By: Blonde Two

Getting outside in 2020

Our much-appreciated regular readers will know that, as the year turns, we Blondes like to share with you a review of all that we have been up to over the previous 12-months. We were looking forward to doing this again this year but, as we all know, 2020 hasn’t really turned out the way we planned.

We Blondes are used to multiple-possibility planning but even we didn’t have a plan organised for a global pandemic. Instead of putting a spanner in the works, we would venture to suggest that coronavirus (I refuse to give it a capital letter), shoved a whole tool factory in, and stirred it around with a telegraph pole for good measure.

Being resilient types however we Blondes did manage to get up to a few (slightly adjusted from the norm) Blonde escapades this year. 2020 was a twisted year, so here is our Blonde review of 2020 with its very own twist!

 

Things we didn’t (and did) do outside during 2020

January 2020

Blonde Two didn’t swim in a Cambrian lake because the wind was blowing so strongly she couldn’t stand up next to it. She did however cook some noodles in the shelter of a ruin, get soaking wet, and enjoy a slightly hysterical, rather squashed night with Mr. B2 and her sister in a camper van designed for two.

February 2020

The February storms put paid to our plans for a winter wild camping workshop (thanks Ciara, Dennis and Jorge) but we did try out some different accommodations. These included a brand new type of Dartmoor not-so-wild camping at the very lovely Forest Inn, a bunkhouse night, and an extremely frosty camper van night for B2.

March 2020

We didn’t get to meet the other 98 new (and old) Ordnance Survey GetOutside Champions. We did, however, complete our fifth year as Champions. There’s only a handful of the original fifteen left and we are very proud to be two of them.

B2 didn’t attend her outdoor First Aid course but, thanks to some amazing effort by Really Good First Aid, she did complete a socially distanced version somewhere in the slightly happier place between lockdowns one and two.

May 2020

Blonde One didn’t get to take her team to the Ten Tors Challenge event. Some might argue that, after 20 years of regular attendance, she deserved a rest. She wouldn’t agree and we have already been out training this year’s teams. Blonde Two didn’t embark on a Scandinavian adventure but she did get to eat Swedish meatballs in the camper van outside her house on the day she should have left.

June 2020

We didn’t help launch the wonderful Dartmoor Way walking route but we did start (and really enjoyed) walking it and hope to have completed more sections before the new launch date in April 2021.

July 2020

B1 didn’t take her World Challenge team to Morocco as planned. B2 did manage to escape nearer to home and enjoyed a rainy Exmoor camp with Six-Foot-Blonde. Both Blondes did find time to enjoy some garden tent-pitching escapades.

August 2020

We finally did manage to run a socially distanced wild camping workshop. Blonde One did continue her lockdown local explorations and Blonde Two did grow a lot of vegetables.

September 2020

Another month of achievements in a tricky year. Blonde One did successfully run her first socially-distanced DofE expedition. Blonde Two completed a solo mission to the source of the River Severn. Blonde One welcomes a new member of the family.

October 2020

Blonde Two did bump into a film crew in Scotland but despite swimming in a tarn, didn’t really understand the Lake District. Blonde One did explore a favourite Dartmoor tor.

November 2020

Blonde One did enjoy a walk to a spooky Dartmoor pool. Blonde Two did meet a seal (but not on Dartmoor).

December 2020

A night of triumph when both Blondes did manage their annual Christmas do, completely outside, safe, and within restrictions.

 

Well, that brings 2020 crawling to an end. We’ve both spent far more time at home than we have since we met thirteen years ago but have both learned to love our local areas. It only remains for us to wish you a happy, healthy, and outside 2021.

Let’s make sure it’s a good one!