Posted by Ashley Cawley
The four of us have reluctantly returned from a beautiful 3 day trip to Dartmoor. What can I say?.. The trip was most enjoyable and soothing for the soul, during the first two days we saw more deer than we did people - a rare treat these days in the South-West.
Day 1
The weather forecast wasn't looking great with thunderstorms waking us up in Cornwall at 7am, the first day (Sat 23rd Oct) was looking to be a mixed bag on the Moors with rain, sleet, wind & sun.
We arrived at The Warren House Inn on Dartmoor with wind and sleet beating down on the road, the Inn was a welcome sight with its chimney smoking. We grabbed a quick pint & lunch and sat beside the Inn's famous fire (which has been burning since 1845) and then discussed our route and looked at potential places to stay.
Before we set off we weighed our packs:
- Martins - 15KG (Including 3L of water, food)
- Ashley's - 16.5KG (Including camera gear, 1L water, food & communal bannock-mix)
- Scott's - 21KG (Including food & water)
- Matt's - 11KG (with around 2-3KG on his belt: Axe, 1L water, cup, spoon, brew-kit)
We set off walking uphill behind the pub with the wind/rain blowing in our face. We spent the day walking (about 6km) stopping for the occasional brew. The weather slowly improved as we explored Fernworthy Reservoir and it's forest, we spotted a glimpse of deer. Scott & Matt were lucky enough to see a big stag with large set of antlers, later that day Scott also startled a Wild-Boar which changed our usual camp expression of "Yo Bear!" to "Yo Boar!" 
Unfortunately on the first day my video camera battery failed; It wasn't a matter of it's charge but instead properly broken! So sadly I couldn't shoot much video at all, I tried to compensate by taking lots of photos though.
The first night went well and even though our environment was very damp we all managed to have a reasonable night sleep and no one seemed to be struggling as a result of lack of kit. There was no frost overnight, so it wasn't too cold.
Day 2
In the morning we walked across the Northen edge of Fernworthy Forest, down the valley toward the river and beyond to Teignhead Farm ruins.
The weather seemed much improved with sun all day yet the moor was still very wet underfoot.
When we reached the ruins we stopped for a brew & lunch, we sat amongst some beautifully old Beech & Pine trees, bathed in sun.
Martin was using his MSR pocket rocket to cook on and Matt was using his Bushbuddy wood gasification stove.
We looked at the map and decided on a new route to take so that we could look for new potential camping spots.
We ended up returning to a trusty camp-spot that we have used in the past.
As for sleep-systems: I was using a Tarp, Hammock & cocoon, whilst Scott was using Tarp, Hammock, Sleeping-bag & roll-mat for insulation.
Martin was using his new 'Terra Nova Laser', 2-man tent and Matt was using a 3-man 'Golite Shangri-La 3'.
Day 3
Was a frosty start, with temperatures lower than the previous two days, there was ice on our Tarps and frost over the ferns & grass, this made for a few nice photos.
I will leave you to enjoy the photos of our trip, they tell the story of our trip better than I can put into words. Click here for the full gallery: http://picasaweb.google.com/NaturalBushcraft/Dartmoor3Day10ItemsTripOct2010#
Once you have settled on your 10 items, maybe look at it again and see if you could reduce this again to say 5 items as this is the next challenge.
Martin
(The one describing everyone's camp set ups in the video)
More about the actual ten items please.
keep up the good work
john
Forgot to mention: Just to let everyone know I did use all 10 of my items whilst out, the only one thing I felt I wanted was a headtorch that slowed me down a little, so I would probably swap out one of my items to take a headtorch next time.
Two more: Thank you.