By: Blonde Two

The Two Blondes’ latest expedition was not up on the Dartmoor but around some of South Devon’s well hidden green lanes plus a little bit of coast path.  This meant that we were on territory that is better trodden by dog walkers than we usually are, sadly this meant that there was dog poo to avoid.  I have to say that it wasn’t too bad but in order to avoid smelly tent messes later, we asked the Young Leaders to give the youngsters the “Poo Talk”.

After checking with us that they didn’t need to mention throwing poo, they did this very well and tried to encourage a bit of poo shouting.  Poo shouting is of most use when you are walking closely in a single file line.  In this situation, it is quite difficult (especially when you put rucksacks into the equation) to see floor properly.  The ideal solution to this is for the line leader to shout “poo!” every time he/she passes some, the poo shout is then passed down the line and everyone knows to tread carefully.

When family Blonde Two were young, this worked very well.  We have always (often far too much so) been a family happy to discuss bodily functions and the kids had no qualms about a good poo shout.  Our Bronze DofE youngsters however were not as keen.  In the end, the Young Leaders sat them down and made them play a ball game which involved a poo shout to try and break down some inhibitions.

We didn’t get the poo shouting quite right but, as far as I know, nobody trod in any on either day.  We are looking forward to being back on Dartmoor where most poo is cow or sheep and you just walk straight through it.