Jump to content

Caches on Dartmoor


treaclefudge

Recommended Posts

The sport of geocaching is derived from the activity of letterboxing on Dartmoor which was initiated in 1854.

Over the intervening years "letterboxers" have developed unwritten rules and tips about the siting of their boxes. They have found that boxes (caches) hidden near the tops of tors soon get stolen or vandalised. This is because these places act as targets to the casual walkers. Unfortunately there are groups of misguided people who think it is fun to destroy things that give others pleasure.

From a conservationist point of view, it is also more sensible to site a cache in a place were there is likely to be less wear and tear to the moorland, and away from any antiquity. There are certainly many thousands of suitable places on the moor!

Perhaps Geocachers should learn from these example when siting their caches.

 

treaclefudge (member of the Dartmoor 100 club and letterboxer for 25 years)

Link to comment
The sport of geocaching is derived from the activity of letterboxing on Dartmoor which was initiated in 1854.

Over the intervening years "letterboxers" have developed unwritten rules and tips about the siting of their boxes. They have found that boxes (caches) hidden near the tops of tors soon get stolen or vandalised. This is because these places act as targets to the casual walkers. Unfortunately there are groups of misguided people who think it is fun to destroy things that give others pleasure.

From a conservationist point of view, it is also more sensible to site a cache in a place were there is likely to be less wear and tear to the moorland, and away from any antiquity. There are certainly many thousands of suitable places on the moor!

Perhaps Geocachers should learn from these example when siting their caches.

 

treaclefudge (member of the Dartmoor 100 club and letterboxer for 25 years)

 

Hi treaclefudge,

 

not sure about letterboxers "unwritten" rules, if you look on the 100 club website you will find the code of conduct which most letterboxers (and geocachers) abide by.

 

I have found quite a few caches on Dartmoor and only one or two I felt were a bit suspect. If you have found any which you feel are sited inappropriately you should contact a reviewer who will sort it out.

 

I have also found a few letterboxes and without getting into a "us and them" conflict, I have to say I have found geocachers tend to be more sympathetic to the moor than many letterboxers, both in placing and searching for box/caches. There are good and bad on both sides but a quick note to a reviewer can get a bad cache archived very quickly while a bad letterbox stays in the catalogue for at least 6 months.

 

I hope you haven't come across any badly sited caches today, I had a found notification earlier today on one of my Dartmoor caches :ph34r:

 

spannerman (member of the Dartmoor 100 club and letterboxer for 20 years)

Link to comment

Welcome to this forum, treaclefudge.

 

When a geocacher submits a new geocache listing for review they are expected to follow the Cache Listing Requirements / Guidelines. In addition to this, here in UK, the Reviewers ask that cache setters also follow the Geocaching Association of Great Britain 'best practice' Guidelines and there you will see "3. No cache should be placed in such a way as to risk damage or disturbance to any Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) or Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM)."

 

If you are unhappy about the location of any geocache, in any respect, then you can bring it to the attention of one of the UK Reviewers by contacting them through their Profile.

 

MrsB :ph34r:

Link to comment

The sport of geocaching is derived from the activity of letterboxing on Dartmoor which was initiated in 1854.

 

Sorry to derail the conversation but this comment is incorrect. The concept of geocaching was created independent of any knowledge of letterboxing. It is, in essence, a sister activity - but more in the Luke and Leia sense of the word. Neither knew they were related until Darth Vader told them.

Link to comment

The sport of geocaching is derived from the activity of letterboxing on Dartmoor which was initiated in 1854.

Over the intervening years "letterboxers" have developed unwritten rules and tips about the siting of their boxes. They have found that boxes (caches) hidden near the tops of tors soon get stolen or vandalised. This is because these places act as targets to the casual walkers. Unfortunately there are groups of misguided people who think it is fun to destroy things that give others pleasure.

From a conservationist point of view, it is also more sensible to site a cache in a place were there is likely to be less wear and tear to the moorland, and away from any antiquity. There are certainly many thousands of suitable places on the moor!

Perhaps Geocachers should learn from these example when siting their caches.

 

treaclefudge (member of the Dartmoor 100 club and letterboxer for 25 years)

 

Not done much caching on Dartmoor, though from what I remember when looking for caches you tend to fall over multiple letterboxes within feet of them on the Tors. Pretty much hidden in the same way.

 

No big deal both can live quite happily together

Link to comment

The sport of geocaching is derived from the activity of letterboxing on Dartmoor which was initiated in 1854.

 

Sorry to derail the conversation but this comment is incorrect. The concept of geocaching was created independent of any knowledge of letterboxing. It is, in essence, a sister activity - but more in the Luke and Leia sense of the word. Neither knew they were related until Darth Vader told them.

 

Oh my word......he speaks!!! :ph34r:

Link to comment

The sport of geocaching is derived from the activity of letterboxing on Dartmoor which was initiated in 1854.

