Dartmoor National Park Authority

Ten Tors Navigators Notes

Suggested by the Dartmoor National Park Rangers

When conditions are really bad and visibility is terrible you need to be able to:

• Find where you are on the map
• Take a compass bearing
• Walk your group in a straight line from one known point to the next

These are the absolute minimum skills needed to save you from a lot of anxiety and discomfort
when involved in Ten Tors.

Contrary to common belief these conditions are exceptional. Normally we are blessed with better weather and reasonably good visibility. Then navigating on the high moor becomes much easier. Ten Tors groups can then exercise a lot more skill when deciding their routes across the moor.

A straight line is rarely the best way to walk from one point to the next.

Use your eyes! If you can, locate your destination. Check what types of vegetation you are crossing. You will already have learnt to distinguish heather from gorse from grass from bog from rocky clitter. Each presents it’s own problems for walkers.

Take your group the easiest, least tiring way.

What’s the shape of the land? It is so much easier to contour around a valley then to plunge across it. Your weary group members not thank you for steep uphill climbs.

Can you predict a dangerous gushing torrent hidden at the bottom of the valley? Can you work out that colour green or that density of rushes indicates a deep, black, smelly bog?

When you do have to walk on a bearing, use short navigation lengths. Nobody can keep to a straight line for very long. Small errors rapidly become big mistakes.

Aim for linear features such as streams, walls, tracks so that when you do stumble across them (and they are so much easier to find than a spot on the map) you know which way to turn and they can then guide you to your next destination.

Become a weather expert, a dramatic deterioration in the weather will probably require a change in your route.

The easy crossing of a little stream may after a burst of rain become an impassable river.

A good hard frost will make the going firmer and faster but increase the risk slipping and falling on the ice.

A wet month will make some areas very difficult to cross altogether.

On a very windy day sticking to a route on the sheltered side of the ridge will be far less exhausting than walking on top.

Use your map to the full. A careful reading of the map will tell you much about the vegetation and the shape of the land you are about to cross. It is the weather that is unpredictable but it should still be considered when you choose your route.

There are numerous hardened tracks on the high moor, use them when your chosen route converges. They are easier and safer to walk along, but don’t stop navigating, you may easily be led for miles down the wrong path!

Groups and leaders

One member of the group needs to take the lead at any given time. Make sure all group members are aware of who is taking the lead and when the responsibility is handed over to another.

Be nice to your group leader! Careful examination of the map is a sign of a good leader, somebody is taking care and responsibility, it is not necessarily a sign of being lost or an excuse to start panicking. More time and concentration is needed for map reading when conditions are getting worse. Even the best navigators make mistakes but only those with true grit and skill will recognise and correct their mistakes quickly and not allow pride or tiredness to cloud their judgement.

The fittest, fastest walker is not necessarily the best map reader, with good navigation the tortoise will be able to beat the hare.

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Page updated 16 April 2010