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 .

Dartmoor Spring Meet - Saturday

Well, finally, I was able to get all the stars lined up correctly to swing getting over to Dartmoor for the weekend. It was clock change time which only meant one thing - Spring Meet.

I left about 5:15 Saturday morning and breezed over to Devon. Best time yet at just over 3 hrs. I guess no one was on the roads yet. Wonderful time to be driving - early morning - especially after the clock change as it was so light out by 6am. My favorite part of the drive is going by Stonehenge. You go by about 500yds from it. Amazing view. Although I HATE driving by here at night. It is DARK. I mean not a house light or street light anywhere - other than the cars, complete utter darkness. Anyway, I had my plan of attack to do a charity walk when I got there, which would take the rest of the day and then head over to the hotel after, so the early start was required.

Let me stop here to go over how I went about determining where to go. . .

First time I went to Dartmoor, I was lost. I didn't have good bearings on where I was, how to read the OS map, how to read my compass properly, etc. When I drove out there this past September, I did a lot better. It really helped with my bearings as I studied my map, and driving around let me see various tors and their relation to various towns. Very helpful. So, what I decided to do this time was to find a good hotel with a good location and get on an organized walk. I tried scavenging first time I was there, and I came to the conclusion that it works best for locals. If I lived close by and walked there all the time, I would probably enjoy just scavenging around. However, when you're just visiting and don't have a day to waste just wandering around, boxes with known locations is the way to go. I sent my money in for one of the walks last Monday and got it back the Friday before I left (nothing like waiting until the last second!) A long walk but 21 boxes. Yippee! What really sold me on the boxes was the fact that they had 10 digit grid references. Perfect. So, I quickly spend some time on Friday night inputting all the box grid references into my gps.

I mapped out my route so that I would go to the correct tor for the walk, and then continue down the road to my hotel afterwards. Great.

Weather was nice on the drive over - until I got to Exeter. Suddenly it was cloudy and dark. Oh no, I thought, not rain. Yep. A light rain started and from that east side of Dartmoor. When I got to the car park, it was still raining but only very lightly. I hopped out and got outfitted - rain pants, boots, fleece, raincoat, hat, gloves, backpack, everything in backpack in baggies, backpack rain cover, food, drinks, and walking stick. (Actually I forgot the walking stick and had to walk back about 1/4 mile to retrieve it. I only remembered when I passed an ewe with her lamb and I released that if she ran me, I had no protection!) I felt like I was going into the mountains in the middle of winter with all these clothes and gear. It was about 45F outside which isn't too bad - not until you're wet.















And wet I got. I'm pretty sure I haven't been this miserable outside ever. It all started out okay. Hardly anyone around - just me and the sheep and an odd person or two off in the distance. The hard rain started about the time of the 2nd or 3rd box. My logbook was getting wet so I pulled out a little umbrella I carry to try to keep the rain off as I stamped and it got nearly torn away. Did I mention the wind? Not just a breeze - GUSTS. Big serious wind gusts. Blow you over if you're feet aren't firmly planted wind. So, see what I mean about a miserable day - 45F, raining, continual heavy wind which turned the rain into ice pellets smacking me in the face, every rock wet with easy to slip on mossy surfaces, and slowly getting soaked through all clothing.

I got to about the 8th box which was on the back side of the tor and in the middle of a firing range when I called it quits. My feet weren't cold, but I could feel the water sloshing around in my boots. My hands and face were freezing. My gloves - not waterproof - had to be wrung out every 10 mins or so. I hadn't seen a soul in the last hour and was feeling a bit uncomfortable with being on my own. I headed in. As soon as I got to the front of the tor, I came across a couple out letterboxing. Relief. The rain was letting up slightly, but I was so soaked (and my backpack was soaked even with a rain cover) and my electronic goodies like camera and phone were wet, not soaked, but wet. Not good. I continued to the car. (Okay, I just happened to be passing by where a geocache was located so I had to stop and look. No luck. Boo.) I felt like a drowned rat as I walked down the path to where the car park was located. Then I heard a noise behind me. A guy on a horse. Brother, I thought. Poor horse out in this mess. He went by. Then I heard another noise. I turned around to see the riders and hounds. It was a hunt group coming in. Here they all came soaking wet trotting by me in their nice red jackets and gear. At least I wasn't the only insane one.

