Dartmoor Spring Meet - Sunday

After a crummy Saturday, I was feeling a bit bleak about Sunday. But I awoke to a beautiful blue sky day with scattered clouds. Yes! No rain! Of course, things like my boots were still wet. That was no good. But still, most everything was dry and I was ready to go. The meet didn't start until 10am so I took my time with a nice breakfast in the hotel restaurant and then headed off to get a geocache I knew was along the way. Lovely walk to pick it up. Temps were warmer than Saturday too.

The distance from the hotel to the Lee Moor Public Hall was 4-5miles. Perfect. Except. . .that it was 'as the crow flies', which meant the sat nav was taking me on the infamous one-lane, high hedge rowed lanes. I HATE those roads. I suppose if you grew up with them, you don't think twice. But they make me tense with locals whizzing down them sight unseen. I decided I didn't want the stress and I wasn't in a hurry, so I took the long way around via Plymouth. Took twice as long, but it didn't matter.


So,I arrived around 10:30am or so. Cars
were already lining the road. Wow. This place must be big, I thought. Ha. Surprise to me - it wasn't. This little public hall venue is woefully undersized for the amount of people visiting. Stamping in was crowded and difficult and it was hard to see what was actually at each table unless you were right in front of it. I admit I'm spoiled after only attending US events - and all of those outside - space has never been an issue.

Anyway, I surprised to find the meet was part market & part meeting and stamping. Some folks had tables selling things: ink pads, logbooks, cut card stock for stamping, etc. Kountry Kit was there from Tavistock. (I love that place. We stayed in Tavistock on our first visit to Dartmoor and were so pleased to find this outfitter just down the road from the hotel. They have all the clothing and gear you could want PLUS have some stamps at their stores.) Some people/groups had tables where they were selling their charity walks - not to make a profit - these walks raise money for the various charities or local civic type groups who put out the boxes and maintain them.

I wandered around and ran into a few people I knew. Many others I recognized but didn't know their names. I guess the serious regulars were there. At one point I was stamping at a charity walk table paying for the walk when I realized that the man standing next to me was Godfrey Swinscow. Oh, how cool is that. I think I heard he was 89. A small man with a cane, he was just going from table to table like me and buying a few charity walks. I wondered if he actually still gets out as many of these are a bit strenuous, or if he was just supporting their causes. . .? Curious.















Finally, after buying the new letterbox catalog (now only put out once a year in the Spring) and the supplemental Travellers catalog (where I listed my two personal travellers I had in the US and still carry with me), it was time to get out of the packed room and get out to some boxes.

A quick look at the few walks I had and locations had me picking a walk around Cox Tor. This tor I remember for being quite popular with walkers because of its car park and easily accessible location. Normally I would have avoided places with people, but after being on my own yesterday, I welcomed others.





























I was glad to see that it wasn't too populated. Lots of walkers around, but most of them weren't up as high as I was. As I got to the first box on the walk, I saw two men just leaving. I ended up following them for the first few boxes, but then a bit of distance got between us as I wandered off to get a nearby geocache. (I had to have one or two caches from Dartmoor!) The weather was just lovely. Sunny and breezy. At one box, I suddenly felt like I was being watched. Quick look. Yep. I had a small herd watching me stamp in. They didn't seem to be bothered at all - just curious.











































Not long after losing the first pair, another pair caught up with me. It was the Dartmoor Jedi. A young couple from the area. They had a great dog that was trying to sniff out the boxes. How cool would that be?! We got the next bunch of boxes together and then separated again as I wandered off to find the second geocache along this letterbox walk.

Finally, as I neared the end of the walk - which circled the tor - I decided I had to go to the top and see the marker up there. Love those sorts of things. A quick walk up and then back to final box. It was time to go. The walk took a few hours to do, so it was like 5pm or so. Tea time? or cocktail hour? :)

I got back to my room and started sorting out my finds for the day and filling in the numbers I was missing. I guess it is a good system that everything is numbered and cataloged, but it does take a little getting used to - at least in relation to the US system. I finished up and packed up for the trip home on Monday.

I still didn't have enough to get my 200 badge, but I'm close. Just need another trip over there - I'm thinking I might be back for the fall meet .