By: Blonde One
I don’t mean are you a Charlie Chaplin style walker or a Morecombe and Wise style walker – I mean what pace, stride, etc do you keep to on Dartmoor?
After numerous years of walking with youngsters I have come to recognise some very distinct types that occur year after year.
1. There is the walker that runs ahead of everyone else only to sit down while everyone catches up and be the last one to start walking. This style is very irritating to everyone else and soon it will become apparent that they are not really team players.
2. The walker who lags behind at the back moaning and groaning about how far it is, how steep it is, how cold it is, etc, etc. This one is also very irritating but seems to be very determined and keeps coming back, walk after walk.
3. The overly cheerful walker, who will sing silly songs, tell jokes, play games, and see the funny side in every situation, no matter how bad it is! This one is not at all irritating and is a very valuable asset to the group.
4. The quiet, confident one, who turns out to be a natural navigator, an excellent team leader and a lovely person. This style of walker will also have the tidiest ruck sack, the neatest hair and the cleanest gaiters.
5. The underconfident one, usually a girl, who will claim to not be very good at everything, despite successfully leading the group across a particularly barren part of the moors.
Despite all of these types of walkers, irritating or not, we love taking them out and it makes us laugh to compare, year on year, how there are always similarities between them. Each style of walk now has its own name based on the first time we saw it. Number one style walker for instance is “a George”. Can you recognise any of the styles?
The style of walking that I would like to talk about is one peculiar to me. I have a reputation
for being accident prone so people who know me are very suprised that I can go hill walking and come back without injury.
To give you some example I regularly trip over rocks but I have a very good self levelling system which prevents me from falling over.
I slip and slide down scree slopes to the bottom and arrive unscathed.
I can also mud sure on one leg without turning an ankle
I
I slip and slide down scree slopes out of control but arrive at the bottom without injury.
I have messed up the reply again with my clumsy fingers! To be continued……
Do I detect an iPad – they always make me type in a strange way!
I think you are an honourary blonde!
I think I am a mix of definately 3 and a bit of 4 although I never have tidy hair and I’m usually filthy when everyone else is clean!!! I love walking so I am always happy out there doing it no matter what! I am usually a bit of 2, not back there moaning but because the maternal side of me likes to make sure everyone is ok especially the ones lagging behind. Of course at the moment I am the nobody but when I’m back out there I will be making the most of it even more, and loving Dartmoor even more after missing it for so long and will most definatley be a 3 but will probably be lagging behind (2) and will have lost some confindence (5). Roll on that day x
I seem to be a mixture of all of these depending on the day, my mood and the number of Jelly Babies I have eaten. Just glad I am definitely not a George!
To carry on with my story. I was walking in the snow with a friend on the Glyder mountain range when I suddenly slipped off the path and started to slide down a steep slope. If I hadn’t managed to stop myself from falling into the depths below the last my partner would have seed of me would have been my face smiling up at him as I tried to make the best of a bad situation.
On another occasion when descending Snowdon I did what my son in law described as a commando roll. It involved tripping over a rock and
I am beginning to think that we might be related in some way. Ask Blonde One about my uncanny ability to fall over. I can even do it standing still inside!
….and doing a sort of forward roll in slow motion so that I landed face down on the path resting on my nose.
Although initially it is a cause for concern to onlookers it soon turns into a source of entertainment for everyone.
This walk is known as the for”snappy walk” and I usually arrive at my destination safely!
I hate that chap on the tele who does press-ups on one arm and one leg. There ought to be a commandment against it.