By: Blonde Two
We all hate losing things. Few things in life (except maybe ) are more annoying. But finding things, that is a different box of frogs (think about it!) altogether. To a Blonde, a day spent finding things is a very good day indeed! I didn’t have a whole day today; a swim (not with frogs) and then some house chores took up the morning which meant that Mr B2 and I were up at Fox Tor Cafe for a lovely ploughman’s lunch (no actual ploughmen were harmed) by a sprightly 15:00 hours. This meant that our feet didn’t touch Dartmoor peat until 16:00, which, as it turned out, was just about right. The moor was emptying, the shadows were long and the light perfect. This is what I found. It is the smallest cross on Dartmoor and is not marked on the map.Which of course, makes it more fun to find. Blonde One and I first found it in the dark during the NightNavOff competition in February (hopefully to run again next year). We were very pleased with ourselves. I hadn’t seen it in the daylight but wanted a challenge, so today I found it without using my map or compass. I would like to be modest here and say that I experienced difficulty and I had to hunt around a bit, but I am not going to be, it wasn’t and I didn’t. Watch out Dartmoor, the Blonde Navigators are back!
I’m very worried. I don’t think you should keep frogs in boxes. They must hit their heads on the lid every time they leap!
It is much more rewarding to find things unexpectedly for yourself than to find things others have told you about.
A treasured, very secondhand book I found in the Carnforth bookshop springs to mind: 15,000 miles in a Ketch – R.R. Du Baty – the best £3.50 I ever spent – worth a read if you can get hold of a copy. Unfortunately you would then be finding something under recommendation.
Agreed – who knows what you might find on Dartmoor on your travels! Maybe a pair of Blondes 🙂
The first time I found that cross was on a DofE day walk in 1991, aged 17, and we didn’t know it was there when we stumbled upon it. The second time I visited it was on purpose, on a NightNavOff with some blondes last winter. Another NNO is definitely needed – professional development must be regular to be worth it methinks!
Absolutely agreed about the NightNavOff. Will see if our friendly local assessors are up for it! Do you think the boys will manage to get a team together this time?