I checked into the hotel in my wet clothes and wet hair looking like some mad wanderer. Dry at last! Ah. Later when I talked to Mr. TeamKing, he said he heard where they had to rescue someone at Dartmoor out in the nasty weather. Oh my. Well, I could only hope Sunday was better. . .

Easter Snow

White Easter for millions as Britain suffers worst seasonal weather in 25 years

Last updated at 23:37pm on 23.03.08

Britain woke up to a white Easter Sunday today as blizzards and snow showers spread southwards across huge swathes of the country, heralding yet more misery on the roads this Bank Holiday.

Drivers were told to avoid going out as heavy snow overnight brought widespread travel disruption, with one police force describing the conditions as "horrendous".

North-east England, Yorkshire and Staffordshire were the hardest hit by the weather which would be more in keeping with the Christmas break than Easter.

The North West Ambulance Service have also been hit hard by the storms with two of its ambulances trapped in heavy snow in Cumbria.

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The snow in Yorkshire was so thick that snow ploughs had to go out on the roads

Communications manager Andrew Kirchin said: "We've not stopped working. At 6am we put that warning out, and it was simply because that's the time that people start to get up, we get an increase in calls, and we were just saying please only ring if it's an emergency."

Elsewhere snow has caused difficulties for ambulances in the south of Cumbria, east Lancashire and north Manchester.

Mr Kirchin said: "In Manchester the roads became so treacherous that we had to send the Rapid Response Vehicles back to the station because the roads froze over."

Bitter gales, sleet and snow have already whipped much of Britain in the start to the holiday.

But now the weather has closed in still further, bringing significant problems for those hoping to return home today and tomorrow.

Snow ploughs and gritters were sent out but they too found the conditions difficult and struggling to stay on the roads.

Even London was affected after lighter snow showers during the early hours gave way to full-blown blizzards by mid-morning.

Met Office forecaster Chris Almond: "There is no sign of spring out there, to be honest."

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This gritter slipped off the side of the road in Horbling, Lincolnshire

A spokesman for North Yorkshire police said he had driven just six miles into work this morning and that conditions were "the worst I can remember for a long time."

He said: "There is plenty of snow and the major problem is with the roads. It is horrendous. The snow came down suddenly. Our advice is only drive if you really must.

"It is very icy and very cold. We have had no major incidents, just minor bumps but it is not very nice out there."

Durham Police said there had been heavy overnight snow across the whole of the county, particularly in the south. The force has had to close the A66 trans-Pennine route for the second night running due to heavy snow.

In Staffordshire, people are also being told not to travel because of the snow and freezing temperatures. The north close to the border with Derbyshire and areas around Leek and Cheadle were the worst affected.

Sergeant Geoffrey Knight said: "We are warning motorists not to travel in the Moorlands area. Snow is falling very heavily and drifting in the area and on high ground.

"If you are travelling, take warm clothing and drive with extreme care."

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It may be daffodil season but there is snow on the ground at this church in Heather, central England, after the weather closed in overnight

The view above Huddersfield this morning after it was blanketed with snow

Laura Gilchrist, of Meteogroup, said the snow would only settle briefly in most areas before disappearing later in the day as temperatures rose but also predicted the cold snap would continue for much of the week.

"It will be a bit brighter later this afternoon, but we think it will be cold for most of the week. It might get a bit milder towards the end of the week," she said.

The Easter weekend has been the worst in terms of weather for a quarter of a century, with high winds lashing much of the country on Friday while temperatures plummeted.