 

Sorry to derail the conversation but this comment is incorrect. The concept of geocaching was created independent of any knowledge of letterboxing. It is, in essence, a sister activity - but more in the Luke and Leia sense of the word. Neither knew they were related until Darth Vader told them.

 

Oh my word......he speaks!!! :ph34r:

Yup, and he talks sense :unsure::lol::P

Link to comment

There are (were) quite a few differences when I was a letterboxer, including deeply buried boxes (Cut Hill a speciality), lots and lots of 'word of mouth' boxes, some which haven't ever been found, and no rules about density, more skill in the 'cutting' of stamps, and a more interesting (gulp) history of letterboxing to name but a few.

What they do have in common is a great deal of fun and both compliment each other. I hope both live long and prosper.

 

I managed 3000 letterboxes and hope to pass this one day with caches.

Link to comment

Jeremy I seem to recall that you were very aware of letterboxing.

In fact was there not an attempt to take over letterboxing by you?

 

That's a very sweeping statement......

I think there was an American website involved - rather than "an attempt to take over letterboxing".

You make it sound like he was setting up www.breathing.com, and then taking over respiration for the World..... :rolleyes::(;)

Link to comment

"Some moves were immediately controversial. Early on, when geocaching was still smaller than the older hobby of Letterboxing, Irish made an attempt to absorb Letterboxing into the geocaching.com Web site. The move was resisted by other members of the gpsstash mailing list. Eventually, Irish gave up trying to take over Web services for Letterboxing. "

Sweeping statement? Think not.

Link to comment

"Some moves were immediately controversial. Early on, when geocaching was still smaller than the older hobby of Letterboxing, Irish made an attempt to absorb Letterboxing into the geocaching.com Web site. The move was resisted by other members of the gpsstash mailing list. Eventually, Irish gave up trying to take over Web services for Letterboxing. "

Sweeping statement? Think not.

 

I thought your point was this was before he was aware of Letterboxing before what has now become geocaching?

Link to comment

"Some moves were immediately controversial. Early on, when geocaching was still smaller than the older hobby of Letterboxing, Irish made an attempt to absorb Letterboxing into the geocaching.com Web site. The move was resisted by other members of the gpsstash mailing list. Eventually, Irish gave up trying to take over Web services for Letterboxing. "

Sweeping statement? Think not.

 

My mistake - I didn't realise there was a centralised website governing letterboxing.

Silly old me's just been doing it off my own back and word of mouth for the last 30 years.. D'oh. :rolleyes:

 

Edited to add - and I think the "Letterboxing" (with a capital L) was an informal website to do with letterboxing in the US........

Edited by keehotee
Link to comment

We started Letterboxing back in 1985, but, having moved, we could no longer get to Dartmoor easily and were thrilled to find Geocaching. I have personally seen both sides look down on the other and I just don't get it. There is plenty of room for both hobbies, although personally, I would not hide a chache on Dartmoor because of the vandalism.

 

Treacle what is your Letterboxing name? We use the same name for caching and letterboxing.

Link to comment

K-K

My letterbox stamp is a seahorse. I would have liked to use it for geocaching but apparently the name was already in use.

Further to this forum, I did not intend to start all the hassle about letterboxing v. geocaching, I too, think the two activities can run in paralell. My original statement about the origin of the sport came from something I read many years ago (on the letterboxing website, I think). It was written by someone who had started a "letterboxing" type of activity in a small area of the USA, around his home town. He claimed that he had first got the idea whilst on a trip to Dartmoor duing a visit to the UK. I assumed it all took off from that and subsequently spread through the world including the UK.

Link to comment

Scorhill Circle GC12JQZ and Buttern Hill GC12JQT

A couple of others that are not actually on the moor but are well worth a look are the two on Bovey Tracey Heath GC19XQA and GCPQ4W.

There is also Ivy Tor GCBC1D, Esses Ten 7's GC13KJ7 and this one GC12GT6 although it can be a litle boggy if the weather is wet.

Link to comment

Not wishing to get into Geocache/Letterboxing politics........anyone recommend any caches on the moor?

 

The High Chair is one my most enjoyable Dartmoor caches from recent months.

 

There are lots of caches around Meldon Reservoir that make a nice walk, and any remote caches in the middle of the moor (Cut Hill, Fur Tor) give you the proper "Dartmoor" experience.

 

If you want to do any more extreme caches there are quite a few that are best suited to cachers wearing waders and head torches which are great fun!

Link to comment

Was a little awkward the day we went there as a group of druid types were sat around the circle. We tried to hang around and one came over and said "hi, if you are here to do some letterboxong or caching don't mind us as one of our friends is out there hunting now." SO we discreetly found the Scorhill cache and left for Buttern Hill.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...