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| Lone skyward pointing rock 000° |
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| Cow in line with trees 200° |
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| Rock that looks like honeycomb filled acorn hat on it's side 300° |
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| Gate not in wall 100° |
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| Isolated stile 360° |
I love a challenge, but as I sit here, planning my next walk, my mind has drifted to the tricky letterbox clues. The bearings of 132.25 degrees, the 'tucked back and to left' sites, the visible, and 'not-quite-visible' '2nd highest holly'. The 'logan-type', 'Africa-shaped' rocks. The catalogue is chocked full with imaginatively descriptive and more unconventional clues.
A genuine clue taken from the catalogue a few years back reads, in it's entirety: "FREEDOM ??? ??? On a knife edge. Check out an old site." We're all in favour of getting back to basics, without GPS and all, but give us a clue!
If we face a future without GPS to assist us (or at least the 10 figure grid references), decent bearings will make all the difference. Wherever possible, siting a letterbox on a calm day helps. For when a clues states "(Windy)" at the end, its very hard to know how to act on the moor. You can either only search on a similarly windy day yourself, or, perhaps, stand on one leg, or shake violently whilst taking bearings - attempting to replicate the owner's experience.
Other terms I suggest banning from clues include "Irregular shaped boulder" - which suggests that other rocks are formed neatly by something other than nature. "Lichen covered" - As this fails to narrow down any search on Dartmoor, which, by and large, is entirely lichen covered. And finally, anything ending in "-ish". Roundish, for example. Leftish, rightish, smallish, pointyish. If it be described - don't describe it!
Rant over. Back to my walk planning. I'm hoping to be back on the moor in mid May.
A genuine clue taken from the catalogue a few years back reads, in it's entirety: "FREEDOM ??? ??? On a knife edge. Check out an old site." We're all in favour of getting back to basics, without GPS and all, but give us a clue!
If we face a future without GPS to assist us (or at least the 10 figure grid references), decent bearings will make all the difference. Wherever possible, siting a letterbox on a calm day helps. For when a clues states "(Windy)" at the end, its very hard to know how to act on the moor. You can either only search on a similarly windy day yourself, or, perhaps, stand on one leg, or shake violently whilst taking bearings - attempting to replicate the owner's experience.
Other terms I suggest banning from clues include "Irregular shaped boulder" - which suggests that other rocks are formed neatly by something other than nature. "Lichen covered" - As this fails to narrow down any search on Dartmoor, which, by and large, is entirely lichen covered. And finally, anything ending in "-ish". Roundish, for example. Leftish, rightish, smallish, pointyish. If it be described - don't describe it!
Rant over. Back to my walk planning. I'm hoping to be back on the moor in mid May.
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