By: Blonde Two
We Blondes have been intending to write this blog post for a long time; every time, in fact, that someone does something nasty or antisocial on Dartmoor and requires a bit of ‘reeducation’ (cue evil laugh!)
As we have stated many times, we do firmly believe that education and experience are the key to halting the trend towards the Poor-Moor-Behaviour that certain parts of Dartmoor are encountering. But what about after the education and the experience? If we run true to current educational ‘thinking’ (loose term); then success in said education and experience will only be measurable via the medium of examination. Hence the Cattle Grid Test; a simple suggestion (not ours) that requires all persons wishing to enter a National Park to have reached a certain level of understanding. Original suggestions for Dartmoor questions were along the lines of:
Where are you allowed to wild camp on Dartmoor?
How can you volunteer to help conserve Dartmoor?
Who is allowed to light fires on Dartmoor?
Blonde-Research and Blonde-Experience suggest that the above questions are far too advanced for those who are causing the current problems. We have differentiated (a teacher term meaning – make it easy enough for any fool to answer) and the current list of questions includes:
Do double yellow lines mean the same on Dartmoor as they do everywhere else?
Does the rock you are writing your name on belong to you?
What is a fire?
Does your rubbish really belong in a bush?
Does everybody else want to listen to your music?
Which is for driving – roads or grass?
What does the number 40 mean in conjunction with road speed?
WHAT DOES THE WORD ‘NO‘ MEAN?
Of course, to disallow entrance to our National Parks in any way would negate the very important ideal of ‘access for all’. The Cattle Grid Test will never work – back to the Blonde-Drawing-Board.
The Two Blondes are now offering Dartmoor Guided Walks (we girls know how to make Dartmoor education fun!) Click here to find out more!
I thought this was going to be whether you could walk over one without wobbling. I have never actually fallen in…
There is always a lot of discussion about the camping ban along Loch Lomond – whether it should be extended to other areas, or whether it’s already gone too far in restricting people’s access rights.
Don’t fall in the one that I once saw an adder in!
I didn’t know about the Loch Lomond camping ban. Sounds sensible to me if there have been problems. You can’t camp on some parts of Dartmoor – not that people always take notice of that. Am visiting Scotland for only the second time in June.
What a gentle way of having a good moan. Maybe you were steaming at the time. Whichever way keep on ‘re-educating’ and then when you have time come and help us in the Pennines with the same problems.
A gentle moan is much more effective in the long run than a rant (we hope!). It does make us cross, but it is important to remember that not everybody has the same access to education about these matters from their family.