went truly pear shaped were Jon, our friend and mentor (also known as Batman for his wonderful selection of gadgets!), Helen, whose comments have always cut us down to size (Wonder Woman for those who know her better), Aidi(spelling???), Jon's side kick (predictably named Robin) and Lorane, possibly the only person to be bitten by a tick in the entire week. With the stage set, the actors were loaded up and we set off for the Isle of Mull, a mere 9 hour drive away.
Obviously excited to be here after a fairly long journey we arrived at the campsite with a large dose of enthusiasm, to be met by a campsite owner waving us to an out the way area at the back of the campsite, a fine spot we thought. We were soon welcomed onto the Isle by a cloud of midges, who were obviously rubbing their collective hands with glee at the prospect of fresh blood on the menu. It soon became obvious who were the older and wiser hands in the game when they appeared armed with midge nets which covered the head; more surprising was Joel arriving with a full body version which worked well for a person wanting to stand around and take in the surrounding countryside but hindered those wishing to do anything useful. After fighting through swarms of midges the tents were up and we hurried to the pub in search of breathable, midge free, air. Over a couple of pints bites were compared, and plans to buy midge nets in the morning were cast.