Returning to the moor
Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2020 9:11 am
Hi all,
Back in the last century (the 90s!) my father an I were keen letterboxers travelling to Dartmoor from Somerset every weekend (weather permitting). We were know as Frog & Toad, you may recall us, if you were boxing back then, from the meets when they were at Princetown, we'd sit down with a new Frog or Toad themed 'pun' stamp, things like 'Toad Away' - car begin towed etc and we had about 50 WoM boxes on the moor with a small networks of contacts to swap clues e.g. 'Stake Man'
I went off to Uni and we stopped or visits but I have a family of my own now and the time has come to return to the fold. The 100 club still has my details and I've been able to by the latest 2020 clues but there are notably less clues than back in the day (when they had to take travellers out the catalogue) but I assume this is because of the growing trend toward WoM and the reaction to the letterbox thief
I had a few questions to help me get restarted:
1) Where are the areas we can't site boxes, it was Birch Tor in my day but I've seen mention of newtakes?
2) What is the 5 year rule for the catalogue, do they get removed after 5 years but might still be out on the moor?
3) Obviously the GeoCaching world has appeared, do 'hybrid' boxes with stamps count as letterboxes in your opinion?
4) Has anyone managed to improve boxing and planning walks with technology, I see mention of Mike Halliday computerising the catalogue and an improved process from Colin Masters but I can find no trace on the web to download these tools - what do people use today? Are there databases, programmes, GPS things, Memory Maps with just the catalogue clues that can be shared?
5) Any current recommendations for getting stamps made up by the sheet?
I'm planning to get the kids involved in August this year and site a memorial box for my father (old Toad) near High Willhays, any help would be appreciated
Rich
(formerly Frog - new personal stamp identity currently undergoing the wife's design review )
Back in the last century (the 90s!) my father an I were keen letterboxers travelling to Dartmoor from Somerset every weekend (weather permitting). We were know as Frog & Toad, you may recall us, if you were boxing back then, from the meets when they were at Princetown, we'd sit down with a new Frog or Toad themed 'pun' stamp, things like 'Toad Away' - car begin towed etc and we had about 50 WoM boxes on the moor with a small networks of contacts to swap clues e.g. 'Stake Man'
I went off to Uni and we stopped or visits but I have a family of my own now and the time has come to return to the fold. The 100 club still has my details and I've been able to by the latest 2020 clues but there are notably less clues than back in the day (when they had to take travellers out the catalogue) but I assume this is because of the growing trend toward WoM and the reaction to the letterbox thief
I had a few questions to help me get restarted:
1) Where are the areas we can't site boxes, it was Birch Tor in my day but I've seen mention of newtakes?
2) What is the 5 year rule for the catalogue, do they get removed after 5 years but might still be out on the moor?
3) Obviously the GeoCaching world has appeared, do 'hybrid' boxes with stamps count as letterboxes in your opinion?
4) Has anyone managed to improve boxing and planning walks with technology, I see mention of Mike Halliday computerising the catalogue and an improved process from Colin Masters but I can find no trace on the web to download these tools - what do people use today? Are there databases, programmes, GPS things, Memory Maps with just the catalogue clues that can be shared?
5) Any current recommendations for getting stamps made up by the sheet?
I'm planning to get the kids involved in August this year and site a memorial box for my father (old Toad) near High Willhays, any help would be appreciated
Rich
(formerly Frog - new personal stamp identity currently undergoing the wife's design review )