We set off for Dartmoor on a quite wet and generally unpleasant evening weather wise. We had a longer drive than is usual for a weekend camp, nearly three hours.

It was just getting dark when we arrived. It was a very nice sloped site which had a flat section at the top which is where we camped. The rest of the evening was spent settings up tents and having supper. It was quite a late night for some; it was 1am when I started to put my tent up.

Next day we had our main activities of letterboxing and water activities. Due to the distances that these were apart we had our cooked meal at midday before we went off on activities. First up was letterboxing. This involved the groups navigating around the moor trying to find letterboxes which are small plastic containers that have stamps in them. The objective is to collect all of the stamps on that particular route. They are given clues to follow to assist them in finding the letterboxes. A few of the leaders were a bit unsure about this before we started but we all really enjoyed ourselves and would definitely do it again. The scouts also enjoyed it with having something to do while we were walking.

After this we went off to a local reservoir to do some water activities including canoeing and sailing. When the water activities were finished and the scouts dried off we headed back to the camp. There was the compulsory camp fire before the scouts went to bed. On the final day we were based around the site. The scouts did a few competitions and after lunch we cleared up the site and headed home.

A big thank you to Derek for all of his hard work in organising the camp. A good time was had by all.

Written by Ben George

Photos provided by Ben George, Nick Cook, Simon and Michelle Kilburn-Bond.