TEACHERS by day and outdoor champions by night, Fi Darby and Lucy Atkins are a dynamic blogging duo determined to get youngsters on Dartmoor.

Fi and Lucy, also known as ‘Blonde One’ and ‘Blonde Two’, have been co-running successful daily blog ‘Two Blondes Walking’ for three years.

Alongside running the blog, the ladies are also schoolteachers, published writers, outdoor enthusiasts and now #GetOutside champions for the Ordnance Survey (OS) and will be working with OS ambassadors; wildlife presenter and naturalist Steve Backshall; endurance adventurer Sean Conway and mountaineer and Everest climber Bonita Norris.

When asked how they both find the time to run the blog, Fi said: ‘It’s like magic! I spend most of my evenings writing for the blog – though it is much quicker now to write a post, especially compared to in the beginning. I think we must just have really tolerant families!’

Fi said the support they have received from both of their families has helped with their blogging.

She added: ‘I have three children and Lucy has one. My eldest is 26 and I have a 24-year-old and a 22-year-old – Lucy’s daughter is 22. It’s nice because out of the four children, three of them work in outdoors related jobs. If we do anything with anyone in either of our families they will always say “oh no, this is going to be on the blog isn’t it!”’

Fi said that although the blog was formed in October 2011, the daily blogging started in January 2012.

She added: ‘It has been really popular so far and we have had a lot of response from people and gained a lot of followers. Lucy and I first met through Ten Tors training and then ended up both getting jobs teaching in the same school. We started walking together socially and because we had such a silly fun time, we threw around the idea of writing a book but thought it would take a lot of time and effort – so my husband suggested starting a blog!

‘At the moment I do more of the writing on the blog and Lucy does a lot of the organising of expeditions – it is mostly just whoever comes up with an idea will write about it.’

As well as promoting the outdoors activities in their spare time, Fi and Lucy are also involved in training their students for the Duke of Edinburgh Award (DofE) and Ten Tors.

Fi said: ‘Lucy is DofE award manager and I am a leader – we don’t manage Ten Tors though. We have both worked very hard to build up DofE and Ten Tors in school – when we started not many students applied but it is very popular now. I think the students and parents both value what we do. We are all about encouraging people to get out on Dartmoor and it’s not unusual to get students who have never been to Dartmoor – sometimes people are a bit worried about going off the beaten track!

‘Dartmoor is a fascinating place – you don’t have to walk very far to feel like you are in the middle of nowhere. The history on Dartmoor is outstanding – the land has been occupied throughout history so you can find huts, old tin workings and all kinds of historic buildings. It is a very peaceful place.

‘My favourite places on Dartmoor — well one I can’t tell you about because I like to keep the location secret; the other is Three Barrows, south or the moor near Shipley Bridge – it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.’

Lucy added: ‘I particularly love Dartmoor when it is raining and windy. It is a place that is both challenging and peaceful.

‘Blonde Two and I love to escape to the moor after school on a winter’s evening. We sit on our favourite rock and watch the sun set while we put the world to rights.’

Fi said that the Two Blondes call their work a ‘jobby’.

She added: ‘At the moment we call what we do a jobby because it’s not a job and it’s not a hobby.

‘I don’t feel we have enough experience to have an opinion on things like rewilding but I do think there has to be a balance between stakeholders. The land has been managed well by hill farmers for a long time because of people listening to each other – on a personal note I wouldn’t like to be wild camping and unzip my tent to find a wolf staring back at me.’

Fi said that she and Lucy stumbled across the name ‘Two Blondes’ while walking socially together.

She added: ‘We initially named our blog Two Blondes Walking because we wanted to keep it anonymous, particularly as we both work in a school but we found out that wasn’t possible.

‘When we would go out walking together we would just giggle and be silly quite often and say “you are so blonde” to each other – which is quite funny because I was brunette at the time – I am blonde now though!

‘We both get very excited when we get girls outside alongside the lads, especially when some of the girls are at a disadvantage compared to the boys but it’s good to see they have the guts to get out there – we are thrilled to see it. But our favourite teams are the mixed ones, with boys and girls working together.’

The Two Blondes’ latest project, organised by OS, is a campaign in which 15 people were chosen for their ability to communicate their love for being outside — it includes journalists, bloggers and authors, who all write about their adventures in Britain.

Fi said: ‘What happened was that someone wrote to us on Twitter and said “I have seen this competition and I think you should apply.” OS were looking for people who love the outdoors and they wanted people from all over the UK.

‘It has just kicked off and we recently did a publicity day in London. There are 15 champions and they are all kinds of people, some are cyclists, reporters, there is a whole family and a swimmer. It is nice because they are all normal people. The idea is to write as much as we can about the outdoors and get the message across.’

Alongside their current projects, Fi said she hopes they will be able to have released a third children’s book by the summer.

She added: ‘We have written two children’s books so far and really hope to get a third out soon – it is really tricky to manage our time and both of our calendars are always full.

‘We would love to see our blonde empire expand! As well as the children’s books we have also talked about writing a blonde guide to Dartmoor of things we have done and exciting facts.

‘We have also looked into having products for sale too but that is far in the future. We would love to write an adults book and have spoken about writing a guide to wild camping. We think wild camping is great and is another unique thing that Dartmoor has to offer.’

Lucy added: ‘I am looking forward to doing my DofE Diamond Challenge to help celebrate the DofE’s 60th birthday. Our Silver expedition will be on Dartmoor over three days and nights. All DofE expeditions have to have an aim and ours will be to write a book of guided walks on Dartmoor. This is a big challenge, but one that is based on numerous requests. The year ahead will be very busy: perhaps more than usual! As well as being OS champions, we will be doing three expeditions — several with young people — launching a children’s book and hopefully writing our guided walks book.’

For more details about the Two Blondes, visit their website www.twoblondeswalking.com