Dartmoor 10 Tors

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National Trust Wild Tribe teams complete 10 Tors 2012

Just back from this year’s 10 Tors Challenge – washed and shaved!

A big thanks to the Army for organising such a brilliant event again. 10 Tors changes young people for the better every year and this year is no exception.

Both National Trust Wild Tribe Teams excelled themselves and completed their 35 and 45 mile expeditions – congratulations to all involved. I’ve got way over 250 photos from the weekend and these will take a little time to process so I will do several posts. In the interim here is a picture of the National Trust Wild Tribe 35 mile team trained by Pete Davies, our Senior Ranger in the Plym Valley approaching the finished. They have just walked down that track in the background next to West Mill Tor.

A huge, huge thank you to all our friends at Torquay Boys Grammar School with whom we have trained since September. Without the help and support of Peter King, Tony Owen, Dominic Jones and Roy Colville the Wild Tribe wouldn’t have been here. Thanks also to Nigel Coles at Torquay Girls Grammar School too for helping us with some fabby team members

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Wild Tribe hoodies arrive – thank goodness

I picked up the National Trust Wild Tribe hoodies at 4.30pm this afternoon. These will be worn by our two National Trust Wild Tribe teams and managers over the coming weekend.

I am an not a great fan of the ‘just in time’ production system as it is stressy! Nevertheless the hoodies were produced before the event started and thanks to Purple in Exeter for delivering as promised!

They have got to be the coolest hoodies on the planet.

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10 Tors weekend – the preparation (in the rain)

Its 10 Tors Expedition Weekend!! The training is over and the final preparations begins. National Trust Wild Tribe have two teams this year – so exciting.

We were on site at Okehampton Camp this morning at 9am to erect the marquee and seven huge tents for the teams.

After a little skullduggery we managed to get two National Trust land rovers onto the campsite to unload the large and heavy marquee. The Army weren’t permitting vehicles onto the fields so people were having to carry everything by hand – not really an option for a marquee.

The weather is looking great for Friday, Saturday and Sunday – but it wasn’t great this morning….. Along with the help of some Year 9 lads from Torquay Boys Grammar School and Martin one of our Teign Valley volunteers we got the tents and the marquee up – we did however all get soaked and blown around in the strong winds.

National Trust Rangers Martin, Tom and Pete (Wild Tribe’s 35 Mile Team Manager) start work on the marquee.

Tents up ….

Soaked – Peter King TBGS Team Manager

Trip hazards on campsites are permitted

The teams all arrive tomorrow for ‘scruteneering’ and the Expedition starts at 7am on Saturday.

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Wild Dartmoor – the day after the night before

I mentioned in my blog yesterday that I found myself unexpectedly at home last night. So today has been a ‘bonus day’ – what to do? Tidy the house, go food shopping, washing clothes? I think not! I decided to go up onto Dartmoor to see what had happened following the ongoing storm that hit overnight.

Dartmoor’s rivers react very quickly to heavy rain (the main reason 10 Tors training was cancelled for today), so I went to have a look at the Teign, the East, West and main Dart rivers. Here are a few videos and pictures of the moor today.

It was pretty wild up there – only 4 degrees C and still a lot of rain and as a result a lot of water. I was pretty pleased I wasn’t still out on the moor with 36 young people!

Here is the East Dart at Postbridge – yesterday we crossed the East Dart two miles upstream at Sandy Hole Pass – not today!

Flooded landscapes below Powdermills

The west Dart

It is really wild at Dartmeet

Some people really like it when it is like this!

A waterfall at New Bridge on the Dart

Here is the Teign at Fingle Bridge just below Castle Drogo

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Wild Tribe – final walk – unexpected outcome – but success

Was up at 5.30 this morning and it has been a long day but now I am home and that is very unexpected. The plan was that I, 3 other 10 Tors Team Manager and 36 young people would be wild camping at Dick’s Well, near Widgery Cross tonight.

We set the teams off at 7am this morning from near Princetown and routed them right over to the north east side of the moor at Shilstone via Beardown, Sittaford and then onto Antony Stile (Okehampton camp) via Hound Tor and Oke Tor and then onto west of the moor at Sourton Tor and down to the Dartmoor Inn near Lydford. A big big walk!

Around mid morning all the team managers received a text message from the Army telling us that camping on Saturday night on the Moor was a no no and that walking on the Sunday was prohibited because a big storm (that we had all been monitoring all week and had made contingency plans for) posed a threat that the emergency services were concerned that if things went wrong they couldn’t cope with.

Fare does – the Met Office have been forecasting apocalyptic weather for Sunday all week. Nobody wants a repeat of tragic events. So we all took the view that we would have a really good walk and despite the early morning fog we would make the most of the day and give the teams (National Trust Wild Tribe and Torquay Boys Grammar School) a confidence building experience. If they completed today’s walk they would be set up for the real thing in two weeks time.

