By: Blonde One

 

This walk for the Two Blondes had some very lovely company. Not-at-all-Blonde and Miss Sailor joined us for a finding mission. We chose our route (a very familiar one) based on the recommendation of a very good friend and fellow walkist. We went in search of a cross and a maze!

The cross that we were looking for was not the normal Dartmoor type but one that assumed a horizontal position and was very easy to miss because of it. Not much is known about it, with some saying it is quite recent and carved where it lay, whilst some speculated that it was discarded due to a damaged arm. Others have suggested that it is part of the medieval burial cairns close by. Whatever its history, we quite liked it.

 

Our other find was a small stone spiral. It sat quite nicely on the edge of a very well used path which Blonde Two and I have walked many times. This time though, the bracken had been removed and the spiral was plainly visible. Not-at-all-Blonde and Miss Sailor had a good time following the lines of stones around to the centre. There are similar features on the Isles of Scilly dating from before 1790 in some cases. They were placed on the shoreline to send sailors fair winds to keep them safe. There are no boats visible from Blackslade Down, where we found the maze, but our own Miss Sailor will hopefully get some ‘fair winds’ sent her way next time she is out boating. Unfortunately there seems to be no information about Dartmoor’s maze except that it was definitely there in 1980. If no info turns up soon, we will have to make up our own story!