We decided to try out this Letterboxing thingie and set off on a sunny morning to try to find some of these clues, leaving from Postbridge.
Initially we had intended a long walk, looking for many clues following this blog http://who-is-the-challenger.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/new-clues-rangale-of-deer.html which we had stumbled across while looking up this interesting hobby, but by the time we had reached our starting point decided to just search for one box on Hartland Tor, enabling a gentle walk without risk of being lost on the moors and fearing a vision of the 'Hound' chasing us home!
Setting off from Postbridge gave a fairly scenic start crossing over the river on interesting stone bridges
This walk started gently over flat ground in surprising pleasant surroundings, I have often felt the moors a cold and barren place. It was nice to see an array of wildlife in abundance particular the ponies and really good to see the land being used by cattle. Keeping the river to our left we walked towards Hartland Tor, having opted not to follow the Bloggers suggestion of heading towards Broad Marsh.
After a wrangle with the Gorse bush we found our way back to a more visible bridleway/path and fixed on heading solely for the Hartland Tor box. Just below the Tor we stopped for our lunch and were greeted by fellow walkers, refuelled we were certain we had the points fixed in our mind we headed upto the top of Hartland Tor to gain a better viewpoint, although we quickly learnt this could also mean we then couldn't see various way points and bearings. With this in mind and conscious that we didnt want to be too obvious about the box we were looking for we stealthily moved about assessing each possible point, while regularly stopping to top up with hot chocolate which served two purposes, keeping us warm and the day was quickly closing in and making us look like a couple out for a gentle afternoon walk!
Quickly we found the spot, down from where we may be forgiven from the first point we had considered, but on spotting a more specific clue we were able to quickly locate the area, seems we may be naturals at this, however, on fumbling around the undergrowth in the Gorse next to the said rock, the box it would appear has sadly been moved. We are certain it was the right spot, the undergrowth was marked as if something had been sat there for a while but is now gone! Disappointed we rolled off the moor without our first Letterbox stamp.
Better luck next time we hope!
