Late night casinos, "Stubby" and seasickness - not quite what we'd expected having left the scout hut at 6pm. Three hours later we'd arrived at Swansea, early for our ferry - which was an hour late anyway. En route we had experienced a vast mosaic of what it means to be ventures - and for those new to the unit, an eye-opener. Michael had been nicknamed "Stubby" and together with his friend "Sheepy" (Richard) they provided suitable amounts of entertainment and annoyance throughout the bus journey.

The ferry departed at 23:00 hours, with Phil and Mr Lloyd taking a cabin. For those still active, not much happened. The cinema was showing a great film on "The Evil English" and so at 1 a.m. we tried to sleep in a smoky lounge, leaving those who couldn't to amuse themselves (Stubby!)

The ferry docked in Cork at about 10am but by then we had awoken and had a nice breakfast ready for our day's walking. Phil had to do all of the driving now, as Pete didn't have the appropriate driving licence. We drove to Glengarriff stopping off at Skibbereen for lunch. We finally finished packing our expedition rucksacks and bailed out of the bus to begin our long trek to Adrigole.

Adrigole is basically just a mountain, being over 1000 feet and called "Hungry Hill". On top of here I remembered that there was something on the top which looked vaguely like a caravan hanging off a cliff (ask the old boys of '97!) Thanks to Pete and his binoculars we found out it was a rock painted white with red stripes - the colours of the local football team! We had evening tea - curry, very nice indeed then everyone retired to bed - Phil first! However Matt and I went on our own expedition to the pub next to the campsite for some local Guinness in preparation for the new day ahead: walking to Castletown.

We had set off by 10.00am to start the "proper" walking of the Duke of Edinburgh Expedition. Whilst making our way to the hills in the already hot sunshine we met various cyclists. After being confused by meeting several nationalities on bikes we decided the best approach would be to greet every cyclist with several languages at the same time. After a bemused look from a local farmer we, and the Beara Way, left the main road. The map promised an interesting route following the contours of the hills. Having been diverted through an established wood clearly not marked on the map our faith in the 1973 made map, together with the idea of having a pleasant walk, dissipated.

The views in the searing heat were spectacular and the water in the streams refreshing. With the promise of being able to see Castletown "any second now" we carried on up and down the other side of the hill. Energy levels wearing thin we decided to take a direct track, not shown on the map, instead of the incessantly winding Beara Way. All looked well until the path promptly died on us. After some imaginative cross-country walking a bull nearly took the same liberties with us!

Hobbling with speed onto the ferry to Beara Island we were treated to a fantastic panoramic view of Castletown and the associated hills. Next our attention turned to the matter of the camping site and a school playground provided the ideal location. Having dealt with the matter of supper (tonight provided by Field and Trek in foil packets!) we moved over to the pub. A lively room greeted us full mostly of young people the majority far too young to be drinking (due to there being no local police on the tiny island). After deciding by 11.00pm that the bar lady wasn't interested in talking we returned to camp and settled down to sleep. The antics didn't end there though.....

Woke extremely early and efficiently packed the camp away to be off by 8.00am. We sauntered down to the ferry to watch a traditional sight - how big a caravan can we fit on a small boat?! The answer unsurprisingly is "a very big one". A JCB was called to pull at one end whilst others pushed on the other end of this humungous tin can. One hour later, the task to the credit of the locals was completed successfully. We embarked all thinking we had just seen something very IRISH.

And so in the searing heat the day's walk began. Although fairly short, today's walk involved one big hill something that no one relished too much at this stage. We made good progress though and had lunch on top.

Today we were meant to meet up with our assessor but unfortunately, he was looking for us about an hour behind the pace, so we had to make do with a farmer on a donkey, who had lost his cow.

When we got to the beachside camping place for the night we collapsed briefly and then went on a mission for showers. After the reunion with Pete and Co (they did the same walk as us and did see the Assessor!) we wandered up the road to Jimmy's for an enjoyable evening.

The previous night's challenge of a 6.00am swim was met solely by the VSL - Adam claimed the water was too cold. For the slightly more sane ones among us 7.00am was the wake up time in order to set off on our walk by 8.30am. We left for the final leg of our Gold expedition expecting another stinking hot day in more ways than one! It turned out that we got the toughest climb over and done with before the sun got out.

