By: Blonde Two

This morning I am remembering with a smile, I conversation I had with Blonde One as we rushed past each other in the corridor one busy day this week.  Bearing in mind the long hours we have both worked this week, her final instruction was, “Get to my house as early as you can on Saturday.”

You would think from this that we were off on Ten Tors training (always a ridiculously early start) or had an enormous long walk in front of us but the truth of the matter is that neither of us can wait to get in the car, drive up across the moors to Princetown and settle down with a mug of coffee in the “Position of Power” at Foxtor Cafe.

Obviously, we will be going on a long awaited walk (watch this space for details) during which we will enjoy all of our favourite outdoor things again – map reading, hut circle hunting and flask emptying to name a few.  It might rain, it might be sunny, I haven’t even checked the forecast because I don’t care either way.  I don’t even care if it is a whiteout because I know that we will enjoy the challenge of finding our way.

I am looking forward to stretching my legs out properly again and smelling that peaty air that belongs only to Dartmoor.  I know that the first hill will be a shock to my holiday softened legs but also know that walking fitness can be regained.  I am looking forward to naming tors – and sneaking a glance at the map to make sure that I am right.  The great thing about doing a walk that you have done many times in a landscape as old as Dartmoor’s is that everything will be exactly where you left it – the crosses, the bridges, the funny long holes in the ground – none of them will have moved and all will be happily recognised.

So, as I try to reassemble my walking rucksack, squash in my sandwiches and make a flask for the first time in ages, I will look forward to the fresh air and the challenge.  But secretly, most of all, I am looking forward to indulging in a month’s worth of walking gossip with Blonde One!