The Forest

'Gaps in forest' and moor gates. LH and RH edges. Right up there with the TV mast is another vital man-made feature seemingly purpose built for bearings. Fernworthy Forest. It is a familiar part of the skyline for much of the northern and central moor. The dark shape and sweeping curves hugging the horizon.

On our most recent walk, whoisthechallenger found themselves up close and personal with the boundaries of the forest. Its not an area overwhelmed with letterboxes, but its a great area to explore - full of hidden corners.

Our route took us to the West and South of the forest above Teignhead Farm and across the South Teign River. Climbing to White Ridge and Assycombe Hill and descending to Hurston Ridge. To our right, the rolling, hazy landscape of moorland. To our left, a 40 foot high barrier of Spruce. On a day like today - with strong winds forecast - tall, dark green walls finally given texture, movement and noise.

Owned by the State funded Forestry Commission (for now at least...) The history of the Forestry Commision began some 16 miles away at Eggesford in North Devon where their first woodland was seeded in December 1919. Fernworthy was planted - as with many of the FC forests - shortly after World War 1. After the war, timber stocks were so depleted and demand so high that the commission was given a great deal of freedom to acquire and plant trees under the Forestry Act.

A wander around the coniferous forest at Fernworthy seems to support the idea that the Foresters and Foremen were determined and ruthless people. Ancient artifacts, farmsteads and River valleys were not going to stop them. They have always had their critics, but the recent discussions about selling off forests to the private sector has reminded a lot of people about how much we treasure these wooded areas.

Image source: http://www.richkni.co.uk/dartmoor/whitehorse.htm

Grey Links

On our most recent walk, WITC headed back out into familiar North West territory. Great Links Tor, Rattlebrook Hill and Bleak House were our primary objectives.

The weather itself seemed perfectly greyscale. The showers arrived late in the day, and brought a swift conclusion to proceedings. WITC's eternal, end-of-the-day mantra of' 'just one more box' was still repeated and duly ignored.

Our route passed South of Brat Tor and up to Rattlebrook Hill flagpole. WITC passed by here once before a long time ago en-route to a wild camp at Fur Tor.

Descending to the Rattle Brook and the ruins of Bleak House aka Dunnagoat Cottage, we were a bit surprised to see walls still standing! This after reading a few years back about significant collapses and 'days numbered' for Dartmoor's ruins.

The house was a home to the manager of the West of England Compressed Peat Company. A branch off the London and South West Railway from Bridestowe wound its way up here. It must have been an astonishing investment of labour and money, and for little reward. The industry was very short lived, and despite several attempts to restart operations, was doomed to fail. Only when the Rattlebrook tramline closed in 1931, and British Army destroyed the

dangerously unstable remains of the Works in the 1960s did Mother Nature firmly regain her grip.

It looked like our success was about to be cut short too. We had made it to Hunt Tor before the rains came, and we hastily retreated back to the car. A pleasing day though: 5 miles and 17 boxes found.

Image source: http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM6TT8_Bleak_House_West_Dartmoor_Devon_UK

Save Castle Drogo

As Englands 'newest' castle, it is a fascinating place and an iconic and important location for Dartmoor. Castle Drogo even has a few letterboxes to its credit. However a new fundraising campaign has stated "Help or its game over".

With this in mind, WITC thought we should lend our support to the National Trust's campaign to save Castle Drogo in its latest battle for survival. If you have missed the news, Edwin Lutyen's building is in danger due to its flat roofed construction and poor state of repair. The windows, pointing and roof are leaking and it will require a super-human effort and a lot of fundraising to make it good again.

On Friday February 11th, a public appeal began with the intention of raising £1.5million as part of a larger sum required to make permanent repairs and save Castle Drogo forever. Please check out the support website:

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-trust/w-support/w-donations/w-appeals_and_campaigns/w-donate-castledrogo.htm

The future of Dartmoor letterboxing

Welcome to the fortune teller! Come in, and gaze into the crystal ball... This is the future of letterboxing...

It will begin with a makeover - as most things do. Adopting initials like DLB (Dartmoor Letter Boxing) will make it seem fresh and inviting. The 100 club will go online. Your unique membership number will grant you access to online cluesheets and catalogue. Meets will be more frequent and more local. With more online communication, unmaintained boxes will be harder to forgive. With more local meets, the word of mouth clue scene will blossom. The younger generation will adopt letterboxing. Geocaching will be kept at bay again. 10 figure grid references will vanish so to banish the LBT (letterbox thief). Stamping up and posting on postcards make a comeback in honour of James Perrott and the pioneering days of letterboxing...

