By: Blonde One
Well I am a girl and I am blonde, so I think it’s only right and fitting that I like shiny, sparkly things! I have my fair share of glittery things (usually only seen at Christmas time), I have a good deal of sparkly jewellery (not usually worn on Dartmoor) and I like to have most things so clean that they shine and sparkle at me! When on the moors it’s very difficult to satisfy the need for pretty things but this weekend I managed to spot several shiny, sparkly things. First of all I spotted a very new Sigg bottle: it was red and very bright and undented (unlike mine). The owner was very proud of it. I admired it from afar thinking that it’s probably best not to admit to kids that are relying on me to be sensible and reliable that I am drawn to shiny things (it might have given the wrong impression)! As Blonde Two has said, the landscape was also shiny and sparkly as the frost and ice made normally lovely looking things look absolutely spectacular. The grass glittered at me right up until about 8am – it was gorgeous. The most important shiny, sparkly thing that I saw though was our kids! Let me explain: We had set up our tents and the evening was still quite young. I suggested that the kids have a little bimble (they never normally get chance to bimble) up to Yes Tor – a Tor that most of them had never been to before. We could see the tor from our campsite and worked out that it was a couple of kilometres away. I knew that they would probably not be back until dark, so I told them to take torches, map and compass (just in case!) and to stay together (all 19 of them!). At about what we thought was the appropriate time we walked up the path towards Yes Tor in the hope that we would see them returning and we were right. What we saw was a line of torches moving fairly quickly down the hill towards us. The lights were flickering and dancing as they approached and all 19 lights made a lovely sight. It was a lovely moment for 2 reasons: they were on their way back safely and it looked pretty!
You see, even on Dartmoor amongst bogs and grass and rivers it is possible to be a proper girl!
Glad they went well-equipped; one night on Haystacks I thought I would watch the sunset from the summit. I left my little dark green tent pitched about 250 feet below the summit. Even with a head torch, coming down I simply could not find it; it took me ages of wandering from boulder to boulder and oh boy was I glad when I finally crawled inside; now, I take a spare red flashing led light and leave it clipped on to the tent if I go out at night. It weighs very little, and saves a lot of trouble.
Tent lights are a very good idea – saves embarrassment when you try to get into the wrong tent on a busier camping spot too!