Midnight Madness is an annual, fundraising night-walk on Dartmoor – organised and manned by Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team – Plymouth.  A circular walk starting and finishing in Princetown.

Half-way up my staircase – hangs a framed poem by Minnie Louise Haskins – called, ‘God Knows’.  It is more popularly known as ‘The Gate of the Year’.

A few years ago now – I took part in my first night walk on Dartmoor – and I really didn’t know the way – or know what to expect.   So I remembered Minnie’s inspiring words and carried them with me – along with an overloaded rucksack packed with all sorts of unnecessary emergency kit – and a map and compass that I didn’t know how to use effectively; still don’t really!

With hindsight – Dartmoor on a clear, summer’s night – is neither scary nor dangerous – in fact, it is a truly magical place to be…

My first night walk was life-changing and it is something that I shall never forget; Dartmoor became my spiritual home – my sanctuary.  A week ago today – or tonight – I completed another ‘Midnight Madness’ walk and loved every minute…

This year – the Bean Walking Club’s great leader – Old Bean…

was otherwise engaged, so Beans were thin on the ground at this year’s event…

and Tom dropped out at the last-minute – so this year I was a team of ‘one’.

With a rainbow of badges under my belt – I confidently strode out into the warm night with a considerably lighter rucksack…

equipped only with a bottle of mineral water, two very powerful (and worryingly expensive) bike lights that I had borrowed from my brother – and to keep me going; a bag of my favourite black ‘Jakeman’ sweets!    By hanging back from the crowd early on – I was able to find solitude – and experience the Moor in silence – and in ‘darkness’ – at an unhurried pace.  I saw one female glow-worm beetle – two shooting stars –

– and lots of eyes…

As I sit here writing this blog-post – I find myself looking around my room – which takes me back to where I started; the framed poem by Minnie Louise Haskins…

My home is a ‘treasure’ trove of meaningful things that I have collected – or made – even earned – over the course of my life.  It is an unusual mix – interspersed by feathers everywhere – mostly black feathers gathered one by one on Dartmoor – over a long period of time. When I have gathered enough – my intention is to use them – to make a realistic life-size model of a raven; sort of like death-free taxidermy!

Sheep – Dartmoor – and ‘The Good Shepherd’ himself – are my other most visible passions!

There is a stained glass panel in the window of ‘Saint Wendelin’ – where light streams through…

Wendelin means wanderer or pilgrim in old German; he is patron saint of country people and herdsmen – and Dartmoor wayfarers!  There is a little black sheep made from Welsh slate – and larger pottery ones…

and a luminous, white sheep’s skull that I found on Dartmoor – that glows above my mantelpiece…

There is nothing creepy or sinister about it being in my home. The life force that once thought within it – lived and died naturally out on the wild Moor – and because of that I see beauty within its sun-bleached form; it is art by nature’s design.  Time – the elements and the Dermestidae beetles – did a fantastic job cleaning it and preparing it for show – all that was left for me to do,  was to stain, wax and polish the horns.

Although nature I concede is cruel – I’m comfortable in its presence – knowing that its soul was spared the fate of most sheep;  noisy livestock markets – long, grueling journeys in towering, three-tier transporters – to a stark – and increasingly probable – ritual slaughter to end life.

Are you wondering where I’m going with this blog-post?   Well, it is here.  I wanted to share one glorious instant; snapped earlier this year – on Dartmoor.

While in reverie in the openness of the Staple Tors – I became aware that I had visible company. From the breezy height of a granite outcrop – an adventurous lamb had appeared from ‘nowhere’ and was peering over the edge; suddenly ‘everything’ came together in an epiphanic moment…

For me – it was another reinforcing Dartmoor experience – and for the lamb?  The ‘Good  Shepherd’ was close at hand…

As for this year’s night walk – how did I do?

I made it home to bed before the Sun had risen in the Eastern sky – with another certificate to proudly add to my meaningful things.