September 14 and September 15, 2007 "We Begin Our Journey"

Our journey begins on Friday afternoon, September 14 with the early arrival at our house of Butterfly & Lobsta, who ate their lunch on our porch. Sue & I had previously enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and spent the time talking excitedly to Butterfly & Lobsta as they ate their "to go" lunches. Shortly afterwards, Bookworm showed up and we loaded our vehicle and headed off to meet up with Connie & Joe at their home in Coventry.

This trip was quite different than our last group in that several of this year's participants arrived in the UK before the core group. Our last trip with the Baker's Dozen featured the entire ensemble traveling en masse - a real challenge at times! This time Silent Doug & Clueless, CSCM & Rusty Puff and RTRW were already in the UK as the rest of us made our way to Boston's Logan Airport, where we would meet Sewsobizzy & Irene of Hikers & Hounds who were visiting friends in NH.

Arriving in Coventry, our little group was greeted by Joe while we waited for Connie to come home from a half day's work. The group was very animated with that pre-vacation excitement that I wish you could bottle and sell! Butterfly, the perennial kid of the group, found a tire swing in the back yard and made good use of it as we awaited Connie's arrival from work.

After Connie arrived, a group shot was taken of our little group by Lobsta, who once again had the duty of the official trip photographer. Lobsta is always there; it's amazing the shots she manages to obtain that preserve some very special moments for the rest of the group and our readers. Most of the photos are Lobsta's with a few taken by yours truly.

We arrived at Logan to learn that our trip would be delayed by 3 hours! Something about the plane being grounded at Heathrow while a part was being flown in from France. That led to some dismay but luckily this happened at the beginning of the trip when we were fresh and our journey lay ahead. I asked if the airlines was giving food vouchers and we were told that each passenger would be given $10 to use for food.

After the 3 hour delay, we had an uneventful trip to Heathrow. Flying overnight, we arrived at shortly after 11am Saturday in London. We were finally back! Butterfly & I both said that when we left the Moor in 2004 we had left a piece of ourselves somewhere in Dartmoor. All week, Sue had been teasing me that I would finally be reunited with my heart that was left not in San Fransisco, but somewhere on the Moor.

Weary, we arrived through the arrival hallway in Heathrow to a myriad of signs with drivers looking for their proper passengers. We all noticed a smiling RTRW who held up a welcoming sign that said "Crazy Americans." After a brief hug, we proceeded to call our car rental people at Sixt on the courtesy phone so they could send the shuttle bus. RTRW had been here a week already where she and her husband, Scott (The Antiboxer) spent a great week in Scotland. And yes, they did try the haggis!

Waiting at the Sixt car rental office were Doug & Jen, Kim & Christopher who we hoped had contacted the airlines and realized that our flight had been delayed by 3 hours. It was a little ironic that before we left, I warned those that arrived ahead of the core group to be on time and here it was us - the core - that was late by some 3 hours plus!

It was great to have the Moor Tor-ists reunited at the Sixt car rental, office. Doug & Jen and Kim & Christopher, like us, had waiting patiently for our arrival. After registration for the minivans with 2 drivers on each vehicle, we packed the 3 VW 7 seater minivans with our gear. We folded down the back 2 seats in each of the 3 vans, crammed our luggage and backpacks inside and closed the doors. We had done it! Packed all three vans with gear from all 16 of us!

Sue had worried for almost a year that the luggage from 16 people would not fit in 3 vans. Confident (and not wanting to admit defeat,) I promised and assured Sue that "it will work" and now it appeared it had. Sue breathed a sigh of relief and I wore that I-told-you-so look that I so enjoy wearing when it's appropriate!! We even had brought bungee cords just in case we had to place some of the luggage on the roof racks but it appeared that we didn't even need that!

Then - reality set in! There were 16 of us but we had left seating for only 5 passengers per van and even though we were in a foreign country 5 times 3 still was only 15! We quickly unfolded 1 seat and rearranged some of the luggage and we were off.

