A couple of months ago, I went to Dartmoor with a group of friends for an activity weekend which involved team-building exercises, rock-climbing and archery, it was amazing.

On the first day we did the team building exercise, we were given a road-side ditch, which stretched for half a mile! we had to clear the ditch of mud and leaves so the stream could flow again, it was quite rewarding afterwards just seeing the stream flowing as it should.

One of my friend's was shoveling some mud up and noticed there was a toad on the top of the mound! we sat and admired it for a short moment before putting it somewhere safe and out of the way, it made us a bit more aware of how we were digging. It was pretty cold in dartmoor, we had to put several layers on just to stay warm. we had a place to stay not far from the ditch we were digging out.

After that we went back to the accommodation for lunch, we were so glad to be in the warm again where we could put our feet up and talk about what we just did.

In the afternoon we had Archery, we all knew where we were going because we had been given directions, when we got there it was a lot colder than earlier when digging the ditch, the instructor demonstrated how to use the Crossbows, how to remove them from the target, and how to stand. Once we got going it was so much fun! smiles all around, I found it easier because I had played darts before, and seen Archery on TV and played games on the Wii that involved Archery, but it wasn't easy....not to begin with anyway.

Trying to ignore our ice cold fingers, we were taking it in turns to try and aim for the bulls-eye, none of us got it, we came close, but it wasn't a success. Then the instructor had a game where we pinned balloons in random places on the target, and we got extra points if they were popped. A couple of my shots came within inches of the balloon i aimed for, although one of my shots actually popped one.

After all of the balloons were eventually popped, we handed in the Crossbows and headed back to our accommodation, that was a tiring day!

The next day we had Rock Climbing, we couldn't wait it was something we were looking forward to most of all! after a good night's sleep and a early start we made it back down to where we did the Archery, so we could be collected by climbing instructors and a few other people from another group.

We were taken to a rock-face up in the hills somewhere in Dartmoor, it was literally half way down a hill, we had to walk carefully as it was wet (and still cold), when we got to the location we were rock climbing the instructors set up all the equipment. One of them stayed down with us to attach us to the ropes and harness's for safety! , I decided to go first ,out of the group, as I enjoyed climbing anyway (mainly tree's), what I forgot going up, is that I have to abseil back down again! I never had to do that before when the instructor said to me "lean back on the rope" my heart started racing, then he told me to let go of the rock! thats when I completely froze.

It took me about 5 minutes to pluck up the courage to let go, its not the easiest thing leaning back 50ft up a rocky cliff-face knowing theres only one rope holding you. And one person at the bottom holding one part of that rope, anyway I let go of the rock and clenched onto the rope and started abseiling down, when I got the bottom I was well relieved! glad to be back on both feet again. But I just wanted to go again because I loved the adrenalin rush. So after everyone else had their turn I went again, but this time went half way up the rock because I had to get used to the abseiling part, after the second turn I got used to it, because my confidence increased, in the end it was all fun and safe!

We went back up the hill to the Minivan, talking nonstop about the Rock Climbing and who was scared and who wasn't! an ego debate was underway, it lasted the whole way back to the Activity Center, then all the way back to our accommodation, we had 2 hours before we had to pack up and leave. so we just sat and watched TV, and played on the pool table that was there, I couldn't help but get a bit cocky as I love playing pool.

Also it snowed in dartmoor so we decided to have snow fights in parts of the days we weren't doing anything, the snow wasn't very thick but it was enough to have a snowball fight with!

After the snowball fight we changed into dry clothes, packed up our things and put everything in the car, then drove home but we didn't leave without writing "had a great time" in the snow on a nearby grass patch!