Ten Tors 2009

The first of many hikes is now complete and we got off to a great start. Once we had gone through the mayhem of getting everyone in the right teams, kit checked then on the minibuses we headed to the Mendips.

A cold start but the weather held off for most the day, the teams set off in good spirits and at a good pace. We all had a hill to contend with straight away and this was followed by some confusion over the direction the teams ought to be heading. It’s best not to follow another team, we had more than one route and they might be going in the wrong direction!

It’s early days yet, but overall the navigation within each of the teams wasn’t too bad. There’s still lots to learn and you all need to have a go, it’s not a good idea to have only one good navigator in a team and the teams will also be swapped around as we progress.

Some of you may have been expecting to sit down and have a break for lunch, as you now know, we don’t tend to stop! It’s best to eat little and often rather than eating it all in one go at lunch. Just stuff some food in your pockets when you get a chance and eat it as you go.

We had a couple of showers during the day, the heaviest just before we finished. Hopefully your waterproofs really were waterproof? If not you need to re-proof your jacket or borrow one of ours. It’s a bad idea to end up wet and cold!

Same goes for your boots, some of the teams made slow progress along the wetter trails as they had to circumnavigate all the puddles! Your boots need to be waterproof and gaiters are strongly recommended.

We hope you enjoyed the first hike and are raring for more! See you in December.

Cheers
Bryan

Lost Property:

• Lunch box, clear with blue clips. (I’ve thrown away the sandwiches inside!)
• Plain black woollen hat
• Karrimor black waterproof jacket , a 45ers we think?
• Trek Mates waterproof rucksack cover, black and in stuff sack.