The day was only partly cloudy and we enjoyed the 4 hour ride to Dartmoor. After about 45 minutes travel time, we stopped at a rest area on the M5 for lunch as we headed the 245 miles from Heathrow to Blackadon Barn Cottages - our final destination and new home for the week. It was Doug's idea to place one of his "LB" stickers on the front and back windshield of each of the 3 vans so that we could keep track of one another. I think he just wanted to advertise his website but those "LB" stickers saved us more than once.

When we arrived in Bittaford, the village where Blackadon is located, we just couldn't find the proper location. We stopped at The Horse & Groom Pub for directions. Polite and helpful, the locals, who had been enjoying the sun in the front of the pub on picnic tables, scurried to get maps to show us the proper location. When one of them pulled out one of the OS Survey maps that all letterboxers carry, I stuck my head out the window and asked, "Are you letterboxers?" "Not me," was his answer "but this group is." They came closer to the car and I explained that we had just arrived from the US to spend a week letterboxing on the Moor. After wishes of good luck and a great holiday, we set off for Blackadon, armed with proper directions from letterboxers!

At Blackadon finally and after parking the minivans, we were greeted by Mark Walker, who with his lovely wife, Jacky, owned this fine establishment. It seems that Mark is a little vague in the directions since Blackadon is located behind a former insane asylum and it's not something he wished to use in his marketing! As it turned out, it was the proper place for The Moor Tor-ists!!! As we made our way into the courtyard, our old friend and guide for the week, Andy Wilkes, was sitting at a courtyard table enjoying a spot of tea. After greetings, introductions and hugs, we entered our respective cottages. It was great to see Andy, who first approached Sue back in 2004 on our last trip and entered our lives by asking her the question, "Are you part of the Baker's Dozen?" That statement was the beginning of a strong friendship that endured over the 3 years that we were apart.

This was the first time I noticed the politeness of the English. In "Notes from a Small Island," Bill Bryson talks about the politeness of the Brits. I really noticed it when Jacky, our hostess, replied "Sorry!" repeatedly about our flight delay and resulting late arrival at Blackadon as if she was directly responsible for the delay! The people of Dartmoor and the surrounding area were the nicest you could meet whether it was Jacky or Mark, or one of the many British letterboxers that quickly became friends.

These converted horse barns at Blackadon were all located off of a quaint, cobble-stoned courtyard that featured a central area with beautiful flowers and with nice, old ironwork gates when we entered. After apologizing for our tardiness, the group set about gathering our belongings. A car pulled up while I was bringing a few of our suitcases to our room and a woman rolled down the window and asked me, "Are you Mark?" My immediate reaction was this was someone who worked here. Who else would know me?

It turned out to be Judy, The Yorkshire Tortoise, our first of what was to be a swinging door of pre-arranged guests to surprise and delight the group. YT is very active on Atlas Quest and this diminutive and perky boxer had traveled from central England to meet the group for the evening! She had left her home at 7:30 am and arrived at 2:30 in the afternoon only to spend the evening with us and head back home early Sunday morning. This is something that, once again, according to Bill Bryson, is not done in England. Repeatedly, letterboxers from all over England drove to meet us, help us in some way and experience a small part of our vacation - and many after traveling hours and hours. It was most gratifying and very touching. This all speaks to the kindness of letterboxers from all over the world. There's plenty more about that kindness as this story unfolds - kindnesses that choked us up more than once during this special week!

I had planned this little meeting with YT since January, I believe. Over a year ago, we cooked up a scheme to carve a clapper bridge stamp that we could cut in half and she would plant her half in the UK and I would plant my half somewhere in the US. The finder would have to find both halves to complete the full image. One of the biggest problems was finding a suitable image to carve. After mentioning it to Deanne, the Lazy Letterboxer, while she and Dave were visiting our VT home a week or two before, we worked up a crudely drawn idea and the following week I received the 2 piece stamp that I presented to Judy once she was introduced to the group and we settled a little. "Brilliant," was her answer. And the carving certainly was. Thanks to Deanne for a fine job and the fonts are just perfect! Look for YT's clues and mine in a month or so. I might even consider a special first finder prize when proof of the complete image is emailed!

