26
Aluredian
As the sun begins to descend the team realise
they're not going to get there before nightfall
and prepare their torches for an arduous few
hours of night navigation.
Mile 38
The time is 10.30pm on Saturday night and
the sun has well and truly gone. The moon
hasn't had the decency to show its face and so
the team are in almost complete darkness.
After a slight navigational miscalculation the
team have dropped down into the last valley of
the day and decide to fill up with water at the
river before attempting the last climb to the top
of Pupers Hill, which is their seventh tor. As
they climb up the final ascent of Day 1 the
team are tired and delirious from the day's
arduous yomp and when the campsite doesn't
appear instantly, tempers start to fray. Luckily
within a couple of minutes a light is spotted on
top of the hill and the team successfully find
their camping site. With a sausage and beans
supper to look forward to the team quickly set
up their tents and tuck in for a short five-hour
kip before walking again the next morning.
Mile 1
Ten Tors has just begun; after waking up at
5.00am to the song Chariots of Fire blasting
out over the loudspeakers each team was
treated to a full fry-up, cereal and coffee,
cooked by the staff involved. As the Ten Tors
prayer is read out the adrenaline builds, and
the two cannons go off to announce the start of
Ten Tors. King's gets off to a solid start, being
the first team to reach Hound Tor.
Mile 18
After completing two huge legs (Hound Tor to
Chat Tor to Beardown Tor) which went from
one side of the moor to the other and back
again, the team are completely shattered but
have broken the longest and hardest legs of the
whole course. They now have a long descent
to the road before going along the road for an
age … approximately 13 kilometres … lots of
pain.
Mile 30
Having walked along a road for 13 kilometres
the team's feet have now lost all sense of
feeling and as they motor on down to
Trowlesworthy Tor they check in at Hartor Tor.
They reach Trowlesworthy an hour and a half
before the cut-off time (8.00pm) and decide
they have to break the long leg that stretches
the bottom of their course, therefore giving
them the best possible chance the next day.
Ten Tors
55 miles
by Tom
Dunham