ANY lover of Dartmoor who also enjoys time in the virtual world of the Twittersphere cannot have failed to come across Two Blondes Walking.

For the uninitiated, this is the name a pair of contributors to the online community have given themselves and whose love of the moor is apparent in every word they write.

They blog about their walks as well as the trials and tribulations of being blonde.

This is how they describe their perfect outing.

'The day starts at Foxtor Cafe in Princetown for breakfast, route planning and people watching.

'Our walking route usually involves tricky map and compass navigation and interesting targets.  

'We like paths at the end of the day and more adventurous routes at the start. All of our days have a Dartmoor bog in them somewhere.  

'A picnic lunch is almost always accompanied by an amazing view across Devon and we usually have a flask of something hot for 'emergency' stops.

'Jellybabies are in plentiful supply to keep the sugar and chat levels up.'

Until now the pair's identities have been kept a secret from most of their 2,300 followers but the publication of their first book, The Dartmoor Christmas Tree, means a foray into the limelight.

It turns out that Lucy Atkins from Newton Abbot and Fi Darby of Torquay, both teachers and married mums, have known each other for eight years.

Their friendship blossomed through a shared love of training youngsters for the Ten Tors Challenge and Duke of Edinburgh Awards.

They began blogging three years ago.

'We have so much fun walking together and someone suggested we wrote a book about it but we thought blogging would be easier to manage,' said Fi.

'We're a bit dippy at times too so we thought we'd call ourselves Two Blondes Walking and besides, Lucy is a natural blonde and I've become one too.'

Their book is an illustrated children's story about a happy if solitary moorland tree whose life enters a dark phase courtesy of a visiting buzzard.

The bird brings news from afar causing Tree to doubt his value to the world.

Is there a happy ending?

That's for you to find out courtesy of one of the three copies the Times has to give away.

Suffice to say, it is a sweet little read and would make a charming last-minute Christmas present with some genuine local provenance.

The Dartmoor Christmas Tree is published by twoblondeswalking.com at £6.99.

Its launch took place last month at the Dartmoor National Park Authority Visitor Centre, Princetown.

l Free copies of the new book will be awarded to the first three people to email the Times at [email protected]">[email protected] using the title of their email 'The Dartmoor Christmas Tree'.

Please remember to include your name, address and a daytime telephone number. The book can be posted to winners — but bear in mind Christmas posting dates if you intend giving it as a present.