bog_baby
2012-03-21 20:45:37
Are you a scavenger, follow the clue book avidly, rely on WOM clues, do charity walks, combine letterboxing with geocaching or just go for a walk and if you happen to fall over one you might have a look.....or a combination of the above? Is your way the best way :D
We are pretty rubbish scavengers at the moment, have the clue book but no GPS (well apart from on a tablet) the kids have no patience with us trying to use a compass (badly). There is also an urgency to get to the highest point......not ideal for letterboxing. I really enjoying the gorgeous Dartmoor landscape though, the kids are kept happy looking for letterboxes and we don't worry too much if they turn up the 5th dolphin of the day. All in all we don't take it too seriously but it keeps us all happy and hopefully as the kids get older we'll all get better at it.......
brinbunny
2012-03-22 22:15:38
We are combo boxers (sounds like a thing from KFC!!!!)
I have a GPS, which is great for charity walks and when looking for quantity (I want to get to 300 by sunday!!!!) I also like it that I can see how far I have walked and at what speed
I have the clue book, DS loves using his compass and I love the fact I can cross them off in the book, it is also a real achievment to get a box with no grid reference.
Due to the amount of boxes that are not in the book and just for the sheer fun of it I do love to stick my head under any 'pretty rock', it also poses a good reason to go slowly therefore I can hide the fact I am not as fit as a 14 yr old sport fan :P
So all of the above for us please - we do award points for registered boxes found without the GPS, and extra points for our favourite series (Lair seekers and Personalities)
Nik - KOTM
2012-03-23 18:36:34
Scavenger, not really... Wildcatting is more my style. I like to pick an area and randomly search it. I do carry a compass and a GPS the latter is for me to find my way back to the car or charity walks.
I prefer to find a point of historical interest and try to see if I can find any boxes reflecting that point.
bog_baby
2012-03-24 20:56:29
'Wildcat' - new name for an upmarket scavenger :D purrrrr
Nik - KOTM
2012-03-25 16:07:37
Scavenging is looking everywhere - Wildcatting is picking spots at random
I go for the walk mainly. I pick a part of the moors and plan the walk. Then go through the catalogue to see what boxes are around there (deviations off the walk are okay; I decide at the time if I want to go there or not). I tend to jot the clues onto a piece of paper, and to some extent memorise which parts of the walk have a box nearby. That way I'm not constantly looking at the map and/or clues (I memorise the walk itself too). Only when I'm in the area of a box do I check the clue.
I'm with KOTM though, I like letterboxes that are about some part of the Moor. I was out by the Nine Maidens today, but as far as I could tell there are no boxes about that now.
panomobile
2012-04-01 19:59:54
First and foremost, for me, letterboxing started as a way to exercise my dog in a more "interesting" way and to get us to places on Dartmoor we wouldn't otherwise go to. I probably wouldn't letterbox half as much if I didn't have a dog. But, in terms of what types of letterboxes I go for, it is mainly charity walks as they make a nice route to walk that doesn't involve taking lots of time to plot.
The Sly Fox
2012-04-02 22:09:04
If it is a charity walk then I will add known boxes to my list / route. However, I cannot resist going off track to search a suspicious looking area. The trouble is it does not always prove to be fruitful :)
bog_baby
2012-04-08 18:17:03
Charity walks seem to be quite popular and I think will be they way forward for us when we tire of just scavenging.
Do you need to be good with a compass to do the charity walks or can you rely on GPS?
I've found 3 nine maidens related boxes in the last year. All on Belstone common.
One I had a clue for , the others were come by chance.
The Sly Fox
2012-04-09 19:38:11
Being handy with a compass does help massively. However, the charity walks all have a 10 digit GR these days. You can literally walk up to the box with a GPS
bog_baby
2012-04-09 20:08:26
Thankyou Foxy......I will be good with a compass one day......
Nik - KOTM
2012-04-10 06:54:22
The GPS has been a bonus for the DLT's and at last the powers have agreed upon reverting back to the old 6 figure references, if you are clever enough a GPS will put you within about 50 metres of a box, but then reading a map correctly to the surrounding area will put you closer.
I am hoping that the novelty of GPS readings is starting to wear off as nothing annoys me more than boxes going missing from the walks.
Anyway a good compass will run indefinitely compared to a battery powered GPS