Lake District Letterboxing

Doing some letterboxing much further afield up in the lake district. Not as many as on Dartmoor, but still a good number so wherever you are in the Lake you should be able to find some. Most of the boxes in the lakes can be found on Ian Kilpatricks webpage which is linked to on the right hand column.

Found 3 of the 4 I was looking for on the Fairfield Horseshoe, the one missed was because we weren't paying attention as we walked round and went too far to be able to head back to find it. Some very nice stamps though so well worth the climb and walk around. The scenery is pretty impressive too.

Also went looking for some stamps in the Scarfell/Scarfell Pike area. Managed to find one there, time constraints preventing the other two being found. Was nice to find a book that many hadn't found before me because of it's remote location. Was either 4^th or 5^th in the book which is easily the nearest to the front of a book that I've ever been and the previous find was over 3 years ago! As I said, it's a remote location!

Only one more was found during the break. The day we went to Conniston was so cloudy the clues were meaningless and the bearings even less useful. However a nice one was found near Jacks Rake. Difficult to get to, again only about the 3th in the book, and suspect it won't be found again for a little while. Slid some of the way down the slope after getting the stamp. Probably the hardest of the lake district finds given it's location and difficulty in terms of finding somewhere to put everything while I recorded all the details.

The clues for the ones I found at below.

LAKE DISTRICT-HIGH SWEDEN BRIDGE-IG,NY.37729.06687, OS Landranger Sheet 90. From High Sweden Bridge walk W up path to a stile over a wall. Now go 44p 270° to large boulder with a large split in it. Now go 22p 328° to a large rock at the end of a wall. Box is behind stones under smaller rock to the left of the large rock.

LAKE DISTRICT-HIGH PIKE-IG,NY.374.089, OS Landranger Sheet 90. From cairn on summit walk 45p 345° to a small rock outcrop below your feet. Box behind stones near top.

LAKE DISTRICT-LOW PIKE-IG,NY.374.081, OS Landranger Sheet 90. From summit cairn walk N to a stile over a stone wall now go 44p 347° to a large vertical boulder. From here walk 10p on 180° to box under stones 1p from wall.

LAKE DISTRICT-LANGDALE-JACK'S RAKE-PAVEY ARK-RH,NY.286.078, OS Landranger Sheet 90. Halfway down diagonal crevice in small crag just below tree on the same contour as the base of rake. Tree on skyline in rake 250deg. Island in middle of Stickle Tarn 161deg.

LAKE DISTRICT-SCA FELL-FOXES TARN-RH,NY.205.068, OS Landranger Sheet 90. From Tarn go on 120° to a very large boulder on skyline then 10p 72° to a slanting rock. Box under rock behind stones. Scafell Pike 32°.

Another Dartmoor Trip

Still catching up on previous trips, but only one more after this one. Did this trip at the end of September using a combination of clues from the websites listed. I can't remember which ones from the list I found, but the majority were ones found just using my eyes and looking for what was 'out of place'.

Decided to do another mad dash to Dartmoor while it was nice weather and the day would be long enough. On my own this time, but that was fine. Starting point was Hound Tor after a recommendation from the staff at the Rock Inn. Its a good starting point to be honest and there are plenty of boxes in the area. Many were around the base of the tor in the rocks and I'd found half a dozen before going into the main part of the tor. I expect there were a lot more that I didn't spot. The other advantage was that by about lunch time, the Hound of the Basket Meals van had arrived and not only did that provide some very nice food, but it also had it's own stamp and a number of 'found' stamps that people had found lying around and handed in there. Apparently it's the way things work there, so that stamps (some of them very nice ones) don't get totally lost.

Next on the list was a quick drive over to Bone Hill Rocks for a series of tors, covering Bell Tor, Chinkwell Tor and Honeybags Tor. Some good stamps were found on that route, mainly in the Chinkwell and Honeybags region. I suspect that there were even more than I found as time was getting the better of me and I had to head back quite some time before I had completed more than a cursory search of Honeybags. I found a few more on the way back, but by the end was glad to get to the car and rest a little before heading back.