Our friends from the Baker's Dozen trip, Spannerman/Steve & Ali arrived shortly after YT and the swinging door had been set in motion! It got to be that we never had a full dinner without someone stopping by which was great! Steve had cut some "thumb sticks" for the group to use as walking sticks for the week. I tried to get Sue to bring her collapsible metal walking stick but she refused. "I want to use one of Spannerman's!" was her reply. As it turned out, Spannerman told us to leave them at Blackadon, which pleased Mark. If any of our readers make it to Blackadon, we hope you'll find those thumb sticks for you to use that were made by Spannerman.

Spannerman gave me a gift that he had told me about in a previous email - William Crossing's "Guide to Dartmoor." Published in 1906, this book is still considered the ultimate authority on Dartmoor history, stories, advice and legends. Crossing also authored several other Dartmoor tomes but this, by far, is his most well known. What an appropriate gift as tomorrow (Sunday) we planned to visit Ducks Pool, one of the oldest boxes in Dartmoor and the only other box contained within a stone memorial like Cranmere Pool. Ducks Pool is also a memorial to William Crossing and this gift couldn't have been more appropriate! Steve's rational was to give me the book since he knew of my love for the Moor and now I could really receive an education by the expert - William Crossing. Like Cranmere and several of the early letterboxes, these were no drivebys! Ducks Pool would be a 4 mile walk one way!

The group headed to the dining room, where many a meal would be shared in the week to come. As we squeezed in and prepared for our first taste of Mark's food, I decided to sneak away and check with Mark to see if the anniversary flowers I had pre-ordered for Sue to celebrate our 33rd anniversary that coming Thursday had arrived. Mark got the flowers and I presented them to Sue. He and Jacky also gifted us with a bottle of champagne, which was all poured in glasses and we celebrated our anniversary early with a toast, some flowers and the excitement of a whole week on the moor ahead!

Our first night's dinner consisted of homemade tomato and basil soup, Devon Cottage Pie and mixed vegetables with dessert and coffee. Someone remarked that in the US, Cottage Pie is called Shepherd's Pie. Mark corrected us that while Cottage Pie is made with beef; Shepherd's Pie is made with lamb. I guess we've been eating Cottage Pie all along and never realized!

During dinner, Mark announced that we had company and a couple came to the door of the dining room and introduced themselves as the Dartmoor Bounders - Ian & Caroline. Their website had served as a guide for both of our Dartmoor trips as well as Doug & Jen's. Ian and Caroline waited in the living room (lounge) while the group finished their meal. I brought out some of the boxes we had brought along with us and allowed the Dartmoor Bounders to stamp into them and shared some of the bananaffe pie and tea for dessert.

We were told that the bananafee pie was made in our honor since it was an "American dessert." Feeling a little silly, I asked what it was! It was bananas sliced in a pie crust covered with toffee. None of the rest of the Americans had heard about it but it's funny that the perception was that this was an American concoction. Regardless of where this dessert originated, it was a wonderful way to end our first meal on the moor!

After dinner, the group grabbed our stamping gear and joined Ian & Caroline in the living room. The Dartmoor Bounders have been letterboxing for over 30 years, they told us. Retired early and spending their time now "working at letterboxing for a living," was the way the described their present jobs. It was great to see, after over 30 years of hunting Tupperware, that recognizable excitement as Caroline explained the workings of a weekly WOM boxes that are emailed to them. Once the receiver of the picture identifies the location of that week's picture correctly, they email the placer with the info and via return email comes the clue to that week's box. A very clever twist and one that truly delighted Caroline despite their many years at this hobby.

