By: Blonde Two
After spending some time now talking to the UK walking community, I have come to the conclusion that people who like walking also like lists. Maybe we are an organised lot … or maybe not.
Some people like lists of mountains or hills Munros, Wainrights, Marilyns (had to look those up). This seems to make sense and must add to the thrill of the chase – we have tors on Dartmoor which are not as high but there are loads and some of them are very difficult to find. The “Legendary Dartmoor” website has the most comprehensive list of tors that I could find. http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/tors_moor.htm
Other people (and some of the same ones) like kit lists. We love them and use them a lot with youngsters. The start of Ten Tors weekend brings on a frenzy of kit lists and checking. It is always interesting to look at someone else’s rucksack kit list and see how yours measures up. As we have both forgotten vital pieces of kit recently (Blonde One boots and Blonde Two coat), we are seriously considering having our own kit lists permanently in our rucksacks (beautifully written and laminated of course).
I could be wrong but I think that girls are more attached to their lists than boys. This judgement relies mainly on the looks on the faces of the blokes in our team when we sit over breakfast at Foxtor Cafe in Princetown and pull out the notebooks and pens just before a camping expedition. Feel free to disagree with me!
Yep love lists!!! On our trip to the Lakes i bought a map with all the Wainrights marked and a tick box to tick them off – fabulous. Haven’t gotten very far through them – maybe next year!!! Before we go on holiday I have to make a list whereas hubby is just happy to grab stuff and chuck it in the van.
Going back to our beloved Dartmoor though, Dad decided he was going to visit every tor, barrow, high point on Dartmoor this year (don’t think he’s going to quite make it though with only 14 days to go) so I found him a book so he could tick them all off. Here’s a link http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/terry+bound/the+a+to+z+of+dartmoor+tors/8557465/ At £5.95 a real bargain.
His next challenge is to visit all the county tops in the UK, so I think there’s another christmas present sorted!!!
And not forgetting our old favourite the Dartmoor 365 – mines come rather grinding to a halt at the moment – I need someone to take me on a scenic drive to all the villages that need ticking off!!! And of course there I’m not happy enough with just shading in the boxes, I had to go and produce a whole hyperlinked powerpoint with photographic eveidence for each square!!!
Yep, definatley a woman thing!!!
Anoraks. Check. Woolly hats. Check. Thermos. Check. A fixation with lists and ordering. Check. Almost certainly all done with very neatly organised, colour coded, pencil case…
I think there’s a latent train spotting tendency just waiting to emerge 🙂
Lists are amazing! I have lists for everything: shopping, christmas stuff, kit for Dartmoor, jobs to do, places to visit, books to read, topics to blog about, things to learn, people to phone, food to eat … am I sounding a bit sad now?!