By: Blonde Two

If you had driven across Dartmoor at about six last night, the last thing you would have wanted to do would have been to get out of the car (unless said car had just arrived at a pub car park).  The weather was horrid, the cloud was down and even with car headlights, it was difficult to see the road.

So when we pulled up at Yartor Down car park, it was a rather reluctant pair of Blondes (+1) who pulled on already wet water proofs, hats and head torches and set off into the dark muttering yet again about knitting being a much more civilised hobby and how normal people would be in front of the TV.

Blonde One was being fierce with me – quite rightly so, I am the one who needs the practice.  We usually navigate together, discussing options, comparing bearings etc but last night I was on my own and, believe me, being the one in charge, in the dark, on Dartmoor can feel quite lonely.

I was under instruction to find a cairn, a memorial stone and then another cairn covering a area of about a square kilometre.  This takes longer than you might expect, we were out for two and a half hours, but I did find all three targets.  The second two presented no problems apart from terrible visibility and lots of mud.  The first search took ages which was ironic because it was the biggest target.  It ended up involving wading through waist high gorse, wandering round in spiral patterns and a few tears of frustration.

Mega thanks to Blonde One and to my sister for their commitment and humour in strange circumstances – must do it again sometime (sadly this is true!)