It rained …. and then it rained some more. 20 teenagers arrived, some for their first taste of camping in the rain. The first campsite was a curious surface of runny mud with what seemed to be solidly packed gravel below. Pushing tent pegs into the ground was a challenge. We had a gazebo so at least everybody could cook in the dry. Sadly my gas burner seemed to have no power – which I attributed to inadequate gas but in fact was a particle of dirt stuck in the unit. To their credit, everybody managed to be cheerful next morning after a night of heavy rain, the yowling of a fox in the middle of the night and more rain. The quagmire campsite was even more muddy.
The group I was checking took an early wrong turning from which I retrieved them. The wind and rain subsequently led to them making a planned route change. Having ensured they turned off for their diversion in the correct place I returned to my car, drove and walked and met the group again.
Next I drove to Princetown to buy some gas (of course that was no help as it was the burner that wasn’t working). However great outdoor shop and very reasonably priced. I drove back to Dartmeet and discovered that the route the group wanted to follow was impassable due to the river being in spate. There followed hurried consultation with another supervisor. This ended up with us doing a lot of fast walking to no benefit trying to reach the young people (but it was good exercise) – the group’s tracker had gone wrong. They actually made the unaided sensible decision to divert and arrived at the next campsite without incident.
The decision was made by supervisors to abandon the planned routes for the next day and just a direct walk to the end point in Postbridge. In pouring rain, the tents came down. I drove to Postbridge and walked up to Bellever Tor to check candidates – twice! Fine views from the summit, but sadly I had left my camera in the car.
The young people were met by clapping parents and to their credit had achieved well in difficult conditions, making good decisions about changing plans and learning a lot both technical skills and about working in teams. Supervising these young people adds a fresh challenge to outdoor activities. Hopefully it is encouraging them to enjoy being outside and active – setting them up well for further adventures in the years ahead.
All dried out now but in the current situation with Covid-19, wondering what the future holds and how much plans will need to change.
Where's Kathryn? 