Frustrated Newbie

Hi
My girlfriend and I are new to letterboxing and have been out twice now - without sucess. I think we are either doing something wrong or the letterboxes we are looking for are missing.

We got some locations off the internet and from the 100 club clue book.

We have been near and close to Ventor Reservoir.

The boxes are Annie's Song, Beatae Memorae, Another Memorae and Boutnes Pit-B'rock.

We found a hole near Annies Song and I putmy arm all the way in and found nothing. We found a pile of rocks (look like an old slag heap) near memorae but no box.

I am using GPS and have found the locations are described by the clues but no box!

are the boxes in holes like an animal hole?

am I supposed to put my hand and arm in these holes?

Am I just in the wrong area and should look in a different area?

Thanks

Matt

Hi Matt

You won't find any boxes in natural animal holes as the rules dictate areas where animals are nesting, etc., must not be disturbed.

You would be best to try one of the more popular tors to start with, including Pew Tor area, the Staples, Haytor, etc. This will get you on the right road.

Look for obvious places to start with where you will see loose rocks out of place. You will then get a feel for it.

Good luck.

Tina

Hi Wandering, welcome to the site. As Tina said if you go to the right places and know what kind of thing to look for it will help big time! As an idea, take a peek at my web site, I've placed a small video on it of Dizzy Senior and myself finding letterboxes last week.

Dizzy

Thanks for the reply - I think we have been looking for the more harder letterboxes - the video was great - gives us an idea of what to look for.

I let you know how I get on.

Thanks

Matt

Hi welcome to the site. I hope you can get loads of info out of us - cos that is what we do - or try to do here - bounce ideas off each other and suggestions and we do try to help
I dont know if you have looked through the site properly yet - but there is loads of useful stuff on here and if you have any it would be appreciated

I must admit you certainly picked one of the hardest areas for finding boxes - it took me hours to find Annies Song when I went up there a couple of years ago, but I am not sure if there was a posting in one of the later updates saying it had gone missing

We have found that a high percentage are missing - largely we suspect because they just haven't been maintained by the owners, and then may have been discovered and removed or damaged by non-letterboxing members of the public. Pew Tor seems particularly bad for this.

Another factor of course is that boxes get taken in during the course of the year. Obtaining the regular updates then is important if you want to minimise any disappointment.

The upside is that you can often 'find' as many as you set out looking for. Some of these may have been on site for more than 5 years and are therefore no longer in the clue book. Others may just never have been registered.

We have known letterboxers who never use the clue book and just go out on a blind search of an area.

Cheers

Mark

Welcome to the site ZooKeeper - you sound like an experienced boxer - so there will be plenty you can comment on within the forum.

Welcome to the site Mark, good sound advice and very true.

Dizzy

Its funny - but since the introduction of removing boxes from the catalogue after being on the moor for 5 years more boxes have gone missing (stolen or destroyed) than ever, in some cases I think some of the owners take their boxes in without informing the 100 club

Which I believe in a curious way has led to the letterbox thief (thieves) being given a free hand to do what they like. OK the letterbox has no legal protection, but I do find it distasteful when the thief takes a box from a charity walk - the rate it is going at the moment it wont be financially viable for the organisers of said charity walks to put their boxes out as some of the stamps seem to go missing at a very early stage. Which leads me to think that the offender is getting the clues from somewhere.
I have also noticed that in the recent years the areas are being systematically cleared which makes me believe that this is not the work of just one person but an organised event.
It wouldn't surprise me if this had been done by an ex-letterboxer who after a lot of hard work collecting boxes and was denied their badges because they didn't have a list of stamps and the whole thing has disintegrated ito an obsession (maybe they are trying to collect 5000 boxes - stamp and all!) Who know - only the thieves do!

Perhaps technology can provide an answer here: wouldn't take too much to set up a battery-powered motion-sensitive camera, just camouflage it well else the thief would have that, too! I'd suggest a fake-rock shell made out of resin or similar.

Combined with regular inspections that'd help reveal who the thief is! I suppose it could be a bit like a cross between rogue traders and a speed camera. And because it'd be mobile, it can be moved periodically!

Agreed boxes enjoy no legal protection, but it isn't illegal to post a photo of somebody else on the Net, either, provided you do not use their name. And it certainly wouldn't be illegal to post the picture with a caption that reads: "Never share letterbox clues with this person", but not state a reason why.

Everybody will know who the thief (thieves?) is then!

To the box thief: Perhaps everybody will simply think I'm mad to have suggested this. But perhaps several people will think it's a great idea, only you won't know either way, unless your picture appears on a website one day. The question is are you now still prepared to continue ruining a fantastic hobby that -
a) contributes to the local economy
b) educates many people to take better care of the moor
c) offers healthy excercise to all
d) offers young people an alternative to becoming yobs