Letterboxing in Midhurst and the surrounding area

Bit of a further trip out for me today, or at least it is from where I'm based it and the boxes are pretty scattered to its a lot of driving and only one box for each stop. I suppose that it could be possible for you to walk between a number of them if you were local, but I'm working on the grounds that given the first box was over an hour away in the car, I want to get as many as possible in the one day so that I'm not repeating the trip too often.

Ended up finding 4 in the end and having to cut short the number of boxes that I looked for. My own fault really for heading off down the wrong path from on of the car parks. This meant repeating the whole escarptment of the noth side of the south downs when I didn't have to, and having to re-walk certain bits to regather my bearing. Never mind. I looked for 7 in total and will provide more information on the ones that I couldn't find one I've heard back from the owners of the boxes confirming their status. I've still a few more to find in that area anyway, so will head back out once feedback has been received.

So, have fun with the following 5, but bear in mind there may be others in the area you can look for at the same time that I have yet to find or set out looking for.

SUSSEX-WEST-MAST BOX-RP,SU.88?.21?, OS Landranger Sheet 197. Box is beside footpath under an oak tree which fell over in the storm of '87. Mast is approx. 130m away on 258°. Mast is 107m tall cable stayed visible for miles around including the route to Pine Box.

SUSSEX-WEST-PINE BOX-RP,SU.88?.21?, OS Landranger Sheet 197. There is a trig point one mile S of River Rother on a common. From the point on a bridle way where the trig point bears 20° take the track which sets off in the direction of ESE 250p to a ravine. Continue on the track now heading ENE 170p to X-tracks and 100p more to large pine with imperfect trunk beside track. 30p on 306° to fallen trunk. Box is under what appears to be a sawn 12" diameter tree stump 4p from N. end of trunk on 307°.

SUSSEX-WEST-BRIDGE BOX-RPSU.88?.21?, OS Landranger Sheet 197. From the bridge (over the Lod) which gave Halfway Bridge its name - follow the old main road towards Kent to a track/drive/footpath on the left. Take FP on 29° for approx. half mile. At junction with BW go 260p on 306° to Eel Bridge. From field go 37p. on 352°. From a stile proceed to largish oaks about 75m away, on 20°. Box under hazel clump 14p. from middle oak on 60°.

SUSSEX-WEST-CELLO-LS,TQ.019.210, OS Landranger Sheet 197. From EII Post Box at grid 021.213. go 35p 215° to signpost. Along track on 260p 240° to another signpost then 100p 155° to yet another signpost (6pto left of track among birches). Continue along track now on 225° for 260p to a 30" diameter oak box 3p above track beside roots.

SUSSEX-WEST-PRINCE-LS,TQ.031.165, OS Landranger Sheet 197. Follow canal from either near Greatham Bridge grid TQ.028.163. of from tunnel mouth grid TQ.033.171. to wood bridge. From bridge go 80p on 207° to a pair of alder trees box in horizontal willow 24p on 180°.

Letterboxing in Amberly

A bit of catch up now, not been posting as often as intended, but am away from the internet (this will be posted later) so have a bit of time and hope to write up all the recent trips while away. Will still post them on separate days just for some sort of order to be maintained.

From some information out on the internet, there was a course set out in Amberly, just off of the A29. There was convenient free parking in the Whiteways carpark, just north of the Whiteways roundabout, and there is a cafe and toilet facilities at in the car park as well. The one additionally piece of advice that I'd give is that it is definitely worthwhile bringing a camera. Sadly I didn't have mine with me. If I had then I would have not only been able to take some very good photos of the views and various oddities, but I would have also been able to get some photos of some wonderful wildlife as well. Numerous fowl were found on the latter part of the walk, especially when crossing back to the Denture, but I also missed out on some deer as well. (Whether I would have been quick enough to get a photo before it vanished having been disturbed is another matter).

The letterboxes that are laid out are all to do with Hallmarks for various major cities and was laid out in 2005 to celebrate 150 years of letterboxing. There is also an additional letterbox on the far edge of the circular route that you can take to do all the letterboxes, though your Latin needs to be good for you to work out the clue. I have been told that it may be easier to reach that clue from the adjoining field rather than the main route that you'd be tempted to take. A couple of boxes may have gone missing and this has been confirmed by the placer, the ones I couldn't find were 4,5 and 6, but I will be heading back another time with a different start point to double check. It's still a good route with 9 letterboxes you can collect.

