Author Archives: Chris Cook

Awful weather but they made it

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This weekend saw the first overnight training walk for the prospective 35 mile Ten Tors team. The weekend began bright and early at 07.45 on Saturday. The team travelled up to Dartmoor and headed out from Combestone Tor and over towards Princetown, Nun’s Cross before the long slog back to Harford, just north of Ivybridge. A long walk over rough terrain but everyone made it.

As the light began to fade the team put up their tents and started cooking their dinner in preparation for their first night on the moors as a Ten Tors team. There was an interesting variety of options for dinner with most of the team opting for Army style heat in the bag ration pack meals. Beans and sausages, Chicken Tikka Masala and noddles were all seen bubbling away on the camping stoves.

Then the rain started. For the remainder of the night and the following day it rained. Heavy rain, gale force winds and poor visibility set the tone for the rest of the training weekend. This posed problems for taking down tents, and more importantly, made navigation tricky on the moor. So tricky, the experienced 55 mile team lost their way early on Sunday morning, after some guidance, they were back on track towards Red Lake.

Despite incredibly challenging conditions, both teams did very well this weekend. It allowed them to experience Dartmoor and how difficult it can become in poor visibility and wet conditions. Well done!

Beautiful weather for training walk

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The weather was fantastic for todays training walk with both 35 and 55 mile teams out on South Moor. Great chance for the 55 team to get back into things with an extra temporary member, Alex… The 35 team were able to begin to develop their navigation further over Holne Ridge…

1st Training Walk…

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Saturday was the first training walk for the 35 mile Ten Tors team. The weather was unpleasant with rain and near gale force winds. The route saw us start at Dunnabridge, and take in Bellever Tor, Higher White Tor and Beardown Tors. All the students did well getting involved with the navigation and taking an interest in the environment. Unfortunately, we now need to lose some more students to take the training team down to 10.

WALKING BOOTS

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There have been a few students who have voiced concerns about buying a pair of walking boots if they are not selected after the training walk this weekend…

This is a tricky one and I can only really give the following advice.

  1. At first, see if you can borrow a pair of walking boots from friends/family etc. This will not be ideal for the long term as you need boots to adjust to your feet not someone else’s but for this Saturday they will be fine.
  2. If you do go and buy a pair of boots make sure you follow the advice that has been given in the kit and equipment info on the ‘very important things‘ page. They need ‘vibram’ type soles, good ankle support and we as waterproof as possible.
  3. There are some very good deals around at the moment on boots during the sales.
  4. If you are involved in cadets/scouts, considering a public services course or any other outdoor activities, a good pair of walking boots will come in useful even if you do not end up on the final Ten Tors team.
  5. Finally, make an impression on Saturday to make sure you are not one of the students that does not get through.

I hope this helps…