I had pre-arranged the visit with the Dartmoor Bounders so that they could invite and talk to the group about attending the Wednesday monthly meeting of the Plymouth letterboxing group that meets the third Wednesday of the month. When planning the trip, I was pleased to see that our visit would encompass that third week and would allow us the opportunity to attend. My first inclination was to just show up at the meeting but after giving thought to 16 noisy Americans and one Brit (Andy) arriving unannounced, I thought better of that idea! Ian & Caroline told the group we would be attending and as you will read later, I'm truly glad that I took that course!

Ian and Caroline were helpful with directions to the Plymouth library, where we would view the early Cranmere Pool visitors books that were kept there before we headed to their meeting on Wednesday. Directions were also given for the location of the meeting which we would visit after the library stop and an early dinner. "I will be waiting outside looking for you," said Caroline as the meeting location - an old fort - was a little tricky to find. "You have to go past the location and turn back on yourself," was the way Caroline described the approach to the old fort that served as their meeting location.

We enjoyed discussing the commonalities and differences of our beloved hobby with Yorkshire Tortoise, Andy and the Dartmoor Bounders. One of the most common features was the obsession of all of us - a common feature that made life-long friends of people who were only strangers a few hours before! As our guests, Yorkshire Tortoise and the Dartmoor Bounders left, some of the group left for bed while a few remained to talk about the end of a 48 hour day for those of us that didn't sleep on the plane but as time went on - we all decided to go to bed about 10pm. There was an 8:00 breakfast call and we would meet Steve and Ali in Princetown in the morning at the parking lot (car park) in the center of town in preparation for the trek to Duck's Pool - home of one of Dartmoor's earliest letterboxes and our destination for Sunday.

September 16, 2007 "Historic Ducks Pool and We Meet New Friends!"

The Moor Tori-ists enjoyed our first made-to-order breakfast on the moor. There was a pretty unique system that Mark implemented. He had a chart with all of the items he offered for a traditional English breakfast. Next to our names, all we did was put a check mark under the item(s) that we wanted including scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, baked beans, tomato, fried bread, etc. There were also containers of 3 different kinds of cereal that we could help ourselves to besides the daily hot porridge.

Once we ate, we went across the courtyard to the kitchen of the other cottage where Jacky had set up luncheon items. There was always 2 kinds of bread and rolls, either egg salad or tuna salad (which we grew to enjoy with corn in it!) luncheon meat, cheeses, tomato, English cucumbers and condiments. On the side bench was a plastic basket that had several types of fresh fruit and the flavored potato chips (chrisps, as they say) in exotic flavors like ox tail, barbequed chicken, shrimp, etc. It was always discussed while we made our sandwiches which flavor we would choose that day! To round out the bagged lunch were several types of cookies (biscuits) like Twix and some individually-wrapped. chocolate-covered chocolate cookies called Penquins that had a little graphic of a perky little penquin on it. (Sue snuck on of these little guys in my lunch my first day back to work after our trip and I felt very homesick for Dartmoor!)

After breakfast and the lunch-making, most of the Moor Tor-ists headed out to Ducks Pool in questionable weather - very cloudy and overcast with the hint of rain. Needless to say, we brought rain gear for the trek to one of Dartmoor's oldest boxes which serves as a memorial to William Crossing - renowned author and authority of all things Dartmoor.

Jennifer, of TeamKing, joined us that morning as the group assembled for breakfast. Formerly of Texas, Jennifer had just relocated to the Surrey/Hampshire area with her husband and children several weeks before our arrival. She still hadn't finished unpacking yet. In an email before we left, I asked if she had some time to meet with the group when we landed and her replay came back with a resounding "yes." Jennifer, like so many other UK boxers, had driven quite far to join us and she seemed quite excited to join us on the hike to Ducks Pool on her second trip to the moor.

