Return to Dartmoor, this time by bike

It has taken me nearly 30 years to gather the courage to explore Dartmoor again. In the last week of October 1989, or possibly 1988, a group of sixth formers from Surrey took the long journey south west for their qualifying Gold Duke of Edinburgh expedition. Duke of Edinburgh expeditions are not allowed after October, until the nights are shorter and the weather warmer, in April.

Memories of my expedition are a little blurred now but I clearly remember the following:

• We were too cold to stop for drinks and food, instead we sucked the rainwater from the velcro in our map cases
• The gusty wind snatched the paper maps from our hands, never to be seen again
• We crossed stepping stones waist deep in water
• We only wild camped. One night we failed to make it to our chosen spot and camped at a suitable location before darkness came. That night we didn't sleep. The wind was so strong the tents would only stay up with us sitting up, full waterproofs on, holding the sides out, protecting any kit that was still dry. It was with great relief that our assessor found us early the next morning. We continued on...
• One of the group thought we might fail for using public toilets
• The army were recalled to their barracks as the conditions were too extreme for them; we 'soldiered on'.
• We could only make it across one stream if we jumped to an island without our backpacks on. These would be thrown across. Mine didn't make it. All I could do at this stage was breakdown in hysterical laughter. I was cold, wet and had no kit. Before I could stop laughing my friend had jumped into the river and managed to save herself and my pack. 
• One of our group was removed from the expedition with hypothermia
• All of my group, bar me, were all at once, stuck in a bog up to their waists, arms held out desperately as if I was surrounded by real life people from 'The Scream'. I didn't know who to help first.
• We passed

This year we chose to explore by bike. The first route revisited many of the stepping stone crossings; thankfully they were well below the water level. We should have realised that a route with so many stepping stones would not be suitable for bikes even if it does appear in the South West Mountain Biking routes book! It turned out to be a challenging walk interspersed with short, rideable sections. The scenery is magical, full of history and the route takes you away from the tourists but it would be better done on foot.

We completed 3 other routes all exploring different areas of Dartmoor. The landscape changes so much throughout the national park. The park has changed little in the intervening 28 years or so. However, some lovely tracks and bridleways have been laid over the peat bogs; even on bikes we stayed well on top of the surface. 

I didn't remember so many tracks and roads over the moor, nor so much civilisation in sight, surrounding the edges of the moor. Perhaps we were shrouded in fog on our expedition, giving the feeling that we really were in the middle of nowhere. The fog does roll in from the sea surprisingly quickly, even in the middle of July. Luckily the weather was warm and we managed to dodge most of the showers and ride in fair weather.

On completion of our final ride we passed soldiers out on exercise carrying packs similar in size to our DofE expedition packs. As they queued for the public toilets at Okehampton I overhead one say, 'Thank God that's over. That has been the hardest 2 days of my life'. A Gold DofE expedition is 4 days long.