By: Blonde Two
Outlandishly Outsidish 9 – Finding Things
When the Two Blondes first decided to start writing about the fact that our walking seemed to be a bit more blonde than everyone else’s, our walking together was mostly about ‘finding’ things.
We found stones and cairns and flowers and more stones and houses and tombs and mines and more stones … well you get the picture. They were all just sitting there in our Dartmoor 365 books waiting to be found. Nowadays we are so busy running expeditions that our walking is … well actually, still a lot about ‘finding things’. ‘Finding’ enough tents, ‘finding’ the right paperwork, ‘finding’ the minibuses, ‘finding’ the staff … even sometimes ‘finding’ the lost youngsters.
We haven’t gone out together and done any Dartmoor 365 ‘finding’ for a while so I thought I would practice on a square that I am fairly sure Blonde One will already have. It was Buckfast Bridge which spans the Webburn just before it meets the Dart Loop, very pretty but no mega-navigation needed, walk along the lane and there it is. And here it is.
There is still that sense of achievement though in taking the photo and then going home and crossing a square off. To date I have found 159 of the 365 things that need to be found on Dartmoor, this means that I haven’t covered even half of the moor yet. This is quite exciting because it also means that there are plenty more ‘finding’ opportunities for Blonde One and I out there.
Feel-Good-Score: 9/10
What a fantastic idea! I’ve never thought about ‘finding’ places in our local area. This could be a great project for fine winter days when there’s not really time to go very far but I still want to get out for a few hours. I’m going to see how many squares still need finding!! I enjoy your blog by the way.
Thank you so much for loving our blog. It is indeed a labour of love and we have really enjoyed the places it has taken us and the people we have met along the way.
Some years ago I visited all the trig points on my local OS 1:50000 map, and then extended that to bordering sheets. It took me to unexpected delights, and sometimes involved a bit of trespassing or asking permission. The latter could be a bit embarrassing when land owners look at you as though you are a bit daft when you explain, but it was all good fun.
This focusing on OS grid squares reminds me of a project of The Ramblers a few years ago for people to walk every Right of Way within a given square. I completed several squares in my local rural area and found many unknown hidden delights in places I thought I knew well, also many blocked stiles etc which was the primary objective of the Ramblers. I must however, in retrospect, praise the Local Authority for sorting out most of the problems and we now have a better footpath network. This all sounds most un-Blonde.
There is a web site that publishes photos from every OS grid square in Great Britain…. http://www.geograph.org.uk/
That is a fascinating website, and I like the Ramblers’ project. I am beginning to realise that we are very lucky in Devon. Many of our path networks are excellent, we rarely have to turn back.
That’s a very pretty spot. Love the picture at the top, too. I haven’t started my Dartmoor 365 book yet, but I might cheat a little teensy bit and put in some of the things I visited c. 1967. Might pinch Conrad’s idea too and try some more of the local trig. points. But I was going to walk some more of the SW coastal path – – – choices, choices!
We have some trig points that are a bit tricky round here. I agree, could be fun.