Raincoats and rain gear were the fashion of the day as we met Spannerman and Ali at the Princetown car park at our appointed time. Steve (Spannerman) had found a place where we could park our vehicles and cut down the hike to 5 miles roundtrip instead of the 8 miles that it should take. As we arrived at the spot to leave our cars, the clouds moved in and the mist made its way through the valley.

As we hiked, Spannerman told me that while some stay home during the mist, he likes it. The mist "shows a different Dartmoor" and that "it helped add atmosphere to the moor" was how he described it. I spoke about being disappointed in our pictures of the last trip and we decided that you had to be there in person to sense the smells and the other sensory identifiers that made Dartmoor so unique. The mist, he believes, is just another of those sensory delights. Ali had never been to Ducks Pool so this would be a special day for her as well. Those from the group that didn't bring their own hiking sticks used the thumb sticks that Spannerman and his family had provided for us. For those of you that might visit Mark & Jacky at Blackadon, they are still there for those of you that would like to borrow them. Just as one of your hosts about them.

After passing an abandoned house, where we would later enjoy lunch resting on its stone wall, we headed past a small dam and marveled at the early technology of the mechanics involved in both opening and closing this early farm aid. As we set out, Steve said, we would be on a nice path on which to walk for about the first half of the 2.5 miles to stone monument that housed the box. The second half of the walk would be very uneven - walking over tufts of grass with high and low points and some holes until we reached our final destination.

Early on, we made a stop at the Hand Hill cross, which is Dartmoor's smallest cross. RustyPuff stood near the cross to give some perspective as to how diminutive this metal artifact really is. As the group set out again, we came upon an area that Steve pointed out that was now called Fox Tor Mire (a mire being another name for a bog or a wet soggy area.) The area's older name was Great Grimpen Mire - made famous in the Sherlock Holmes tale of the "Hounds of Baskerville."

The mist really began to move in on us - so much so that several times I would call out to the faster part of our group to hold up and wait for us. The last thing we wanted was to have one or two of the group go missing! Visibility was down to about 100 feet and I wanted to be sure that all of us were in view. The group didn't call me "the Daddy" for no reason. This name started on our last trip and was chosen by Alexis (Talking Turtle of NY) or Deanne, the Lazy Letterboxer. Whomever began the moniker, it stuck! Dave & Deanne even bought me a pin that says "I'm the Daddy" that we noticed in Tavistock later in the week.

Walking was difficult as we encountered uneven moorland of tufts of grass, small holes and ditches where the spring and summers record precipitation had softened and changed the contour of the ground. After some time on this uneven surface, our legs and ankles grew quite tired.

GPS units helped identify that we were close to the box. As we got closer, the skies opened up and a driving rain began. Even rain on the moor is different than usual as it comes at you at an angle. Half of our faces were soaking wet; dripping with water while the other half remained dry. Those of us with glasses needed frequent "wiping stops" to ensure that we could see!

The group had previously decided that Butterfly would get the honor of opening the box which she did with the enthusiasm in which she approaches life. We all took turns stamping the box into our logbooks and leaving our own individual sig stamp images in the boxes hardbound logbook. We also stamped our team stamp, The Moor Tor-ists image.

Pictures were taken of many of us holding the metal box with its inscription as we had done at Cranmere Pool. After a brief and soggy lunch in the rain, the group set out for our return trip to the car. The sun came out as we headed back which enabled us to get a glimpse of the beautiful countryside that we had missed in the mist on our way in. As we arrived at the cars, we bid farewell to Jennifer of TeamKing who headed off home to her family.