At Oke Tor a few young people were very tired and flagging – making me worry we might have some drop outs. But I am really pleased they all dug really deep and got the the end. I am in awe of these young people – they all dug deep, suffered, enjoyed and completed – thats what it is all about and I am certain they will take these traits into their later lives and make a difference.

The future of Britain won’t  be won on the playing fields of Eton it will be won on the Tors of Dartmoor!

We are lucky because as we all live locally we train on Dartmoor all the time – many teams from further afield need this weekend as their aclimatisation time – I hope they have got enough out of today because success is such a fillip to the participants.

Here are a few pics from the day.

35 mile National Trust Wild Tribers near Oke Tor

Peter (Reggie on the lead), Tony and Pete – Team Managers – -it is a huge commitment and responsibility to be a team manager – good on you guys.

Hmmm – my name on a minibus – unexpected

Misty conditions – the source of the Taw towards Belstone

Winter Tor – a new tick for me today

Onwards and upwards!

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Visiting Dartmoor’s Tors

I have recently started on a project to visit all of Dartmoor’s Tors and Hills.

It is quite a challenge getting a definitive list of them all! Some lists suggest there are over 200 Tors whilst other suggest over 300! My current list has 213 which over the coming months will increase.

The Ordnance Survey provide this wonderful service – for around £17 they will supply a map covering the area you want on one sheet  – you can just squeeze the whole of Dartmoor onto one sheet using this service. See here for details.

I recently purchased such a map and have started plotting all the Tors and Hills I have been to onto it. This is backed up with an Excel spreadsheet listing all the Tors and Hills on the Moor.

When I have made further progress I will publish my ‘definitive list’ of Tors and Hills!

In the meantime here is my ‘measle’ map of the Tors and Hills I have been to. Its not complete by any means (but am well over 100 so far)  and updates will follow but in the meantime I hope it inspires you to get outdoors and enjoy our wonderful Dartmoor.

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North Moor walk with a wild camp near Dick’s Well

This week was our penultimate 10 Tors training walk with National Trust Wild Tribe and Torquay Boys Grammar School. All teams 35, 45, and 55 milers started from Antony Stile next to Okehampton Camp on Saturday morning at 7am.

The National Trust Wild Tribe 45 mile team which I ‘look’ after went on day one to Oke Tor, Hound Tor, Watern Tor, Sittaford Tor, Lower White’s, Great Mis, Lynch Tor, Chat Tor and into the wild campsite near Dick’s Well near to Widgery Cross – that 35 km!

I had to take one of the team off the moor near Sittaford as he was feeling sick. The rest of the team did really well arriving in at camp around 5pm.

My colleague and Senior Ranger in the Plym Valley, Pete Davies looks after the Wild Tribe 35 mile team who went on a shorter different route and also got into camp around the same time.

The site we camped at was sheltered and really quiet – after eating everyone was pretty tired and had turned into sleep at around 8.30pm.

Sunrise at Widgery Cross (which is on Bray Tor)

Up again before 6 and thankfully nobody seemed to realise that it was April Fool’s Day! There was ice on all our tents though!

Crossing the Lyd and off ‘check pointing’

The teams set off around 7am heading off to Chat and Lynch Tors again whilst the adult supervisors headed south to meet them at Deadlake Foot – the river crossing near Tavy Cleave where the Amicombe Brook joins the Tavy. This can be a notoriously dangerous crossing in high water conditions – so Tony Owen – a very experienced 10 Tors Manager showed us and the teams where and how to do it safely.

 Near Deadlake Foot

From here the teams all headed south via Great Mis and Great Stapleford Tor finishing the day around lunchtime.

Down from Great Stapleford

I managed to pick up a couple of sheep ticks over the weekend which I have now removed with a pair of tweezers – itch itch ….

Over the next couple of weeks the teams have got to be whittled down to 6 members each – this is not the nice bit of 10 Tors – telling some youngsters (who have been training since last September) that they are not in the team …..

Last training walk is in a months time and then its the real thing.

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Shilstone – Sittaford – Hound Tors walk

The mild winter wasn’t evident on Dartmoor today! It was one of the coldest days I can remember for a long time – particularly surprising as the winds were from the south east – I think they must have been blowing from Mount Blanc direct. Lined trousers, base layer, thick fleece, goose down jacket, heavy winter coat and wind proof gloves along with beany were the order of the day and even so whenever we stopped walking we froze almost instantly.

National Trust Wild Tribe and Torquay Boys Grammar School were out on the moor for the first 10 Tors Training session of 2012. Between us we had 35, 45 and 55 mile teams in action.