The only additional information is that there are notebooks only at number 1 and number 9 and that it is very important to use the clues fully and not use your eyes as you'll look in the wrong place.

Have fun, the clues are below.

SUSSEX WEST-AMBERLEY,TQ.00?.10?, OS Landranger Sheet 197. A walk of nine boxes commemorating 150 years of letterboxing.

1854 SILVER HALL MARKS No1,TQ.0019.1090, Start at the Whiteways Roundabout car park on the A29. Toilets & café available. Leave the car park on 330° by a red six bar gate on west side - TQ.0019.1090. 35p. at five bar gate TQ.0008.1110. turn right for 50p to a field. Box is by roots of a fallen but living beech TQ.0008.1114. Footpath post at field corner 128° & 30p away.

1854 SILVER HALL MARKS BONUS,TQ.0001.1165, From footpath post in previous clue follow field edge on 20° but turn left just before the field set back on left TQ.0012.1169. Keep field on right till field corner is reached. TQ.0001.1165. From field corner go 60p on 335° to multi-stemmed ash & ivy 10p from field edge. Box by roots.

1854 SILVER HALL MARKS No2,SU.9930.1174, Return to corner in previous clue continue down ride on 255° at junction set off on 350° after 450p join ride going west for 370p to Wapelgate corner SU.9930.1174. Box back 40p on 130° to large beech then 10p on 180° to stump.

1854 SILVER HALL MARKS No3,SU.9960.1225, From beech on 346° make for small track into woods and shortly path going on 20° (90p from beech). Keep on path even when it does an S' bend (right then left) to field edge now 20p past sole gatepost by pollarded ancient beeches. Follow field edge on 105° to fence. Find two boundary stones then 20p into wood (marked RU MH MF). From BS go 55p 238° to oak box by roots.

1854 SILVER HALL MARKS No4,SU.9809.1229, Return to gatepost in previous clue & go 85p 270° to find a small path which goes parallel to the field edge. At SU.9924.1230. take the track on 220° right at Y' straight at X' to bridleway sign at SU.9855.1190. then 330° along the Denture to next bridleway post then a further 130p SU.9809.1229. 20p north to twin beeches that partially survived the '87 hurricane. Box is 20p north by roots of a tree that didn't.

1854 SILVER HALL MARKS No5,SU.9804.1239, Carry on up the Denture. At 25p before 'NT Bignor Hill' sign, go 60° 80p to tumulus. Box under a leaning tree - 60° from top of tumulus.

ROMAN SOLDIER,SU.969.127, Continue climbing the Denture till next junction at SU.9738.1267 then 350° to signpost in car park. (signpost vandalised partly by chain saw) the upright still stands. From NOVIOMAGUS-LONDINIUM (Chichester – London) signpost in carpark, go CCXLp (240) on CCLXXX° (280) to join S.D.W./Stane Street. Then follow S.S. on CCXXXVI° (236) for CCLVIIIp (258) to fraxinus (Ash) with four trunks (two grafted together). XXVIIp (27) on V° (5) to multi-branched quercus (Oak). IXp (9) on LX° (60) to taxus (Yew) -embraced (Ash). Box inside.

1854 SILVER HALL MARKS No6,SU.9670.1263, Continue along Stane Street on 240° to Black Jack Post by a stile. 70p 290° along track to a fence post on left now 50p 210° to leaning yew. Box under roots.

1854 SILVER HALL MARKS No7,SU.9696.1230, From Black Jack Post along track on 100° for 222p to Gumber Corner by BS with 'GT' & bench mark. South to bridle way sign at SU.9696.1230. 55p on 280° to yew box 2' up tree.

1854 SILVER HALL MARKS No8,SU.9898.1132, From bridle way sign continue then veer left at bridle way sign with blue & yellow arrows & at next sign (blue arrows only near gatepost SU.9709.1173) go 70° over cross bridle ways to The Denture at SU.9767.1176. Right to bridle way sign at fork at SU.9885.1137. Main (left) BW for 200p 130° to large 2' tall 3’ diameter moss covered stump 18p left of track. A small yew is 2p 310° from box. Spreading oak with 1.5’ trunk just before & on opposite side of track.

