Every year, the army organises an event called Ten Tors in which teams of youngsters from schools and other youth organisations compete in a two-day hiking challenge.

Dartmoor is accessible from anywhere in Devon and provides a fun day/weekend out in the wilderness. One tip is to go prepared for anything though, as a sunny day, even in the lowlands in the south moor, can suddenly turn and I have been caught in such changing conditions many times and been thankful I brought warm and weatherproof clothing!

Yet I do not know of another area quite like it. It is a granite area where the tors [outcrops] come up from their base in varied and sometimes quite exciting forms.

One of the beauties of the area is the ability to walk easily over a number of tors in a day so that, when enjoying a view, you can work out a route joining a number of the points that appeal to you. The northern part of the moor is owned by the army and shells are still fired across it so that it is necessary to have detailed and up to date information on where it is safe to walk there on any given day. This applies to the area north of the Tavistock to Mortonhamptead road.

There is plenty in the southern part of the moor to create interest. The Dart valley is covered in my Dartmouth journal so I concentrate here on the area nearer to Plymouth. Burrator Reservoir provides really beautiful scenery and near it is Sheepstor, many local childrens' first ascent as well as the ancient village of Meavy with its fabulous oak supported in its dotage by large metal props. The granite churches in moorland villages such as Shaugh, Meavy and Walkhampton add to the natural scenery. The rivers of the Cad and the Meavy which join near Shaugh Bridge in beautiful wooded valleys to form the Plym, the Tavy,[a tributary of the Tamar] with its own tributary, the Walkham, the Yealm and the Erme at Harford and Ivybridge all form delightful upland scenery on the moor and in the wooded valleys beyond its fringes.

Then there is the wealth of Bronze Age remains of which the stone rows, some several miles in length, are perhaps the most dramatic though stone circles, dolmens and clapper bridges give them stiff competition. There are plenty of later sights as well. The leats, some taken over river valleys by aqueduct, are interesting; perhaps Drake's leat which provided water to Plymouth is one of the more interesting - representing straight capitalism rather than any philanthropy. There are old warrens where rabbits were farmed and sold as food and there are historic china clay pits [as well as some newer ones]. it used to be possible to find old water wheels at some of the more remote ones but I do not know whether that is still possible.

Moorland villages provide a very good alternative to the coast for those with transport who like to see the coastal sights but prefer somewhere quieter to stay.