By: Blonde Two
The Two Blondes didn’t spend their Saturday up on Dartmoor this weekend. I was initially disappointed about this but, to be honest, the weather has been so horrid (even by Dartmoor standards) that I was secretly glad to be safely inside. I blame myself for the poor weather, I moaned about the Autumn mist last week and it would appear that the weather gods have taken exception to my comments and managed to find even more wet and wildness for the skies to throw at us. Sorry weather gods – I promise not to do it again.
We were back at school and learning all about being Duke of Edinburgh Assessors. The Duke himself did not appear but there were lots of friendly and familiar D of E faces there – it is always good to get together and compare stories. We learnt all sorts of useful and interesting things and I feel well prepared now to visit expedition groups and give them encouragement.
As ever, there was a bit of Blonde silliness although I did resist the temptation to pull Blonde One’s plait. I managed to sit next the the naughty boy of the class and despite my being a very good girl, got a bit distracted and may have giggled too much. At times, as in any lesson, there were lapses of concentration so some of the information got a bit mixed up in my head. I have tried to pick out five key points but they don’t make a lot of sense – see what you think:
1. Always keep contact with the pole. I think this was something to do with teamwork.
2. Make sure you are covered – Blonde One suggested a fluffy blanket.
3. The M6 is not a river.
4. Don’t jump out from behind a rock – I am hoping weeing behind one is still ok.
5. Four hours of activity is not enough – I would suggest that depends on the activity.
I am looking forward to being an assessor. I am not sure exactly which weekend is going to have enough space in it to fit assessing in but I am thinking maybe sometime in 2017 might be the day. Thanks to all and nice to see you!
Random!!
I can vouch for the horridness of the Dartmoor weather yesterday. My first visit up there since June and it was………..horrid!! Littlest Farley is doing a school project and I suggested she make a model of a Dartmoor Tor. Of course to make it as authentic as possible she needed granite (from Dartmoor), Moss (from Dartmoor), Gorse (from Dartmoor) etc!!! Unfortunately yesterday was the only day free enough for a visit before the “hand-in” date so off we went. I had planned a lovely cycle along the railway from Princetown – the idea went out the window when woken at 5am by the thunderstorm! So instead it was a very quick, park up, walk 200m ( sticking to a path as I forgot a compass and couldn’t see the car after 20m!!!), collected “ingredients”, swam back to the car, stipped off and headed home!!! We did laugh though and it was nice just to breathe in some Dartmoor air after such a long absence!!
They obviously didn’t see the M6 last Friday night!
Nice to meet the blondes – Good luck with the assessing, give me a shout if you want an extra body sometime.
Can testify to the grotty weather – it was lovely till about 7pm on t’ north moor when discretion became the greater part and a good night sleep beckoned me home.
Nice to meet you too. We are often after extra bodies especially male ones so you may well be hearing from us!