Is all this impossible? I don't think so. I've seen the future. Its LBNA (Letterboxing North America). Since our hobby transferred to the New World some 13 years ago, it might have experienced a few amendments and alterations (Not many bearings here!), but I think we can learn a lot from them. WITC has yet to try American letterboxing, but are due to visit the the USA and attempt it later this year!

Stamps... and stamps

Stamp collecting! It's something that WITC always avoids comparisons with when describing Letterboxing.

However, then WITC searched Taw Marsh on the internet whilst researching another post. Taw Marsh was one of the first Dartmoor Letterboxes sited and low and behold, a copy of its stamp was up for sale. For £1.

Also on sale was another envelope with many other original Dartmoor Letterbox stamps printed upon it. Since the postmark is from the late 1970s, this is a piece of Dartmoor heritage. It should not be for sale for £1.75 simply for the value of its Silver Jubilee postage stamp.

Perhaps you saw these items on a well known Stamp Collector's shopping website too.

Please don't misunderstand me. We are not intending to claim these stamps as found on the moor. They are reclaimed for the world of Dartmoor Letterboxing. Rescued from worlds in which they do not belong. Grants Pot, Ducks Pool, Crow Tor... inky words on paper which would have little relevance in households not involved in our little hobby. Here they have meaning and a presence that is worth more than a thousand other finds.

The Queens head in the corner has kept them safe for decades, but it is whats on the envelopes that will ensure their survival now.

No. Dartmoor Letterboxing is nothing like stamp collecting.

Vixen Tor and other restrictions

Hmmm... WITC are reconsidering their Tor owning ambitions (see post 18th October 2010).

Vixen Tor continues to make the news. Access to this peak was closed to walkers in 2003. The owners decided that if they can own a Tor that it was too dangerous for walkers and climbers to visit it. Prior to 2003, paths were open to the public for decades and evidence suggests that historic rights of way passed the tor. Citing insurance reasons, barbed wire and keep out signs now surround the spectacular rock pile.

Attempts made by UN negotiator Colonel Bob Stewart, a Channel 5 documentary, the British Mountaineering Council, several mass tresspasses and Dartmoor National Park all failed to resolve the matter. Devon County Council's recommendation to allow public access to the Tor was successfully appealed by the owner. Then the Planning Inspectorate began a public inquiry into the issue. First the inquiry ran out of time to hear all the evidence, then the resumption of the hearing was cancelled due to December's adverse weather. News broke last week that yet another new date for the continued hearing has been scheduled for July 2011.

This made us think of Dave Bellamy's brazenly cheerful "accessing" activity on his web-page: http://www.davebellamy.co.uk/Views/tors_with_restricted_access.asp. Lets hope that July brings a successful conclusion to Vixana's sorry saga, and that we can finally lawfully hike to Vixen Tor, eh Dave?

Out with the old?

Thanks to a bout of sickness, excess Wintry weather, and other commitments, WITC has been anywhere but Dartmoor recently.

We did squeeze out on a walk recently from Pork Hill. Up to the Staple Tors and Roos Tor returning via Merrivale Quarry. It is an area of the Moor which is ever so familiar to us. For this reason we have a strange not-so-pleasant relationship with it. A kind of novelty-worn-off-long-ago, unexciting kind of familiarity that makes us kind of ashamed and embarrassed to admit it. There are many places on Dartmoor we have prefer to visit, are yet to visit, with hidden corners to search and distant peat banks to prod. Suffice to say, it has been a long time since we enjoyed the Staple Tors.

Perhaps we are being little harsh on the Walkham valley. WITC have maybe overdone it, BUT the views here are tremendous looking both East and West, and the local hostelry is excellent. In the curious Sett Makers Bankers, there no shortage of unique antiquities. The going is comparatively easy and you never come off the moor disappointed by the quantity of boxes found (though quality can be an issue sometimes, perhaps??)

We also were dismayed to see a Geocache hidden in a Sett Makers Banker. No, we didn't remove it., but thats a whole different discussion.

Our route ended with a well earned drink at the Dartmoor Inn. 23 boxes found.