Just before dinner at Blackadon, Andy came by the dining room exterior door and he had a couple with him. "We have a few visitors" he said cryptically. While I had prearranged different local letterboxers to stop by at various times - this was a totally unexpected visit! But I assumed I had forgotten someone was coming. I had arranged for so many visitors that week that I finally made an Excel spreadsheet that showed who was coming and when; who was staying for which meals, etc. The email I sent to Mark & Jacky before we left had about 26 for dinner on Thursday night and 22 on Friday night! (As it turned out, Mark had never received that email so when I casually mentioned it to him Sunday, he was a little taken aback. In the end, the meals were terrific and we set the pace for our return trip in 2010 - fancy buffets that allowed us to serve ourselves. You see, breakfast and dinner at Blackadon were served to us by one of 2 waitresses that Mark brought in to help him with our group. As I've said before, they just couldn't do enough for us - they were terrific hosts!)

Back to our surprise guests . . . Our guest turned out to be Malcolm and Angela Allderidge. But first, like always, there is a story to be told! In the beginning of August, I received an email from Malcolm, completely out of the blue, advising us that while reading our Dartmoor trip account from our last trip he noticed that I didn't mention anything about the boxes that were located in the Princetown gift shop at the prison there. I answered him that yes, we had found them and this correspondence developed into not only a friendship but the offer of help and the arrangement of plans beyond our wildest dreams.

You see, our conduit to the wonderful meeting with Godfrey and Anne Swinscow last visit was through a series of emails with Sylvia and Tony Moore that originated with the request to purchase the Dartmoor Catalog of Clues. A friendship ensued and while we made arrangements to meet Sylvia and Tony that magical night at the Railway Inn that we've documented in our last trip diary, it was a last minute email just days before our departure when Sylvia began her email with "Do you mind if we bring Godfrey Swinscow with us to the Railway Inn?" After verifying it was the "God" that we all knew, plans were made. It seems that our visits to Dartmoor are touched by fate's hands!

Well this time we wouldn't be meeting with the Moore's due to Tony's bout with cancer. Several times during the year when he was doing better, I sent emails to them inquiring about his health and wishing them both our best. Those emails went unanswered so our hopes of meeting with them and Godfrey were dashed and something we had put up on a shelf for a future visit - this group would not meet Godfrey and that was all there was to it.

Enter Malcolm and our ongoing email correspondence. During one email, he mentioned that he had told Godfrey that we were returning and Godfrey asked if the group would mind meeting with him again for dinner at a mutually convenient location? Mind!? Of course, all of this was kept under our pinecone hats since only Sue & I knew about our special guest. Also, Malcolm went on to say, Anne said she would like to join us as well which really surprised Malcolm as he said Anne didn't participate in letterboxing events and mostly stayed at home. "You must have impressed her during your last visit" he said. I remember the group being a little wild and all I could think of was that she was looking forward to visiting with more crazy Americans. More about their visit with us later but I had to lay the groundwork for who Malcolm was and why his surprise visit really made our day.

Malcolm and Angela had just celebrated the birth of their newest grandchild and despite my inquiries, said he didn't think they could make it to meet with us. But - they had and here they were! They drove more than several hours to spend some time with us and Malcolm told me that it was all worth it when he saw the look on my face when he identified themselves! It was truly a special moment to meet this stranger who had helped us with some of the arrangements of this trip. The kindness of letterboxers was at work again!

While I made a cup of tea for Malcolm and Angela, who had already eaten on their 3 hour drive to meet us, we gave them some of the boxes I had brought from our last Dartmoor trip and some of our personal boxes. They told us to enjoy our meal and that they would be fine. On the floor of the living room were containers filled with letterboxes that caught my eye but more on that later.

The group finished dinner while I told them the story of our introduction to Malcolm and the great surprise of their visit that evening. I couldn't tell them then that Malcolm had been instrumental in arranging our coming visit with God but would tell them later that week! Much had been written and we've been told that the Brits do not travel like we do in the US. They limit their travel, except when they holiday, to about an hour's drive tops - anything more than an hour's drive is considered excessive. But over the past several nights, various letterboxers had traveled many hours one way to meet our group - a most humbling experience that demonstrated the brotherhood of this hobby that extends past national borders.

