Letterboxing
Our Story
OUR STORY
In 1979 a great friend of ours Bob Shepard introduced us to letterboxing by taking us on a walk to Cuckoo Rock; this feature stands high and proud dominating the local area. In a cave below the rock was hidden a letterbox. With the treasure duly visited we continued our hike to take in Eylesbarrow and Drizzlecombe. From a ridge overlooking Giants Basin we were in awe of the view - we thought such a beautiful place and right on our doorstep.
Resulting from this experience we were led through a portal into a world of exploration which has lasted some 30 years plus. In this time we were able to amass some more than 50.000 stamps.
All who are involved in letterboxing have their own pseudonyms, our initially was ‘Sheeps Scabs’. In time we changed our name to ‘The Dartmoor Bounders’. This name was as a result of bringing to light a 50 mile hike around the ancient boundary of Dartmoor as stated in the year 1240.
Personal stamps we started out with.
However we were advised to change them!
These are the stamps we now use
First Stamp we Collected First stamp we sited
First New Years Stamp
Another offshoot to our Dartmoor ramblings is the instigation of the yearly pilgrimage on New Years’ Day to Fur Tor. In times past Fur Tor was known as Vur Tor. A link to photos can be accessed from this site.
Our holidays would see us walking most of the Long Distance footpaths in Great Britain. We had great fun enjoying not only the challenge but the journey.
Now we’re starting to slow down, we’ve found another treasure hunting game – Geocaching. Caches are secreted all over the world & chasing them down has taken us to places we would never have explored or visited.
Ian & Caroline
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Some time ago, a good friend of ours John Tidball (Captain E) created many hand cut stamps of well known personalities.
I thought I would feature some of the stamps here for all to see & as a tribute to John's artistic flair.
We will intermittently upload a few more.
SHIPLEY TOR-ACF PERSON.No1
14/02/03 Major Graham Emond – Sports Officer
RYDERS HILL-ACF PERSON.No2
25/01/98 Ted Molloy – 0C D’ Company
HORNS CROSS-ACF PERSON.No3
25/01/98 David Lillicrap - 21C D’ Company
MIDDLE STAPLE TOR-ACF PERSON.No4
14/09/97 Major Bob Loram – 0C A’ Company
ROOS TOR-ACF PERSON.No5
14/09/97 Colonel John Reason Commandant