1854 SILVER HALL MARKS No9,SU.9955.1130, Continue along track to where several forestry tracks join. From signpost at corner of triangular island formed by three tracks 60p 110° to four trunked beech with ivy box is in crutch 2' up. Return to car park on track running 100°.

Further Feedback - South Downs

OK, got some more feedback from the South Downs letterboxes I couldn't find before. I've heard from the owner and with further help (and less nettles in the way) have been able to find some of them. One of the ones listed is now out of commission and another has re-written clues. Still couldn't find one of the five I looked for, but did find four. Details are below.

Found and confirmed confirmed-

SOUTH DOWNS-DUCK BOX-LS,TQ.062.124, OS Landranger Sheet 197. From Parnham post carpark follow SDW westward to a brake in established trees. From water tower go 30p S of SDW then 53p 186° to water trough. Box underneath.

SOUTH DOWNS-FISH BOX-LS,TQ.054.126, OS Landranger Sheet 197. From opposite trig pillar follow SDW westward for 70p. Box is 12p S of SDW under recumbent thorn.

SOUTH DOWNS-TANK BOX-LS,TQ.071.119, OS Landranger Sheet 197. From Parnham Post car park walk on bridle-way on approx. 130° (not SDW) to cross paths - then go 250° to object then a further 200p to a large ash with ten trunks beside track now continue towards tank for 30p & through strip of hedge to a blown over thorn. Box underneath.

SUSSEX WEST-KANGAROO BOX,TQ.0507.1255, OS Landranger Sheet 197. From signpost where footpaths cross on Rackham follow track 80p on 165° till between cypress & silver birch. Box is by roots of second cypress 4p behind birch

Confirmed but not yet found

SUSSEX-WEST-ARUNDEL-LS,TQ.057.119, OS Landranger Sheet 197. From signpost & six bar gate at map ref. TQ.056.123. follow bridle way on 140° for 420p to short path on right into field there is a 2' ash tree with ivy 2p S of this path. box is under a 9' tall holly bush 10p N.

Confirmed as being gone so don't look for it :-)

SUSSEX-WEST-COW BOX-LS,TQ.077.126, OS Landranger Sheet 197. From Parnham Post car park grid TQ.070.125 go 700p 90° (not S.D.W) to cross-paths then go 200p 20° until you see an ash tree with five large trunks 20p below track. Box is 2p E of ash tree.

The clues to Eager Eagle below are being re-written, I'll post the new ones when I get them and have confirmed the find.

SUSSEX-WEST-EAGER EAGLE-LS,TQ.032.121, OS Landranger Sheet 197. Proceed along 'No Through Path' from map ref.034.125. for 1km. to end then 270p on initially 75° to below ivy tree. Now go 99p further to hazel-beech clump beside path then go 19p 299° to seat. Box is 9p 199° under stones.

So, better news all round on the search front. Got a couple more trips still to write up and have at least 2 more letterboxing searches to write up as well. More to follow as I keep saying!

One Mad Dash

OK, not a post of checked clues this time around.

Mid August on a day where the weather looked good on the forecast friends of mine and myself decided to do a rather mad thing. So that they could go climbing and I could do some letterboxing, we went to Dartmoor. For the day. From Sussex. OK, I can see the raised eyebrows now, but it's actually quite possible to spend a decent amount of time on Dartmoor even on a day trip from Sussex.

We left at 6.00am. Early I know, but it's a longish drive and if there was any traffic on a Saturday we wanted to avoid it. That we did and we whistled over the top of Worthing and round the bottom of Chichester (the two places where traffic normally causes problems). The journey down went well and without breaking speedlimits left right and centre we arrived at the Haytor visitor centre at 9.45.

