It’s only my second post as part of the great adventure challenge, and already I am behind. I think in future I will try to post every Monday, so this post is a few days late. In my defence, I have been on holiday working hard on my tan. Despite hours of sunning, I have managed to stay the exact same amount of ghostly pale all over, apart from an unfortunate bright red vagina-shaped patch on my upper back. I should probably have just stayed indoors blogging instead.
We went to Dorset for a week, so I conducted the second week of the great adventure in unknown territories. We stayed in a beautiful house in Winterborne Houghton. The small village is surrounded by rolling fields and narrow country lanes. We decided to stay local, and head out for a great adventure on foot.
One of the problems with quiet countryside locations, is that they can often feel a bit remote. Though beautiful, the village was a little bit like 1993 - there was no internet access or mobile phone coverage. So, taken away from the luxury of Google Maps, we just set out and hoped for the best.
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We were walking on country lanes, so I kept Ebony in the carrier to be sure she was safe. Eventually, we found a public bridleway to follow. We came to a gate with a sign that read “BEWARE: WILD EXMOOR PONIES. KEEP DOGS AND CHILDREN UNDER CONTROL.” This sign was home-printed and sellotaped to the gate in a plastic wallet. We couldn’t see any ponies, so we entered the field. We walked up into some woodland and had an explore. Ebony had fun rooting around in hollow tree stumps, smelling flowers and eating twigs. Next to us, was a fenced off field that contained overgrown vegetation and some wooden structures housing washing lines. White sheets of plastic, about 40cm long and 15cm wide, hung from the lines. Behind them, we could see what looked to be Mr Kipling foil cake bases blowing in the wind. It was quite an eerie site, and felt a bit like we had stumbled across Dorset’s answer to the Blair Witch Project.
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We decided to head back out of the woodland and onto the open field, so we turned around. As we came to the opening, we were met by three wild exmoor ponies galloping towards us. Now, I don’t know anything about wild exmoor ponies, but I did know I had just walked past a sign saying “BEWARE” and had then stumbled across the Mr Kipling shrine of a mad person. I was a little on edge. The horses stopped about five metres ahead of us, and stared at us. We stared back, hurriedly discussing our exit routes. Essentially, it was a choice of death by wild pony or death by the crazed tinfoil fan. Luckily for us, the horses eventually walked off, congregating at the gate we needed to pass. We decided that we were far too scared of any horses that warrant a BEWARE, and would just wait for the horses to leave the gate area.
They didn’t. But we found a hole in the fence (no doubt created by another terrified walker unable to google whether exmoor ponies are something to be scared of or not) and snuck through there instead and headed home.
I think it’s only fair to say that this week’s great adventure was a bit of a disaster. If anything, I have probably inadvertently taught Ebony to be petrified of horses and hanging tin foil which isn’t really the aim of the great adventure challenge.
If, like me, you’re the kind of person who needs a push and a shove to get out of the door on wet days, I’d like to invite you to take part in the great adventure challenge. Link up your posts below if you’d like to take part.
The Rules:
- You must have a great adventure once a week, every week, for as long as you can handle. No excuses! You don't have to blog every week though, you could do a monthly (or whenever you remember) round up if time is limited.
- You must leave the balls, toys and bikes at home. This is just about the kids and nature - no distractions.