After we sang "Happy Birthday" to Joe (Connie's husband) who celebrated his birthday that day and cut the surprise birthday cake that Jacky had baked for the occasion, the group made their way into the living room (lounge) and introduced themselves to the Allderidges.

"I brought you some stamps" he said. And that he did! About 85 of their special 1 day or limited series stamps - all beautifully designed by Angela with exceptional detail. While the group enjoyed stamping them in their logbooks and the kindness offered by Malcolm and Angela and by Ian and Caroline the previous night, we did not use these images in our boxing counts for our Dartmoor patches. Like in the US, our finds on Dartmoor were actual boxes that we found on the moor. We so appreciated all these locals did in offering us their images as Sue & I look at ourselves as "collectors of images." Since we don't count our boxes any longer - it really didn't matter. And we loved the intricate images that Angela had designed. One image was nicer than the next! After a delightful evening, we said goodbye with the hope that they might make the Plymouth letterboxing meeting that Wednesday in Plymouth.

Once again, I was one of the last to go to bed as was RTRW. The excitement of the Ducks Pool trip and the surprise visit by Malcolm and Angela made for a well rounded dose of fun. And tomorrow, the complete group was headed to a scavenging area that Malcolm and Andy had discussed. Plans were made for Monday when the weather forecast promised sunny skies and our own forecast held for plenty of boxes.

Mark & Sue at Ducks Pool

Wet; but Happy!

September 17, 2007 "The Tor-ists Hit the Moor"

Scavenging was on the agenda today! After another great breakfast and packing our lunches at the cottages, the entire group headed into Tavistock so Andy could purchase a new set of gators while the rest of us shopped for an hour in this quaint town. We had an hour to walk around town and pick up a souvenir or two. Tavistock was just a few miles from home with The Baker's Dozen so the returning members found the town familiar as we had stopped here several times before.

At our appointed time, we set off and parked the vans. As the group entered the moorland through the usual Dartmoor gate, we spotted a couple of Brits coming our way. Come to find out, they were letterboxing for only their second time. They were introduced to boxing by the caravan (camping) owner, where they were staying on holiday, who had planted a set of clues for all those who stay on the property. During our conversation, they mentioned a coming trip to Disney World in Florida so I gave them the URL's for Letterboxing.org and AtlasQuest.com so they could print out some clues for the area when they visited.

As we were talking to the newbie boxers, a troop of the British army went by while Jennifer was still holding the gate for our group. You can see by the picture that she was more than intrigued by those in-shape young men jogging with their, what looked to be, 75 pound packs on their backs. I imagine Jen was trying to help them along and be a good hiker!

Before the group set off, I explained how we would utilize those innovative aluminum whistles that Sue had bought the other members of the group. When Sue brought them home after a shopping expedition, I asked "What the heck are we going to do with these?" She excitedly said "To use when we find a box in Dartmoor!" As it turned out, the group used these whistles every day and they ended up being a great communication tool. One point for Sue!

Last trip, we would just yell and wave our hands when someone found a box. This time, Sue planned on us blowing our whistles so I explained to the group that a long whistle would signify that someone had found a box. Three short bursts of the whistle would serve as a distress signal that meant someone was in trouble and needed help right away. So off we set out to scavenge along the valley below Arm Tor. Jennifer found the first box of the day. And the whistles began to fill the valley with found boxes by other Tor-ists!

As we boxed that day, I came upon Irene from Hikers & Hounds who was laying on a flat rock at the top of Arm Tor where she seemed to be drinking in the view. "I never knew it would be this beautiful!" she told me. She was moved to tears (something that I would eventually get used to which was usually accompanied by a fanning motion of her hand to her face) by the beauty of the moor; something that I have experienced on many occasions.

