Kid lawyer saves dad
Recently I took the boys on their first wild camping trip on Dartmoor, writes Electric Kevin on his blog. I had picked Postbridge as a good location for mix of open moor, forest and stream. How wrong could I have been ! We pitched by a wooded area and had started our fire, the boys had been running around excitedly for about an hour making noise as excited 8 year-olds are want to do. I was startled by the sound of a 4×4 being driven furiously towards us via a track from the woods – it skidded to a halt by our tent and the middle-aged driver was apoplectic, “You can’t camp here – this is a restricted area and it’s illegal. We live in the cottage behind the trees and all we want to hear is birdsong, not your bloody kids !” I was about to answer in placatory fashion when one of the boys piped up, “Well actually, I can’t do anything illegal because I am only 8 years old – I can’t be prosecuted until I’m 10 and even then I can only be given an ASBO.” Well, I was stunned into silence and in any case I was completely out of the loop – the man was no longer talking to me, he was talking to my lad instead. He pointed his finger at him and said “Well, young man, I don’t expect you to be here tomorrow when I come back and if you are I will be reporting it to the Ranger.” And that was it, off he drove without further ado and we remained at the site.
What on Earth do they teach kids at school nowadays ?
One Response
If you had walked up towards the moor from postbridge there’s loads of places for wild camping on dartmoor away from prying ears and nosy neighbours. Don’t let this put you off. I’ve wild camped on dartmoor loads of times with no problems. But I would also question your use of a fire. It would be better to use a gas or fuel type campstove for cooking. Or even if you had to, use one of those portable barbcue kits 0.99p in Lidl!