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This little chap turned up at our event on New Year’s Day and Judy is convinced it reminds her of someone!

But what a day!  For the third consecutive year we must have upset the weather gods for yet again it rained almost continually for the whole day.  The photo right was taken by Graham as once again he negotiated flooded roads to get to us.  Amazingly almost every single person who said they would attend did so.  

As would be expected in such conditions the rain caused our Dartmoor rivers to be in spate and this photo by Mike Norton shows the East Dart at the famous Clapper Bridge, a couple of hundred yards from the hotel where we were holding the event.

 

From the 42 Will Attend logs we thought we may get about 80 people, but it would appear that we probably had over 90 (including our helpers)! What an amazing turnout.  So, many, many thanks to everybody who braved the Dartmoor weather to get to Postbridge.  Last year we struggled to serve 60 cream teas, but fortunately we had extra help this year and did manage to serve about 80 cream teas.  

However, the most amazing aspect of the day was the unbelievable generosity of all those who attended.  As you know I had set targets of raising £350 for the Devon Air Ambulance and £100 for the 2017 Devon Mega Event.  Well, we blew them out of the water!  Last year we raised a total of £337 – this year it was £553!!

The cream teas raised £233 and thanks once again to Caroline for selling the tickets, to all those who brought such a wonderful display of prizes and to everybody for buying the tickets – the raffle raised £225!

However, we were not finished.  We then moved into Auction mode and after three preliminary auctions which raised £25, the highlight of the afternoon was a Blind Auction for an unknown box of caching goodies donated by our very kind and popular reviewer, Heather.  We had agreed a reserve which I thought we may struggle to reach, but after starting it at £10 I was amazed to see it go up in £5 bids.  I thought it had been sold at £50, but no, Andy had bid £55, but he was beaten by Bob who was clearly determined to win it for his wife Corinna.

I had already announced that all proceeds from the raffle would go to the DAAT together with two thirds of the cream tea money.  The auctions were split according to the wishes of those donating the prizes and there was another donation of £10.  The result is that the Devon Air Ambulance will receive £430 and the 2017 Devon Mega £123.  

My last task is once again to thank everybody.  Thanks for coming, thanks for being so generous in bringing raffle prizes, buying tickets and bidding in the auctions, thanks to my partner Judy, my sister Pat and her friend Ruth, to Sue (behind the bar) and her husband Mike (who did all the washing up) and to the Paul and Rosie landlords of the East Dart Hotel for allowing us to use the hotel whilst they were away on holiday – totally free of charge.  In fact, once again there were no deductions and every penny taken (except over the bar) is included in those total amounts to be donated.  

Once again we have organised an extra activity to coincide with our 2016 New Year Cream Tea Event which is being held on 1st January, 2016 at The East Dart Hotel, Postbridge. One more tor, but three less caches than last year, but a very similar format.

At about 8am on 1st January 8 new caches will be published on Dartmoor.  These consist of two or three caches in each of 3 areas, plus the bonus cache.  Of the 7 feeder caches, 6 are simple offset caches and the other one a very simple puzzle cache.  Each of the 7 caches will contain bonus information for the bonus cache.

Three of the caches include a 2016 Dartmoor Geocoin as FTF Prizes

Yes, no fewer than 3 of the 8 caches have an unactivated geocoin as a FTF prize.  I would ask that any caching group takes no more than 1 of these coins.  Please do leave a second FTF geocoin to another group.

2016 Seven Tors Challenge Update
As promised these are the tors that need to be visited:
Rippon Tor – 1.4 miles (mainly paths – rest fairly easy)
Laughter Tor/Bellever Tor – 3.2 miles (mainly paths – rest fairly easy)
Rundlestone Tor/Hollow Tor/Foggintor – 2.9 miles (two thirds on paths, rest more difficult)
Bonus cache – 0.4 miles(easy path) 
All distances round trips from and back to recommended parking.
So a total of less than 8 miles with the majority on paths with many hints.

As last year, some of the caches will be listed on geocaching.com and some on opencaching.org.uk.

There is not a long list of rules, but please use ONLY ONE CAR for each group and do not swap bonus numbers with other groups.

