Ten Tors

Knitwits Yarns knitwitspenzance.co.uk

This weekend is the Ten Tors event on Dartmoor. For those of you who live north of Somerset and haven't heard of this event it's an outward-bound type adventure organised by the Army. Basically, you have to walk 35, 45 or 55 miles (depending on age, experience and sanity), including 10 Tors (that's Devon for "hill"), carrying all your kit, departing at 7.00am on Saturday and completing it by 5pm on Sunday. You walk in teams of 6 and you have to carry your tents, sleeping bags, cookers, food, spare clothes, etc, etc, etc for the entire event. And, oh yes, you can't compete if you're older than 20!

You can't cheat as you have to register at the top of each Tor and you need to navigate your way for the whole 35 miles as there are numerous different routes and you're give your route 24 hours before the start. You have to camp by 8pm on Saturday and you can't leave your Tor until 6am.

It's a fantastic challenge and a real achievement for those who do it - and, believe me, not all do complete it.

The teams are gathering in Okehampton camp tonight (over 400 teams in all) and our T is leading The Bolitho School team - the B52's (that's their number and it's really cool!) and they are all only 15 years old.

G completed it two years ago (when he was 14) in a Bolitho School record time so there's no pressure but, needless to say, T is determined to beat his brother's time! In all the literature they keep saying it's not a race but, as G says, once you're on the Moor, you bet it's a race.

If anyone is vaguely interested, they can follow our team's progress here. Remember - they're team B52. It becomes incredibly addictive to see how they're getting on.

We've had a wet day here today and I gather it's drizzly up on Dartmoor but forecast to improve so keep everything crossed. G did it in such hot weather that they were so concerned about heat stroke that they helicoptered water on to the Tors so at least he didn't have to worry about purifying his water (yes, you have to take water from the streams and purify it).

It's a fantastic challenge and a fantastic weekend and we're planning to drive up on Sunday to cheer them all in. As T says, "Bring It On"!