eating and drinking

The most important meal of the day. Your blood sugar level is at its lowest after a night's sleep so make sure you get some before you leave home home either for a day hike or two day hike.
Cereal and toast is fine - avoid the fry ups except on the event when we will cook you breakfast at 5.30am and you'll start to walk it off at 7.00am.

Little and often rather than stopping for a banquet. Make sure your mid day meal is balanced - some carbohydrate (bread roll, cake), some fats (butter, nuts, chocolate), fruit and vegetables for vitamins (apples, oranges, tomatoes) and possibly some protein (peanut butter).
Eat what you enjoy but be careful of fillings - remember Sunday's sandwiches will have been made on Friday for a two day hike and made on Thursday night for the event. Nothing too squidgy!
Forget the sandwich box - its all extra weight. Wrap in clingfilm or individual freezer bag and mark by day to be eaten. Bring your rubbish back with you.

Quick burst energy foods (sugars). Try natural sugars found in dried fruit or honey.
Bananas - excellent all round energy provider in its own disposable wrapper! (but bring it back - don't leave it on the moor). Fresh bananas can get squashed but not if you place them in you billy for safety whilst traveling and then into an outside rucksack pocket. Alternatively what about dried bananas.

Hot, fast, nourishing, minimal clearing up. High carbohydrate eg pasta.
Boil in the bag foods quick, clean, but expensive and possibly not that appetising. Experiment on the practice hikes - not on the event.
Hot drink - a must, with sugar if you like.

Preferably hot - again maybe a boil in the bag variety. Hot cereals come with ready added milk powder. Cereal bars a bit suspect but better than nothing. No time for cooking sausages, bacon and eggs and nothing to wash up with!
Hot drink essential - don't skimp it.

Usually you will share one cooker and just one billy between two. Boil in the bag has the advantages of not soiling the inside of the pan and enabling you to use the boiled water for your hot drink. Total cooking time for two can be down to 15 minutes.

Roughly you need 1/2 cup of water for every 100 calories used and walking uses about 150 calories an hour - more when its really hot but not noticeably less when its colder. Drink regularly in small amounts.
Fill up your water bottle before you leave home. Refills have to be made using moor water so make sure you have water purification tablets (in date) - use a fruit powder flavoring to mask the taste if you like!
On practice hikes only we will provide refills of water at the end of the day.

To contain enough to keep you alive for 12 hours or less!
Mars bars, dried fruit, Kendal mint cake PLUS 2x ready to use hot drink eg. cup a soup, sachet of drinking chocolate, sachet of coffee.
Pack must be sealed (taped around) in see through plastic bag but NOT clingfilm. This will be checked by army scrutineers.

Make sure you know how to use your stove BEFORE the hike and have enough fuel. We do not take supplies of gaz, solid fuel or meths.
If fuel is meths it must be in a metal container (Sigg) with stopper tightly in place. DO NOT use water Sigg for meths - they do not mix!
NO cooking in tents and only in lee of flysheet provided you are on the outside of the tent. You cannot get out a nylon tent that has caught fire without getting seriously burned.

Toilets are always available at our overnight stops but not very often en route during the day.
On the event toilets are provided at the start and finish. Every manned Tor also has some minimal arrangement.
When nature calls attend to nature. Do bring some spare sheets of toilet paper in a secure plastic bag just in case you need them on the moor. Damp paper doesn't work well - wet paper is even worse!

Cabot Ten Tors