Ten Tors Training - Dartmoor 2

On the 23rd, 24th and 25th, we had our second (and for people doing DofE, our last) training session of the year.

We met after school on Friday and loaded the mini buses before leaving for Dartmoor. We spent the journey listening to U2's Glastonbury set-list and stopped at the 'ten tors (Exeter) services' for dinner. We then drove down to the  community hall in south zeal. We unpacked all our kit and then went to bed after looking after the dogs while the teachers went out (and cleaning up after them when they decided the floor would make a good toilet. 

The next morning we woke up and packed all our stuff up, and ate breakfast before driving to Okehampton army base. We headed off after meeting some of the teachers from Norton Radstock school who would be working with us and castle school to check us in so that there were enough teachers to support us on the moor. We quickly followed the tracks around the army base, to our first checkpoint - yes tor. After that, we headed down to the same river crossing that we did on the previous training session where we met Mr Brewer's Dad. From yes tor and the river crossing, we then followed the same route as on the previous training to Sourton tor, then following a track to Kitty tor, and from there, south to another river crossing. We then went away from our old route, and crossed over the river and went to Lynch tor, we we met Mr Brewer and Mr Stewart.

After a brief break, we went across from the west to the east of the moor to Beardown tors, and then back again to Great Mis tor. Afterwards we went down to yellowmeade farm, where we crossed over the road and followed the track over to Black tor where we were camping for the night. Once there we put up our tents and cooked, before filling up with water and going to bed at about 8pm.

The next morning I got up at 4am, while it was still pitch black out side. After packing away all our kit from the night, we got out of the tent and cooked our breakfasts before taking the tents down, and leaving just before 6am. We followed the Devonport leat along to Eyelsbarrow, where we met Mr Brewer's sister who we chatted too for a while, whilst Mr Brewer was telling her what to tell us through their long ranch radio.
We then headed off down to higher white tor, and from there, we walked across the moorland to redlake, which is right next to a large 'rock' which from a distance looks just like a volcano. We had quite a long stop there as it had been a long stretch to get there, and we had another long stretch to go. We then went on to Pupers Hill, where we met Mr Brewer's dad, before heading on to the cairns, and from there to Ryder's Hill. After that we went on to our final checkpoint - some more cairns, before following a footpath (on which I managed to walk straight into a tree), down off the moor to the car park where the over teams were ready to go.