By: Blonde One
You might wonder why I am carrying a pair of Keen trainers on my rucksack. We recently went up to Red Lake on Dartmoor to revisit the site of Blonde Two’s accident and helicopter rescue. Part of the plan was to have a swim. I had my swimming kit with me but several things put me off (if only it was just the cold water!) within an instant of arriving at the lake. Blonde Two is a much more hardy swimmer than me and was not put off. She did go in for a dip (it was definitely not a swim!). I, of course, lent her my swimming shoes which were the perfect thing for this type of lake (hint at one of the reasons I didn’t go in). These then were attached to my rucksack to dry as I walked back down to Shipley Bridge.
There have been two other occasions that I have carried an item of footwear down to Shipley Bridge that belonged to the Blonde Two family. The first time was when I was training her youngest son, Six Foot Blonde, for the Ten Tors challenge and he needed his new boots (that had just arrived in the post at home midway through our training trip). The boots were delivered to me at the minibus for me to carry out to him at camp. I then carried the old, smaller pair down to Shipley Bridge the next morning.
The second time was when Blonde Two broke her ankle and was rescued by the fabulous Devon Air Ambulance. She was whisked away by the helicopter and the amazing crew to leave me with her solo boot to be carried back down to the bus!
I was very pleased that this time the Keen shoes were very much lighter than the boots and they didn’t kick me up the bum all the way down the hill like the last two times!
