LOCAL girl Nancy Porter spent several months in the newsroom at the Cornish Times last year as she waited to join the Navy. Follow her progress each week as she sends us her latest bulletin...

THIS week has been a rollercoaster of highs and lows, with the main highlight being an expedition on Dartmoor. We have had lots of important assessments including our Divisional Officer's kit muster, weapons drill exam and a timed 1.5 mile run. I also spent a day learning how to use a baton for self defence. Unfortunately our group made the mistake of telling our Royal Marine Instructor that we were cold, so he kept sending us off on little runs and finishing them with press-ups, just to keep us warm! I had been looking forward to Dartmoor all week, mainly because it meant a night away from HMS Raleigh. When we arrived the group was briefed on putting up tents and how to cook our ration packs. We spent the afternoon walking around the moors, perfecting our map reading skills before we were let loose the next day on our own. Because we were so hungry by the time we had finished a search and rescue scenario, the boil-in-the bag meals were very tasty. It was absolutely freezing in the evening, and cooking dinner was a great way to warm up your hands! After an extra map reading lesson, it was time for my tent's duty. We took turns in doing a roving patrol of the camp perimeter and standing on the gate. It even started to snow lightly as we watched flares going off from other military activities on the moor. After spending a cold night huddled up wearing every piece of clothing in my possession, I was actually relieved when our tent got the wake up shake at 4.30am. We had to cook breakfast and take down our tents, all in the pitch black, before getting ready in our groups for a 14 mile hike. We had 19 points to find, and it was physically exhausting as we were carrying all of our bulky kit, which weighed around 30kg. But luckily as it was so cold, the marsh and boggy areas were frozen over, so we didn't get wet feet, which would have been terrible for morale. The route really tested our individual mental strength, especially as team members started to get tired and suffer from blisters. But we carried on, encouraging each other whilst munching on what remained of our ration packs! The final stretch was North Hessary Tor, which looked and felt more like Mount Everest, as exhausted we started the climb. It took every last drop of energy and effort to reach the top, but once we had it was such a wonderful feeling to know that it was downhill all the way to a pub lunch! Next week I'll be spending the week learning about Seamanship. But anyway, I have to catch up on my sleep after missing my 7am Sunday lie-in!