Letterboxing on Arms Tor

This morning I woke up around 6:00am and couldn't get back to sleep so I got up and got ready for the day. At 6:45am I was ready - not sure why I was up so early because I didn't get to sleep until almost 1:00am. I ended up doing a little reading and playing on the computer until it was time for breakfast. At 7:45am breakfast was ready - had the usual - yogurt, toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and coffee. After eating I went and made our lunches for the day and then returned to the room to get last minute things packed into the backpack.

We ended up leaving the cottages around 9:30am to drive to Lydford. Somehow we ended up getting lost and were on a very narrow little road that barely allowed to vans to pass. On each side of the road were rock walls covered in plants. When we realized that we were on the wrong road we had to turn around which was no easy task. Once a spot was found we got the vans headed back down the road and then encountered other cars coming toward us - and there was no way two cars could pass side by side on that road. The other cars ended up having to back up to a side road and then we could pass. There was a police car at that side road and they helped to get us off that narrow road and back on the right road. We picked up Noddy and then headed for our destination of Arms Tor.

We parked and Noddy handed out maps and when everyone was ready we headed for the tor. We spent about four hours scavenging for boxes and we also used Noddy's GPS to narrow in on areas where there were boxes. We spent the day going up and down hill looking for boxes and when one was found we would head there to stamp in. At days end we had walked around four and a half miles and had found 20 boxes. Noddy was a big help in getting us to areas of the tor where there were multiple boxes to be found. In order to get back to the cottages for dinner we had to leave Lydford by a certain time and that included dropping off Noddy. When we arrived back at the car park from our walk we had about a half hour to kill. So We stopped off at the Dartmoor Inn and had a beer.

On the way back to the cottages we all realized how tired we were. I guess while we were climbing the tor and hunting boxes we didn't notice it but now that we were relaxed and not moving it set in that we were worn out. The menu for tonight was Indian food - curry to be more specific. This isn't something I like so Thomas had picked up something for me while we were out letterboxing. (Oops! - I forgot to mention that Thomas, Andy and Mel stayed behind. They didn't want to hike and they ended up visiting St. Michael de Rupe in Brentor. They also stopped at a pub for lunch and that is where Thomas got me something for dinner.) We got home just in time for dinner so there wasn't time to shower before eating but immediately after dinner I took my shower so that when I got in bed I would feel better. Now that all that is done I am really feeling worn out and I hope this all makes sense. Tomorrow it is just the group - no British letterboxers - for more scavenging on the moor.