By: Blonde One

 

You will know by now that Little Miss Blonde is my daughter and is involved of most of the things that I do that are outdoors. She is my daughter, friend and outdoor sidekick! Without intending to I have helped to shape her future to include adventure, exploration and excitement. When she wanted to do her Bronze DofE at the age of 14 I was pleased. This started her love of expeditioning and the support she received from her fantastic teachers meant that she went on to do Silver and Gold DofE and 35 mile and 45 mile Ten Tors. At the age of 16 I was not surprised when she wanted to join a school trip to Zambia and Botswana for a month. And now she is the grand old age of 22 I am pleased to say that she is a leader with my groups, has been to numerous places on her own and with Numbers, including Snowdonia, the Peak District, Norway and Peru.

Apart from a short spell away from home a few years ago she has been glad to return to base after her travels.

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She is now at the beginning of a new adventure with Numbers. They are both working on the Isles of Scilly for the 7 month long summer. I don’t miss her (too much) yet, as there are still her shoes in the hall, her bed is still not made and there is still washing in her laundry basket, but I know that our house will soon be much tidier than it has ever been!

I will miss having her around but I am so pleased that she is doing something that she has wanted to do for so many years. It just doesn’t feel right to be negative about her being away. I am thrilled that her and Numbers are brave enough to ‘get out there’.

My advice to them as they left was to ‘breathe deeply’ and fill their lungs with clean fresh sea air, and to ‘stop often to admire the view’. Appreciating natural beauty has never been a problem for these two and it will be on the islands in abundance for them to relish.