Day for the Big Chief of the Clan

Zig Zag: From Dartmoor 2009

We ended our family get-together-cum-holiday in Dartmoor today in a rather fitting way on a rather fitting day. But some explanations first.

What 10 things do you associate with Dartmoor?

1. Ponies (in the road)
2. Walking up 'Tors' (the granite outcroppings on top of the moor)
3. The prison
4. Narrow roads/tractors
5. Family holidays
6. Windy days
7. errrm...
8. Heather??
9. Sheep?
10. ..... oh yeah - that thing with stamps

No.10 is properly called 'Letterboxing' which was a past-time my youngest brother, li'l sis, Mum & Dad picked-up visiting Dartmoor sometime after I foreswore family holiday's in my late teens - so something I had zero interest in back then. Later Mum and Dad continued to visit the area to walk the moors and Tors. So it was appropriate that last year, when we went to Dartmoor on 'goodbye' family holiday before we headed off to Finland that the clan left a box out on the moors in memory of our 'big chief'.

So this year, 18 months later, with my own significant large-numbered birthday celebration at hand, we have come back to Dartmoor to regroup, catch-up, celebrate (two birthdays other than mine), meet new additions (nephew and b.f.), walk (best one just Konna & I - 12km, lovely sunny day, Hameldown Tor, Grimspound bronze age settlement and around), eat (excellent and over-ample cooking all round), to dress in Victorian clothing (obviously), take lots of photos with my new 'toy' (and thanks to all my family for the present); and to check on Dad's letterbox.

So yesterday we recovered the box from Feather Tor, near Windy Cross and replaced it with a new one (with an appropriate cross stamp); then after browsing the visitor book last night we placed that box on Top Tor this morning, the day of his anniversary. It was nice to arrive home this afternoon to take some of his favourite flowers from the garden to the churchyard and tell him about the new boxes. I think he would have liked it.

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Clues to find the letterboxes: (remember to wear appropriate clothing, take an OS map and a compass when walking on the moors! A notebook, pen, stamp and inkpad, as well as a sharp pair of eyes, may also come in handy...)

• The new box in the old place:

1. From the car park on the B3357 head south to Windy Cross;
2. Cross the aqueduct and head up to Feather Tor;
3. Find the 'balancing rock' (see picture) and head east-ish towards a square looking rock;
4. The box is somewhere about halfway between...

• The Chief's old box in the new place:

1. From the small car park on the B3387 cross the road and head south to the small Tor;
2. Look for this small stack (see photo) you may want to scale it for the view west;
3. Head towards Widecombe-in-the-Moor's church tower - about 70 paces
4. The Chief now resides nearby...

Reflections: One in a million

From Finland summer 08 vol 2

This was Pyhäjarvi (holy lake) near Kesälahti one day this summer when we were at the mökki: I remember it was very calm and peaceful sitting on the wooden landing stage, watching the clouds reflected in the glassy water.  I took some video too but it doesn't really capture the feeling of being there.

I would like to be somewhere like this today...

For Dad - "Still singing in our hearts"

Urheilu: It's not the winning that counts, it's beating Sweden...

shadow runner

Finns tend to love their sport - and not just wife-carrying, ski-jumping, and mölkky world championships either. Motorsport aside (which seems to produce an inordinate number of Finnish world champion rally and F1 drivers - that may have something to do with the empty gravel roads, and the 'survival of the fittest' rules for motorway driving here, but more on that another time) the main yardstick for success here seems to be 'did we do better than Sweden?', be it at ice hockey (most importantly) or even athletics at a pinch.

Don't bother to mention that UK got 19 olympic golds to Finland's 1 (shooting), they will only point out our 60+ million population against their 5 million; and that Sweden (pop. 9m) got none... actually maybe there should be some sort of handicapping system by size of population in the future... or at least add wife-carrying and mölkky as olympic sports.

So this Friday and Saturday was the annual Suomi / Ruotsi (Finland / Sweden) athletics match, and we were lucky enough to get free tickets for the Olympic stadium on Saturday (thanks Bore's boss!) to watch with 30,000 others various fit young things in blue and white try to run, jump and throw better than those in yellow and blue. Who won? Let's call it a draw...

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The evening also reminded me of trips to Crystal Palace athletics with my Dad & family in the 90's and the Grand Prix Finals in 2006; and with Sweden’s Carolina Klüft and Finland’s Sari Keskitalo reminding me of ex-speed skater Irina Privalova winning 100m & 400m, coming 2nd in 200m and competing in weak 4x100 & 4x400 teams for the winning rest-of-Europe team in '94 World Cup... I'm sure Dad would have loved to have seen this one too, especially with Helsinki's much more intimate layout, with the stands much closer the track; he always loved athletics having gone to White City as a youngster, and Rome olympics in 1960, and I have vivid memories of a summer holiday in Devon or Cornwall spent listening alternately to olympics results and Dire Straits on the car stereo.  I wish I could be going with him to London 2012, but thats not to be; so for his memory, as well as some vestige of British pride, I hope Boris & co doesn't make too much of a hash of it.