My friends climbed and I letterboxed round Haytor, without much success bar some of the kids letterboxes and a tribute one. After a few hours we stopped, headed back to the centre for some sarnies and then started to explore a bit fo the moor. More success once into the wilds with what I count as my first official Dartmoor letterbox. The Admiral Benbow (from Treasure Island). Very well hidden and almost discovered by chance, but I suspect that is how I'm going to have to find my first 100. We ended up at the at the quarry near Sadle Tor and found quite a number of proper boxes there.

The intention then was to make our way to Sadle Tor and then across to Ripon Tor before heading back by about 6pm for the drive home. (Getting home by 10pm being fine, yes it's a long day but you'd get 8 hours on the moor). Unfortunately the weather, which had been variable, decided to close in making it both unpleasant and potentially dangerous, so we headed back. By the time we reached the road back to the visitor centre there were a load of foriegn students on a trip trudging woefully back in the same direction. Back at the centre we headed into Haytor Vale for a quick drink and to dry out a bit. Picked the Rock Inn. Very pleasant and very happy to serve us despite the sodden condition we presented outselves in. Even managed to get a stamp from place as well. Looking through thier visitors books was impressive. In the end I ended up with about 20 stamps of varying standards.

The journey back was ok, only down point was the breaks grinding on the way back due to long term wear and tear, so they had to be sorted out the following week. Still never mind.

More to come of some Sussex based letterboxing I've done in the last few days, listing successes and failures again.

South Downs Letterbox Walk

Sorry, have been away for a bit, so need to do some catch up posts today and tomorrow.

First off was some letterboxing on the South Downs. Set off to find a number of boxes that are located from the Parnham Post area more or less heading westwards. The car park has been renamed, but you should be able to work it out from the maps. It's just to the west of Storrington on the B road heading towards Amberly. Its quite a nice car park as it's at the top of the downs, so for those who want to avoid climbing up the downs more than is necessary it's quite useful.

There were 7 boxes that I figured I could look for in a circularish route. Sadly I wasn't able to find any of them :-(. A combination of things stopped me really. I think that some of the boxes may no longer be there. Others may still be there but were inaccessible due to head high stinging nettles and similar obstructions. I will try the walk again at another time of year and hope there isn't as much blocking my path. I've listed the boxes I looked for below. If anyone has been able to find them this year, please do say.

SOUTH DOWNS - DUCK BOX - LS, TQ.062.124, OS Landranger Sheet 197. From Parnham post carpark follow SDW westward to brake in established trees. From water tower go 30p S of SDW then 53p 186° to water trough. Box underneath.

SOUTH DOWNS - FISH BOX - LS, TQ.054.126, OS Landranger Sheet 197. From opposite trig pillar follow SDW westward for 70p. Box is 12p S of SDW under recumbent thorn.

SOUTH DOWNS - TANK BOX - LS TQ.071.119, OS Landranger Sheet 197. From Parnham post car park walk on bridleway on approx 130° (not SDW) to cross paths - then go 250° to object then a futher 200p to a large ash with ten trunks beside track now continue towards tank for 30p and through strip of hedge to a blown over thorn. Box underneath.

SUSSEX WEST - KANGAROO BOX TQ.0507.1255, OS Landranger Sheet 197. From signpost where footpaths cross on Rackham follow track 80p on 165° till between cypress and silver birch. Box is by roots of second cypress 4p behind birch.

SUSSEX - WEST - ARUNDEL - LS, TQ.057.119, OS Landranger Sheet 197. From signpost and six bar gate at map ref TQ.056.123. follow bridleway on 140° for 420p to short path on right into field there is a 2' ash tree with ivy 2p S of this path. Box is under 9' tall holly bush 10p N.

SUSSEX - WEST - COW BOX - LS, TQ.077.126 OS Landranger Sheet 197. From Parnham post car park grid TQ.070.125 go 700p 90° (not SDW) to cross paths then go 200p 20°until you see an ash tree with five large trunks 20p below track. Box is 2p E of ash tree.

SUSSEX - WEST - EAGER EAGLE - LS, TQ.032.121, OS Landranger Sheet 197. Proceed along 'No Through Path' from map ref. 034.125. for 1km to end then 270 on initially 75° to below ivy tree. Now go 99p further to hazel-beech clump beside path then go 19p 299° to seat. Box is 9p 199° under stones.