January 2008 TTN 03

Hopefully you found the training sessions at the 169th HQ and Blaise Estate useful and you are now better prepared for the first weekend away on Dartmoor. As well as all the things we told you, remember the things that went wrong! The missing bits of kit and cooking mishaps. Better these things happen for the first time in safe old Brentry and not learnt the hard way on the moor.

Some hints & tips:

Communication

Please phone Mike & Jenny well in advance to book your place on the minibus. We gave you a checklist with dates for this to remind you.

Keep Martin updated of any injuries, illnesses and medicines in use since you gave him your health form.

If you change waterproofs please let Martin know the colour for our ID lists. This must be done by 27 January and if there are any changes after this before weekend hikes

Kit

Make sure you have everything on the list. We don’t make you carry it to make your packs heavy – its important for your safety. If you need help with anything contact us. We’d be pleased to help. Particular issues from this weekend were:

• Rucsac liners – strong bags no bin bags
• Strong plastic bags for sleeping bags
• We have 7x 4 season lightweight sleeping bags (see Mike).
• Layering of clothes is the best way to stay warm.
• You must have at least 1x 200 gram fleece.(sorry we have no small sizes). Another fleece is needed as a spare. If you use a micro fleece + sweatshirt instead this must be in addition to the long sleeve shirts needed.
• Flimsey cotton shirts are no good
• Boots need to be looked after, cleaned and kept waterproof.

Cooking

You are going to burn a lot of calories so you need to take in a lot – but keep it simple:

• Boil in the bag means just that it's not empted into pot which makes it dirty. If hot water needs to be added to the contents to rehydrate read the instructions first!
• a complete pasta dish is fine - but precook it in the sauce and bring it in plasticbag/small plastic container so that it can be simply reheated  from frozen
• Pot Noodle is not acceptable  - don’t bring it
• Solid fuel burners need to be placed on a flat rock not directly on the turf as the turf could be scorched. 
• Those with gaz burners are responsible for bringing their own gaz - we do not supply. 
• Clear up afterwards. There was a lot of mess and litter left behind for the leaders to clear up after you at the 169th. Littering is bad for Dartmoor and also it’s a criminal offence now.

Navigation

This is a key skill to develop and getting it right makes the hiking more enjoyable and cuts down on unnecessary mile. Attention to detail is essential as is good observation of your surroundings. We will work on this more with you on the moor but we were quite please with how you applied the theory learnt indoors to the practical session in Blaise. Some pointers:

• Have 2 persons navigating together. They need to keep focussed on the task and not goof about
• Before you start off let everyone know where you are going to and how long it will take.
• Break long sections up into smaller parts i.e. to the bend in the river and then the junction of the paths.
• Grid refs – "along the hall and up the stairs"
• Grid to Mag – ADD (about 3 degrees at the moment)
• When walking on a bearing aim at something everyone can see
• Handrail if you can, especially when vis is poor
• Don’t guess – work it out.

We were really pleased with the effort you made to take a lot of information in on a busy day. Finally a big THANKYOU to all the trainers who gave up their Sunday lie in’s to support this.

See you on the moor

Brian