Always up for a challenge!

After escaping Dartmoor for a while, WITC, amongst others, have just returned from completing the national Three Peaks Challenge. The mission was to reach the summits of Scotland's, England's and Wales' highest mountains in the quickest time possible without breaking speed limits!

For those who need the reminder - the three peaks are Ben Nevis (1344 metres), Scafell Pike (978 metres) and Snowdon (1085 metres). In total, thats about 10000 feet of ascent.

Of course, the mountains are only half the story. There is 23 miles of walking, some walking and navigating at night, bad (foggy, windy, damp) weather, tricky river crossings (Dartmoor prepares you for these!) not to mention the 500 miles of driving between car parks.

Nothing can prepare you for the lack of sleep, the hurting and hunger that kicks in on these little 6 hour road journeys.

Its a Challenge alright.

Four began the challenge. Three completed it, with one forced to withdraw through injury. Scafell Pike was by far the toughest, with the wettest feet, roughest terrain and requiring most navigation. Though Ben Nevis took longer than any of us predicted. We even broke into a jog on the descent of Snowdon to ensure we achieved a sub 27 hour time!

Total time taken: 26 hours and 57 minutes.

Total money raised for charities Macmillan Cancer Care and Teenage Cancer Trust: £1500

Images from top: Scafell Pike summit; Looking down on Glen Nevis; Early morning ascent of Lingmell en route to Scafell Pike; High river level on slopes of Snowdon.

Rough and tough

It was noted from the forum of Dartmoorletterboxing.org that one contributor was struggling to find letterboxes on Ger Tor. It was with this in our minds that we set out into Tavy Cleave to discover the truth.

Tavy Cleave is a unique area on the Moor. Here the slopes are steeper, the terrain is harder, the river runs faster, the vegetation is thicker. Its as close to 'mountainous' as Dartmoor could possibly claim. Though the West Okement Valley is a close second.

We can confirm that there are letterboxes on Ger Tor! Sure, there aren't many, and you stumble across them easily. The moss, and general greenery benefits from the South facing slope, so it runs rampant in the sunshine and rain. This made for an interesting traverse of the slope as we headed upstream towards Tavy Cleave Tors. Surely someone can come up with a better name for these outcrops. They don't feature on the map, and yet these impressive granite outposts deserve a good name. The path to the Rattlebrook was easier to navigate and as the valley leveled out, we could enjoy more success letterboxing in and around Watern Oke and the upper Tavy.

We turned around at Little Kneeset and returned via a higher path, passing Dead Lake and beneath Hare Tor before descending to Ger Tor's summit (and useful hut, see picture) to shelter from a rain shower.

A grand day out, with 27 boxes found in just under 14 miles. Perfect training for our next adventure...

Yellowmead Farm

Yellowmead Farm looks like it is undergoing a major overhaul. Since going up for sale in April 2009, it's subsequent purchase and renovation works have caught the attention of the National Park Authority and of the authors of dartmooronline.co.uk.

The new owners have dug a service trench alongside the farm track leading from the B3357 Two Bridges to Tavistock road. This was dug without permission and has left a lot of boulders displaced.

Dartmooronline.co.uk reports that restoration work of the land surface has been agreed after negotiations between land owner and the DNPA. Our photo suggests that the yellow in the farm is a mere facade, The entire property which at time of sale "required complete renovation", is retaining most of it's external walls for now at least...

The Widecombe way

WITC was up on Rowden and Wind Tor recently, enjoying the sunshine. We've tended to see the area has always been seen as a bit of a letterboxing backwater, with boxes frequently missing and within earshot of the sunbathing car drivers on the road verges below.

We were pleasantly surprised to find almost all boxes on site and several unexpected finds too. On the slopes of Wind Tor we were also afforded a grand view into the East Webbern valley. Here are found many hamlets, farmsteads and the quaint village of Widecombe-in-the-Moor. A popular tourist destination, with a particular big draw being The Cathedral of the Moor, also known as St Pancras church (pictured), which is the unusually large church for such a small village. We did not take the chance to check out if the church's own letterbox is still on site! Apparently it is located in the South Transept.

We did return home with 8.94 more miles (thanks GPS!) under our belts and 29 boxes found.

A new addition

At long last, WITC took the plunge and purchased a new GPS. A brand new shiny Garmin Dakota 10. Sure, there are bigger and better things out there, with mapping and stuff, but this is more than adequate for us, and it was a bargain £90 on eBay.

Out on it's inaugural walk (above), and we are really very impressed. Clear display, good battery life, accurate and good satelite locks. Recommend.

More boundaries

WITC took a recent stroll up to Haytor Down, Black Down and Holwell Tor. It is another area more frequented by dog walkers and day trippers than letterboxers. Its a walk with a contrast of ankle breaking scree slopes and big quarry drops, and large expanses of gorse and heather, criss crossed with a myriad of sheep tracks.

Set amongst the vegetation, hiding from immediate view, is a long line of boundary stones bearing inscriptions and the letters DS. These letters stand for the Duke of Somerset, and marked the boundary of the 11th Duke's estate.

Our walk took us from the top of the ridge to the walls of Yarner Wood, and we appreciated the shelter of the trees here when the heavy rain showers rolled in. We had chosen this route carefully to avoid the really busy, hot and sunny days, but hadn't planned on having to dodge rain as well as the crowds. The views between the showers are stunning looking East over Devon, and West towards the a particularly dramatic area of Dartmoor, with many iconic tor outlines, and tight valleys.

Most of the Boundstones on Haytor Down were erected on the Duke's instructions in the 1850s, and are interspersed with older stones and landmarks. They are generally named or inscribed with 'DS 1854', and can be seen all around Eastern Dartmoor. Here we see Owlacombe Burrow, Prince Albert, Victoria and Old Jack. Blue Jug and Grey Wethers on Hameldown are art of the same set of stones. The home to the Duke of Somerset was then Natsworthy Manor, a sprawling house North of Widecombe which is now a Buddhist retreat. Berry Pomeroy Castle in the South Hams is how one of the Duke's estates, though the current Duke lives closer to London.

We finished on our day with impressive haul of 23 stamps, including some long undiscovered boxes.

Down, but not out

Contrary to popular belief, we are still letterboxing. We are just finding the fickle weather itself, a Challenger.

This weekend, our walk took us out to Down Ridge from Sherberton Farm, near Hexworthy.

As we trudged our way up towards Ter Hill, we turned to watch the fog and low cloud which has held up our routes of recent, suddenly lift, as though it were just waiting for us. The entire panorama revealed itself before us, from South Hessary to Rippon Tor. Even the sun came out, and in Deep Swincombe, the North Westerly wind wasn't in evidence. Forced to shed our waterproofs and warm head gear, it could almost have been Summer!

The whole route was no more than just 3 or 4 miles, after we chose the shorter letterbox walk instead of a planned longer trek 'up North'. On this walk, we discovered two first-in-books, which were particularly pleasing, and almost everything we searched for was on site and in good condition. If you believe some stories, we are bucking the trend by finding boxes unaffected by the letterbox thief.

However our good fortune didn't last beyond lunchtime when the fog rolled in again, the wind picked up and we were forced to return to the car. Unfortunately, despite the Bank Holiday weekend, Hexworthy's Forest Inn stuck rigidly to its regular opening (read: closing) hours, and for the um-teenth time, we missed out on collecting this Pub box...