So, how many are up for our Seven Tors Challenge?  Please reply to this post to let us know if you will be taking part or to ask any questions.

Please note that you can participate in this activity without attending our New Year Cream Tea event and can attend the event without participating in this activity.

 

I am very pleased to announce that the 2016 Dartmoor Geocoins have arrived and as in previous years, they are stunning!  I shall now be starting to ask for payment – details below.

As always the coins are very difficult to photograph – use normal room lighting and you get shadows from the camera, use a flash and the light reflects.  This is my best effort so far, but I shall try again with natural light tomorrow.

I shall be working my way through the orders in the order I received them and sending out PayPal requests.  I will require an email address, so if you know I don’t have yours please send it to me using an email to davidgmartin@me.com.  If you have bought one previously or have signed up to this web site, I will have it already.

If you have only ordered one coin but would like an additional coin to enter the 2016 Dartmoor Geocoin Race, I can provide one for only an additional £9 – but it MUST be entered in the race, when that is announced.

If you haven’t already ordered a coin, they cost £15 for one, £28 for two or £24 for two if one of them is going to enter the race.  These prices include £2 p&p.

As promised £100 will be donated to the Devon Mega Fund, plus an additional £10 for 3 orders placed with the Black Friday offer 

If you have any questions please leave a reply below or reply on the Dartmoor Geocaching facebook page: Dartmoor Geocaching

Many, many thanks to all who have supported the Dartmoor Geocoins this year.

Have you joined the Dartmoor Geocaching Facebook group?
Please click here to join: Dartmoor Geocaching

Please note that you can click on any of the photos to see them enlarged.

The Dart’moor’s Double Dozen series is placed around the East Dart from Postbridge to the East Dart waterfall and back.  Although almost all the caches are intact there were questions marks over several others around the route – so time for some more maintenance!  But the first objective was the recent Finder-Man cache near the William Donaghy Memorial stone – not too difficult despite the gorse 

For me, the most impressive structure on Dartmoor is shown on the map as The Sheepfold, although clearly it’s high walls indicate that that was not it’s original purpose.  Evidently it was built as a Starch Factory by John and Thomas Hullett at the start of the 19th century but seems to have been another ill-conceived Dartmoor business which soon failed.  I was brought back to this area to check on The Starch Factory cache which had indeed gone missing and is now replaced.

Not far from the Sheepfold is the Beehive Hut, another very impressive Dartmoor structure.  Beehive huts such as this one were used by tinners and stone cutters to store their tools and also as a small shelter from the elements.  My adopted cache, Beehive Hut, has caused many problems and once again it had appeared to go missing when a found log was recorded.  For some reason the cache had disappeared from its proper hiding place and had been found on the open moor a few yards away.  Fortunately I quickly spotted this and returned it once more to its rightful place.

My main concern for the day was the state of the streams and rivers.  The normally innocuous little stream that runs near the Beehive Hut and feeds the East Dart looked far too difficult to cross at that point so I followed it down to the stepping stones and managed to cross there.  However, the next cache to be checked was the one on the East Dart Island and there I decided that the East Dart was far too dangerous to be crossed at that point, so unfortunately I was not able to check this cache out.  This cache has never gone missing and I very much doubt if it has gone missing now 

Three more caches were checked on my way to the East Dart Waterfall, and despite several DNFs on two of them, all three were exactly where they should have been.  Having seen the state of the East Dart I was getting extremely worried as to whether I would be able to cross it safely at the waterfall.  If I couldn’t not only would it mean a longer walk back, but I wouldn’t be unable to check the caches on the other side of the river.  This was the river near the Dart’moor’s Double Dozen 12 cache!

It wasn’t immediately obvious whether it would be safe or not to cross the East Dart at the waterfall, but it was certainly going to be challenging!

From a distance the challenge didn’t look too bad, but it was a lot more worrying the closer you got 

 

I have to say that this was the most difficult crossing I’ve had at the waterfall.  The water levels were high, the river running very fast, the rocks were wet and very slippery.  I was very aware that one false step could see me swept over the edge, so I proceeded very cautiously – much of the time keeping a three point contact with whatever I could reach!

