Two Duke of Edinburgh's Awards (DofE) leaders have recently completed their Hill and Moorland Leader Award (HML), previously known as the Walking Group Leader Award (WGL), through Tollymore National Outdoor Centre in Northern Ireland. To be able to supervise DofE groups off-Island, leaders must have a nationally recognised qualification in walking leadership.

Debbie Carcas and Alison Gawne completed their training on-Island in 2011, and have since been clocking up the required number of day walks in three separate wild country areas, including solo and accompanied walks, and leading and supervising walking groups.

The assessment took place in the Mountains of Mourne, and involved three days and two night walks to assess navigation skills, general knowledge of the area, flora, fauna and geology, and the ability to lead and supervise groups safely and confidently.

This was a challenging weekend that required Debbie and Alison to solely navigate alternate sections of the route, whilst being continually assessed. It also enabled them to learn and improve on the various skills required to successfully complete the Award.

Their routes took them through the Mournes, skirting Slievenamuck, Spelga, Spaltha, Butter Mountain, Slieve Meelmore, Slieve Loughshannagh, Doan, Slieve Meelbeg, Slieve Bearnagh, Luke’s Mountain and Pigeon Rock. Night navigation sessions took place in Tollymore and Donard Forests, where there were rare sightings of families of deer and a pine martin.

These are believed to be the first HML Awards to be gained on the Island. Debbie and Alison would like to thank all those who helped and supported them through their training, especially Paul Melling from Ardwhallan Outdoor Centre who took them on a night navigation session and John Harris from the Foundry DofE Group who encouraged them to use the Mournes for their assessment.