First One hundred

Hooray
Today we reached our first hundred on Pil Tor, nothing to most of you whom I am full of admiration. With your thousands, but its still a great feeling. A lovely day out , cold and windy, and not many people about once you get away from the honeypot of Haytor. Never tried there for letter box's as its always too busy.
Anyway roll on the excitement of the next 100 or so.

Arthur and Lyn and Millie the dog to

Congratulations to you both - the first 100 is always the most difficult. Don't forget to enrol in the 100club and get your badges.

Yes
We intend to, and a tag for Millie the dog.

The first 100 gave me more of an achievement only because it get easier after that.
Congratulations on your first badge and welcome to the 100 club

Many thanks for that, does it really get easier? We are grappling with bearings and find it all really hard. But we are really enjoying our new outdoor activity. Just imagine, up until last June we were living in the deep southy of France and had never heard of letterboxing.

Bet you wish you were back in the South of France, Weather wise!!. If you are struggling with the bearings have you got the right compass There is a difference - the hand held basic Silva Expdition 4 is for use on maps and walking in a peticular direction. BUT you need a 'sighting' compass to match up bearings in the letterbox world. Most boxers use the Sylva Exp 54. This looks the same as the 4 but has a sighting prism on the top. You then line up the bearings more easily. There are other makes, but you really need the sighting compass. When you really get into it a GPS device is very handy as well. You just log in the ghrid numbers and off you go. Check out the other threads on 'Beginning Letterboxing' for more useful hints. Also at the end of March there will be the Letterbox Meet where you can get your badges and also buy lots of charity walks which will help you brush up your skills. All these walk boxes have numbers and count towards your totals. Anything else we can help you with - just ask!

To be honest, we don't wish we were back in France. We lived in a village house which was very cold in the winter, and baking hot in the summer, so hot you couldn't actually do anything, even the dog who is hyper collapsed in a heap, you could go to the beach if you could get parked within 5 miles of it, and then it was so crowded you would be lucky to find a handerchief sized piece of sand to sit on. Give me Britain any day. Thanks for the information about the sighting compass, we have a very old GPS which we think ( fingers crossed) we now have the hang of, we will find out when,weather permitting we take a trip to Yar Tor on Thursday or Friday.

Hi there thought you might like to know there is still a Christmas walk out over on Yar and then to Corndon. They came out on an update. pm me if you would like the clues.

Thanks have pm'd you.

A big well done to Teignmouth trampers on your 1st 100. A great effort. If you are going to the Spring meet, I will have my traveller "Dartmoor Challenger" that has not been out and about since 1995.

Yes we are definetly going, a bit apprehensive with all the veterens but we will go. I am intrigued by your Dartmoor4 Challenger, what exactly is it?

Another way to hit your next target of 200 is the inclusion of "traveller" stamps. These are not left on the moor but travel with an individual whilst they are out boxing themselves, or you will find these sometimes at the meet. Thus making some registered ones very hard to come by. The one I carry with me is named "Dartmoor challenger"

Ahhh... so YOU Is The Challenger...

Yes I am,

Thanks

So with these travelling box's you have to go up to people on the moor and ask if they are carrying one, is that how it works?
Most walkers would probably think I was mad.
'eh, hallo, you don't know me,but are you carrying a travelling letterbox?'
Sorry, its just something we will have to get used to, thanks for the tip.

- I think firstly you must make sure they are fellow letterboxers !!! If they are, they will totally understand what you are asking. I also carry travellers (3) and when asked let people take copies. If I meet anyone on the moors and enter into a conversation with them, invariably halfway through they will ask if I have a Traveller. I don't normally ask as I have got quite a few boxes, but if someone offered me a Traveller, then I would gladly exchange with mine.

Yes
I see that,but often its just ships that pass in the night, with a good morning. Gosh when you move about you must have a big rucksac, ours are big enough with just carrying lunch etc. I can see we will have to get a traveller,and a bigger rucksac. If any of you see a decrepit couple on the moors with two Jack Russells ( until the end of Feb, when one goes back to its owners returning from the Antipodes) that will be us.

you got it teignmouth trampers, its a great way to meet new friends who share our great pastime.

Thanks for everyones help, letterboxers seem such a friendly bunch.
We are looking forward to meeting some of you on the moor.

Really
I suppose we have still to look forward to gaining all the stamps up to a thousand, and then on from there.

Well it was for me anyway.
Getting the 1,000 was fantastic, but finding 100 with no clues was brilliant. And joining the 100 Club felt special. When reaching the 200, 500 and 1,000 milestones you are already a member so maybe that took some shine off it a little.
The highlight for me was getting a handwritten conratulations from Godfrey along with my badge. Oh, and being able to purchase a catalogue

teignmouth trampers wrote:Many thanks for that, does it really get easier? We are grappling with bearings and find it all really hard. But we are really enjoying our new outdoor activity. Just imagine, up until last June we were living in the deep southy of France and had never heard of letterboxing.

It really does get easier as you recognise how boxes are hidden and the way some owners hide their boxes

The real difficulty we find is the navigation, you know 120degrees the white house, 15 degrees main stack etc, etc that is hard, at the moment I am busy reding a book on map reading and navigation, thye last time I did that was in the scouts about (ahem, ahem) 15 years or so ago!!!!

Having met a very kind couple on Callington Down today who are very experienced letterboxers we realised that basically we had the wrong kind of compass, now I know what a sighting compass is and how to use it. All I need is to find the £50+ to buy one!!! Well it is a one of so well worth it.