By: Blonde Two

Tonight is a very exciting night dear Blondees and Blondettes (cue drum roll) … tonight is NightNavOff night.  The Two Blondes will be heading for Dartmoor in a few hours armed with compasses, maps, each other and a booked pub meal.  We have been sent our “RV”, a secret location on Dartmoor.  At 17:00 hours we will be meeting our course assessors (who appear to be feeling quite mean today) and being given our instructions.  After that will follow some time of wandering round the moor looking for small things in small places (I mean a time of careful calculation and navigation!)  We may not now have a boys and a girls team as some boys have dropped out (I couldn’t possibly comment on this).  A few options present themselves;  a) two mixed teams (one of the remaining boys each), b) the Two Blondes against “the rest of the world” or c) some girls becoming honorary boys for the night.

Looking at the weather today, I am fairly convinced that we have made a timing error as I will be doing my chores during the sunny daytime and waiting for the dark, when it will undoubtedly be quite chilly, to have my walk.

Like with all Blonde planning, things have had to be dynamic – I think we are only up to Plan C though which, for us, is impressive.  Last weekend with Ten Tors had us calculating Plan Z on the run (I did actually run – but only briefly!).  Right back at the start of the planning for NightNavOff, I wrote a few rules.  Like our planning, these expanded exponentially (maths word!) – I thought you would like to see the most important ones;

1. The girls are going to win NightNavOff.
2. NightNavOff is not a race – skill/teamwork will be what matter, not speed.
3. The NightNavOff course will not include stepping stones or river jumping.
4. The NightNavOff course should take 2 to 3 hours (Blonde timing).
5. No electronic equipment allowed – map, compass and watch (not GPS) only.
6. No jumping out on girls in the dark (fine for boys).
7. No secret weapons (unless they are girls).
8. Blonde telepathy is definitely allowed.
9. Jelly Babies are compulsory.
10. Bears are allowed on NightNavOff but will not count as team members.
11. The official NightNavOff dinner will be at the Plume of Feathers, Princetown.
12. NightNavOff is on Burns Night so there must be poetry.
13. The moon may shine on NightNavOff a couple of times but not all night.
We have managed to organise dinner, beds for the night, telepathy and Jelly Babies.  It remains to be seen how much control the Two Blondes have over the moon!