We started at Shilstone Tor just south of South Zeal. My task today along with my co-Team Manager Tony was to ‘check point’ the 45 mile teams. In essence this means we go to a Tor and then wait for the teams to go safely through before yomping off to there next Tor to repeat the process. This meant today we were speed walking across the high moor to ensure we kept ahead of the teams. As I write now many hours after finishing I am aching all over – a hard fast day.

Pete, our Senior Ranger in the Plym Valley was walking with our 35 mile team. When I met up with Pete on Hound Tor – he looked particularly ‘purple’ in the cold – bravely sporting a National Trust fleece minus a coat!

Tony and I headed from Shilstone Tor and headed to Sittaford Tor following the River Teign much of the way. Half way there there are a series of spectacular waterfalls.

Arriving at Sittaford, it wasn’t long before the teams arrived.

The views from Sittaford are pretty expansive!

From Sittaford it is north up to Watern Tor (one of my favourites) – the gap between these two bits of Watern is is called Thirlstone!

From Watern it is north again onto Hound Tor (there are two Hound Tors on Dartmoor – this is the less well know one)

Again there are great panoramic views from Hound Tor – here is the view north up to Cosdon Hill.

And here is the view west over to High Willhay and Yes Tor

One of the 45 teams had a slight ‘navigational difficulty’ coming back from Oke Tor to Hound Tor but eventually everyone got back safely! Whilst looking for the errant team we passed White Moor Stone circle in the fading sunlight.

A good start to the 2012 10 Tors campaign – good job its January as we all need to get fitter and more confident with our navigation – well done to all the teams – two weeks rest and then we’re off out again.

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My 2011 on Dartmoor

As the year comes to an end I thought I would share with you all some of my highlights of 2011 via a photo montage.

Lydford Gorge provided the second best visitor experience in the whole Trust – fantastic!

Finch Foundry was in the top 10 – note this is 2nd and 9th out of 180! Brilliant to the teams involved.

Castle Drogo has been  huge part of my life this year as we prepare to submit our grant application to the Heritage Lottery Fund. Fingers crossed – by this time next year the scaffolding will be going up so that we can save Castle Drogo from Dartmoor’s elemental weather. These two photos capture for me the spirit of the place.

One of the real pleasures of my job is working with all of our volunteers – without whom we couldn’t operate. Thank you to each and every one of you. Here is a special moment – Pauline one of our Drogo volunteers – celebrating her 90th birthday.

Drogo has provided me with some really fun moments – here I am meeting Kevin McCloud – showing him around the Teign Gorge under the Castle.

The Walled Garden at Parke continues to develop in partnership with our friends from Bovey Climate Action. Here is a photo of the vineyard we have recently planted.

We have got some really special places on Dartmoor. Here is Hen Tor in the Plym Valley – remember that gorgeous weather we had in April?

And here is the River Dart in Holne Woods in the autumn.

The National Trust’s involvement in the 10 Tors Expedition has been a particular highlight for me. Here is our very own team – ‘National Trust Wild Tribe’ completing their adventure in May.

The Tour of Britain cycle race also came to Dartmoor this autumn. I photographed Mark Cavendish at the start of the stage in Exeter – last night he was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year – fantastic for him and a huge boost for cycling.

My own cycling exploits that day were not so successful as Cav’s – I cycled to Exmouth for the finish and ended up in the middle of the road and narrowly avoided being run over ….. – didn’t tear my Lycra though!

Our own cycling project – the development of a cycle hub and 10km of trails in Plym Bridge Woods proved somewhat controversial! Nearly 1000 people objected to our proposals but amazingly 1000 people actively supported them. We are currently re-working our proposals and will be engaging with all our stakeholders in the new year before we present our new scheme.

Our work and partnerships in Plymouth has really flourished this year – we are now working really closely with Plymouth City Council and with the Forestry Commission in particular. We are involved with them and many others in the Plymouth Green Infrastructure Project, the Plymouth Nature Improvement Area and a Plymouth Landscape Partnership Bid. We had a great meeting in the autumn discussing the Landscape Partnership – wow what a view over Sutton Harbour!

Promoting the National Trust on Dartmoor and our many places is an important part of our work and we are always looking for novel ways to do that. Here we are sponsoring a team in the Devon and Exeter Squash Club’s Summer Team League.

I am an ecologist by profession and this year in one of our woodlands in the Teign Valley – I saw something I have never seen before. The larvae of oil beetles amassing on a lesser celandine flower waiting for a bee to come along to pollinate it. The larvae then attach themselves to the bee and are taken back to its nest where they parasitize the bee’s larvae before emerging as adult oil beetles – amazing.

Finally – a huge thanks to all my staff and colleagues in the National Trust. This has been a tough year for me following the death of my wife Francesca in August 2010 but you have all looked after me brilliantly. Here are James and Dave – ‘my’ Consultancy Manager and Finance Business Partner respectively having a beer with me in the Fat Pig in Exeter.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.