Winter is often a time for reflection, and as the days close in and activities wind down after a busy year, I often find it all too easy to focus on the things I haven’t done; tasks I never got round to, projects I didn’t have time for, and personal adventures that didn’t happen. But when prompted to consider my favourite DofE expedition of the year during our recent Aspen team lunch out, I started thinking about the wide variety of experiences I have been lucky enough to have this year and decided to make the effort to remember what I have done.
So, in no particular order, here are some of my top outdoor experiences in 2025, and a reminder that mini adventures and smaller challenges can be just as important and rewarding as the big ones …
Gold Duke of Edinburgh Expedition – June 2025
Since I started working for Aspen 4 years ago, I’ve supervised almost 100 groups of young people taking part in DofE Expeditions. Every expedition is slightly different – with routes, weather, kit, transport logistics and all sorts of other things capable of throwing up surprises – but one of the constant positives is the young people themselves. It is always rewarding to see the development in resilience, confidence and independence that groups experience over the course of their journey. Particularly so when I get the opportunity to see a group progress through the levels of the award – from helping them figure out what not to pack at Bronze, to supporting them to undertake a truly independent expedition at Gold.
This year, two groups from one of the first Bronze expeditions I supervised undertook their Gold Qualifying Expedition in highland Perthshire and I was privileged to be their assessor. The expedition had it’s challenges, but the team did a fantastic job of supporting each other. Sharing their joy, sense of achievement, and pride in themselves at completing the expedition (in the sunshine!) is one of my top moments of 2025.
Geology on Unst, Shetland – July 2025
I fell in love with Shetland the first time I visited as part of a previous role years ago, and I’ve jumped at the chance to go back over the last couple of summers with our walking tour groups. The Northern Isles have a unique character compared to the rest of Scotland and Shetland in particular has a remote feel that really appeals to my sense of adventure. It also has an incredible variety of really exciting geology which influences everything from the archaeology to the wild flowers.
On Unst, the most northerly point of the Shetland islands, the rocks at the surface comprise what is known as an ophiolite complex – a slice of ancient ocean crust, thrust up from deep under the surface of the earth during large-scale tectonic movements. At Norwick Bay, you can see rocks from a section of Earth’s crust that formed beneath the ancient Iapetus Ocean adjacent to rocks that were once sandy shale around the edge of the continent that is now North America – 420 million years ago as the ocean closed, the oceanic crust was forced up over the rocks of the continent.
During the trip I was guiding in July this year, one of the group had a particular interest in geology and it was an absolute joy to share the special nature of this site with someone equally interested and enthusiastic about it. Essentially I just enjoyed the opportunity(/excuse?) to geek out a little extra!
You can read more about the geology of Unst here.
Winter fogbow – January 2025
One of the joys (!) of spending time in the Scottish outdoors is the ever changing weather and wide range of conditions that can be experienced, particularly on the hills. Some of the resulting weather phenomena – for example inversions – are worth putting up with the rest for. In March this year my mum and I were on a winter adventure over a couple of the hills above Loch Tay when we were lucky enough to pop out the top of the cloud just as we reached the first summit and experience a fogbow – a white rainbow that appears when sunlight is scattered through small particles of water in fog/mist droplets, rather than raindrops.
Our long shadows on the snow with the fogbow framing us is probably my favourite photo I took this year.
Mountain Skills – March 2025
Aspen is fairly new to running Mountain Skills Courses, and this was the first I’ve run by myself. The group were fantastic and we packed a huge amount in to the weekend – looking at navigation strategies such as contour interpretation, developing movement and confidence on steep and/or uneven ground, planning considerations and exploring the environment responsibly.
My stand out memory from the course is stopping for a quick snack break surrounded by clusters of striking purple saxifrage and sharing the sense of personal satisfaction and accomplishment that the group experienced as they looked back at the journey we’d undertaken so far and realised what they were capable of.
I’ve always found it particularly special to share my enthusiasm for the outdoors with those who are relatively new to the experience, and to help them realise the confidence to undertake their own adventures which, ultimately, is the aim of the Mountain Skills course.
DofE Awards for all – September 2025
Another of my other favourite DofE-related experiences this year was working with pupils from a Glasgow school that specifically caters for young people with complex support needs to complete their Bronze Expedition. One of the things I love about DofE is the ethos that the award should be achievable by all, and particularly with the expedition section that the level of challenge and adventure should be appropriate for the particular group undertaking it.
For this group of young people, the expedition involved sticking to wheelchair friendly tracks and journeying at a gentle pace in order to identify different bird species by stopping to quietly listen (using the excellent Merlin Bird ID app). It wasn’t appropriate for them to camp overnight, but we feasted on soup, pasta and hot chocolate prepared as a team on the stove at lunchtime, and the young people finished with just the same sense of achievement, self-belief and team spirit as every other group.
Family wild camp – July 2025
Working in the outdoors has always involved a balancing act with home life and being mum to E, but as she gets older it’s a privilege to share my enjoyment of the outdoors with her. She knows that when I’m working I sleep overnight in a tent and we’ve set it up in the garden a few times, but this year we decided to plan our own mini adventure and camp out overnight.
As part of a family break in the Cairngorms, we set off from the sugarbowl carpark in the afternoon and took our time walking to camp, admiring the views and exploring the landscape and stopping for plenty of snack and water breaks. It was a lovely sunny evening with just enough of a breeze and we enjoyed our mac and cheese with a view over the Northern Corries. After a hot chocolate and the novelty of brushing our teeth outside, we cosied up in the tent and chatted all about the excitement of the day before eventually falling asleep.
We might only have covered a few miles, and been back at the car by 8am the next morning (when you wake up to a still damp morning and the midges find you, there is no hanging around), but it was a grand adventure in it’s own way, and definitely one of my top moments of 2025.
Written by Jen Brooke, Director, Aspen Outdoors