Parts of Scotland, North-East England and the Midlands woke up to a blanket of snow yesterday, delighting children who had the unexpected opportunity to dig out their sledges.

They will be set for more winter fun today as far more of the country sees snow falls, and several inches settling on the ground.

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Police are warning drivers to avoid travelling today after snow fell across much of the country

The chances of snow at Easter were increased this year because Easter Sunday falls on the earliest date for nearly a century – just two days after the official start of spring.

Records show April 1-3, 1983, was the snowiest Easter, when Scotland, the Midlands and Kent had up to four inches.

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As for us, we saw snow flakes on Easter as well as most of the weekend. Today we went out golfing and it snowed on us. Yikes! That's a first! But nothing sticking on the ground like up north. (Can't even make a snowball. Boo.)

Hope it warms up a little for next weekends Dartmoor Spring meet.

The Wolf Man

Well, looks like I missed seeing Harry Potter. Went over today to see the set, but was told they were gone. However, not all was lost.

They are now filming 'The Wolf Man' ! Did a little walk around but didn't have time to get closer and see the gypsy village or any cast or crew. The movie stars Benicio Del Toro as the Wolf Man with Anthony Hopkins co-starring. Security told us they will be here for a few weeks. Penny and I will definately be back for a walk! Found this photo from the filming. . .

Directed by Joe Johnston who did one of my favorite movies - Jumanji.

Harry Potter?! Here?!

Today, a friend was telling me that she took her dog for a walk down the road from her house into the woods area and was surprised to see a bunch of trucks and cameras. She asked what was going on and was told they were filming a commercial.

However, on her way back home, she run into a security guard and HE told her they were filming the next Harry Potter movie. So, is it a cover-up and they really are filming the movie there? or are they pulling her leg?

Well, I found this comment below from the March 3rd The Sun newspaper. . .seeing as she lives in Farnham, I say its the real deal!

"With news a bit slow on the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince film front, UK paper The Sun has a doozy of a story tonight that just might get your attention. The tabloid is reporting that location filming for the sixth Harry Potter movie is currently taking place in Farnham, Surrey, England, and a couple of visitors made an unexpected appearance during the shoot. The paper claims “two male streakers” caused a bit of chaos by “darting naked through undergrowth during a woodland scene. Stars Daniel Radcliffe and Helena Bonham Carter retreated to their caravans while security chased the pair off.” The article continues to say the pranksters then “crept back and made monkey noises at the location shoot in Farnham, Surrey. A source said: “Seeing naked bodies was a laugh-but the joke wore thin.”

Seeing as this is like 1-2 miles from my kids school, I think I might need to do a walk or drive-by just for the fun of it!

The Big 200!

Finally! Did 200 geocaches. Whew. That took forever for some reason. Seemed like doing letterboxes went much quicker.

I was at 195 today and decided to get those last ones. So, of course, I wake up to a rainy day. Boo. So much for that. But by mid-day it was sunny and nice out. Found a series of 4 caches not too far away and Penny dachshund and I went to get them. Had a nice walk. Passed a few dog walkers, joggers, horses. Found the caches easily enough. Then had just a little bit of time left to find one more. Decided on a travel bug hotel as these tend to be easy to get. It was, except just as I was about 100ft from my car parked alongside the road, I turn to see a whole troop of army soldiers running by the car. I thought for sure they were coming my way. Afterall, this week I saw the mines (pictured in the last blog entry), and near that there was a military helicoptor practicing landing in a big field. Then I see the troops today. Since the British Army is in nearby Aldershot, we see them often. But the upside is that tons of land around here is MOD and open to walking and such. You wouldn't see that in the states. Getting so close to military training operations.

Regardless, I hit 200 finds today! Yeah!

There's a Cache WHERE?!

You sometimes find geocaches in the strangest places. . .

. . .in this case, right near some interesting neighbors. . .


. . .both of these within 5 min walk from the same cache.

(near Fleet, Hampshire)