Yes, it is so difficult to describe or capture in photos the true beauty of this place. "It's and unlikely beauty" was the way RTRW described it - a perfect description. As she walked up the hill to Arm Tor, Rebecca (RTRW) turned to me and said "I get it now." We had another convert in our flock of Tor lovers. In a post trip email from Andy, he remarked that it seemed like more of this group understood the beauty and the history of what made the moor so special and that we had, on this trip, less emphasis on finding boxes but enjoying the beauty. I wholeheartedly agree that this group "got it." I feel a the main reason for that was that The Baker's Dozen were in Dartmoor for only 4 days since the other 3 were in London and we our only goal was that Dartmoor 100 patch and kept to a strict schedule of finding boxes. This time, all of us that returned had reached that goal and it was easier to stop and smell the tors, so to speak.

After finding many boxes, the group stopped for lunch as the rain and sun played tag above! Some of the group had started to climb Arm Tor so they ate their lunch where they were. Others found a rocky area to spread out and enjoy a quick bite between boxes. After scouting out the top of Arm Tor, the group headed towards Widgery Cross, a famous landmark on the moor and Brat Tor. There were breathtaking views of the farmland below as the group headed towards the cross on the hill single file like so many ducks in a row.

At some point that afternoon, someone noticed that Irene had torn her new hiking pants; most likely on that flat rock where she had been enjoying the view several hours before. Someone produced duct tape and Jennifer and Dave did a quick repair job on Irene's hiking pants. It seems we've added another to the thousands of uses for duct tape. While it was a quick repair job, it seemed to hold and do the trick.

Everyone took pictures at the top of the cross and we scavenged the area; upping our F count to a total of 26 boxes for the day. Feeling fulfilled and happy but a little on the thirsty side, we stopped at the Fox & Hounds Pub for a quick pint and some of the boxes they had housed under their roof. Refreshed after a quick pint and wanting something more substantial, we set off for Princetown for a dinner at the Plume & Feathers Pub where Mark had so kindly made reservations for our group. The Plume was the first place The Baker's Dozen had eaten several years before on the first night of our arrival. Most of this group ordered-fish & chips (a whole fish!) or bangers & mash (sausages and mashed potatoes.) They had reserved the back most room for us and a few others were in the adjoining area.

After dinner, the group split up into 2 groups - a group that headed back to Blackadon (of which Sue & I were a part) and another group that stayed behind with Andy to join in the Trivia Night at the Prince of Wales Pub located very close to the Plume & Feathers. The emcee of the evening was Irish Sean and our group - consisting of Andy, Irene, RTRW, Jennifer, Rusty Puff and Sewsobizzy used the team name "Inky Fingers" which we thought was quite appropriate.

It seems the bar's cat, Henry the Cat, was a legend in the area for being quite untouchable. But our RTRW tamed the wild beast and held him for a while which earned her a newfound respect with the locals. When Irene got up at one point to hit the ladies room, RTRW noticed that her jacket had stuck to her duct tape on Irene's hiking pants and she was walking through the pub with a trailing jacket. Rebecca tried to gracefully pull it off of Irene but, from the story we heard, made it even worse!

After that incident, the group came up with a Torn Pants Song
that went like this:


"I ripped my pants and my arse is hanging out,
My arse is hanging out; my arse is hanging out.
I ripped my pants and my arse is hanging out,
Sure looks cheeky to me!"


It seems they did us proud since they were in 2nd place out of a total of 5 teams when they left the bar shortly after midnight which was half time; leaving the bar to a rousing round of applause. We understand that Irene was killer on the music questions. After leaving the bar, Andy took the girls (he's a saint, I tell ya!) to a tor to view the stars at night so they could enjoy the heavens without any ground lights. They were so impressed that we all planned to do the very same thing with the entire group later in the week but we never had a clear night in which to try it.

The rest of the group went home to Blackadon while Andy and the girls played trivia. It was a relaxing night in our "cozies" (those flannel pants that we all brought to lounge around in after hours.) When the group came home later that night, we got to hear the story of Irene with her magic coat tail, Henry the Cat and had a command performance, with hand and butt gestures, of the Torn Pants Song!

Needless to say - it was another very full day!