After finally getting away from the ups and downs of hill walking we found ourselves heading for the half way point of Eyeries, the Silver medal winner for the tidiest town, where we had our chocolate bars to see ourselves through to the end of our ever shortening trek.

The second half of today's journey was action packed. Firstly we were informed that a large stretch of the Beara Way was out of bounds (due to Foot and Mouth Disease) so we had to stick to the road. Then a motorbike with a trailer and a loud siren attacked us - the scariest part being the stuffed-toy elephant strapped on the back!

We then said "hello" to the American cyclists in multiple different languages receiving a rather dodgy look back! Also, as we took a well-earned break by the roadside a car honked at us and I was shocked senseless. (Actually Dan, you screamed a loud girly scream to match your girly trousers! - Ed.)

We finally arrived at Ardgroom by 1.30pm and sat down to a celebratory lunch as we had completed the expedition. After relaxing for a while in the bus we headed down to Pallas Harbour to do some crabbing, catching ourselves two prawns at the same time.

A close encounter with a blue minibus on the narrow Irish roads proved tricky enough, not to mention the drive through thick smoke coming from a "planned" fire, were just two of the events as we drove back to the beach at Allihies to spend the night.

This morning we awoke to the smell of a big greasy fry up. This included eggs, bacon and sausages. Unfortunately, the inevitable happened. As the egg was frying the yolk slipped into the white of Rachael's egg - if only Phil had been quicker this tragic accident could have been avoided.

After breakfast, several members of the group went for a shower and came back scalded. The water had been too hot. It turned out it was not the only thing to be hot. After a rainy start the day turned out to be a scorcher. After an eventful start, we finally got away to the hills to do some climbing and abseiling.

Firstly, we decided to try abseiling. We all got through it quite smoothly until it got to Stubby who had trouble getting into the harness. Then of course, there was Pete who wanted to abseil SAS style. After several bets on who could climb the wall Stubby was in serious debt and we decided to go home.

That evening, whilst up at the pub sampling the local culture (and not just Guinness but a live musical performance too!) a group of us younger ones went up the town where Dan was mobbed by locals shouting and making fun of his "Girly Trousers"......

Almost over now. Today was fairly remarkable in the sense that no walking or other exertion was required. Following a night of local music in O'Sullivans the unit gradually emerged from their tents following a brief deluge. A short while later, the minibus departed under more heavy downpours, stopping at the local store for provisions. We had lunch at the Dursey Island Cable Car, sadly missing the last car before their one hour lunch break so we went to Castletownbere to view an art exhibition instead. Having sampled local art culture, we visited shops and a funfair, having a good "bash" at the dodgems.

That evening, we returned to the luxury of the Hungry Hill Lodge and variations on a theme of the traditional chicken supreme dinner, before watching Irish television, listening to bugs frying and visiting a conveniently located pub on the Hungry Hill Lodge driveway.

Awoke exceedingly late and lazed around before finally summoning enough courage to drive out of the campsite. Originally, everyone was planning to conquer the notorious Hungry Hill but steadily, I am in pain to say, people dropped out to partake in fishing instead. In the end, Pete, Adam and myself took on the challenge whilst Phil and Dan went as far as the waterfall but a recent dearth of rain meant it wasn't all that spectacular.

The advance party was given a time of three hours - then we set off and up and up and up! It was a beautifully clear day and from halfway up, Pete's binoculars provided the perfect Big Brother experience. Shortly, we hit our first target - a lake hidden from view from the bottom. How could anyone miss out on a sight like that?

After about one hour 30 minutes climbing we had reached the top but the clouds had got there before us. Having talked with other groups of walkers on the way back down we decided to press on. Then down down down we went on more of a scree slope than a path.

A thoughtful person had spray painted rocks every five metres or so, perfect for the foggy conditions we encountered. Once out of the clouds Pete returned to Big Brother mode spotting the unmistakable minibus and a fisherman or two. Spurred on by the thought, "we're here, you're not" we reached the bottom of the mountain where the clouds promptly dropped their load and the minibus on cue, picked us up. Altogether an enjoyable - if somewhat soggy time.