Well, I made it to the other side and was very relieved to have done so.  My adopted cache, Near the Waterfall, had gone, so was replaced.  Never Say Never 6 had also gone, so another replacement.  I made my way back down to the East Dart as I knew that DDD17 had gone, so once again a replacement!

In total my maintenance walk was just under 7 miles. I found one new cache, visited 14 of my caches, of which 4 were replaced, 3 received new logs, 1 was moved and the other 6 required no action at all.  All in all another great day on Dartmoor 

Thirty five consecutive DNFs on just six Skir Hill Trail caches made me think it was time to take a look!  A spot of maintenance was clearly needed – or was it?  This is the story of today’s walk up the O Brook and on to Skir Hill.

As might be expected after weeks and weeks of rain, Dartmoor is saturated and the O Brook, if not in spate, is at least challenging – when is a brook no longer a brook 

The caches which have been causing problems are those along the brook which requires multiple crossings.  Many times there have been several consecutive DNFs, but almost always the caches have been there.  Would today be different?

I splashed up the path to No 2 which was clearly visible metres away despite 5 consecutive DNFs, not to mention the cachers’ path which is gradually forming!

Up stream to No 4, which may well be missing, as this is an easy find in plain view and has disappeared before.

What’s that a spoiler – I must really be getting soft 

But, it had gone so a new cache placed in a slightly more secure location – hopefully it will stay there.

No 6 is another easy find in plain view and rarely gives any problems.  It’s hanging about knee height and you are looking for this (photo left).

No 8 is always the most problematic and is on a run of 13 DNFs dating back to May 2015!  I added a hint after I last visited “No need to touch anything – just use your eyes! Cache at ground level.”  I will add another hint here – try around the tree roots.  It really is not that difficult 

So far only one cache missing, which was much as I expected.

Now it was time to leave the O Brook which is one of my favourite Dartmoor streams. I have carefully crossed it 4 times today – and I still have totally dry feet

Up the valley towards Skir Hill and the first stop is at No 5 with 6 consecutive DNFs.  But I couldn’t find it either.  I was certain I knew where this was but there was a beautiful clump of mushrooms growing there!  But it was there, the mushrooms had grown up and hidden it.  I’ve now moved it away from the mushrooms, but once again it is in plain view.

In case you are wondering what you are looking for, both No 8 and No 5 are the same type of cache and look like the photo right.

Further up the valley we reach No 7 (Replaced).  I have no idea what happened to the original cache, one day it was there, the next it had vanished

The replacement cache was in position for over 4 months before it was found and had 9 DNFs before FTF.  Currently it has 4 DNFs, but once again I was sure that it would be there and it was!

No 7 (Replaced) still has more DNFs than finds but once again I checked the coordinates and they are spot on.  It’s just a normal “small”  cache under a rock – you just need to find the right rock.

Today was a superb day for walking on Dartmoor and this was the view from the cache site 

The last cache to be checked on the Skir Hill Trail today was No 19.  This is situated in a clitter field with numerous hides and has caused a few problems since it was placed, but  as expected I soon found it. I also have to search for these caches, because if I had taken a spoiler photo I didn’t have it with me.  It is a 900ml box, so not small and it hadn’t even been well hidden and I soon spotted it poking out!  Once again I checked the coordinates and they are spot on!

I checked on a few other caches, dropped off a couple of travel bugs, but the main task of the day was complete – and only one of the caches was missing 

Once again we are pleased to support
The Devon UK Mega

Our Special Black Friday Offer

Normally £13 each plus £2 p&p
Get All 3 Limited Edition
Dartmoor Geocoins
for just £33 incl p&p to the UK
and
The Devon UK Mega Fund
will receive £3 for every order

A late journey to New York from New Zealand made Christine an easy winner in this year’s Dartmoor Geocoin Race.  The trip of nearly 9,000 miles took Christine’s coin from 3rd place to first for an easy win by nearly 7,00 miles.  

Unfortunately the previous leader’s coin, owned by Justine, has not been seen since 25th September and has now been marked as missing,    but might still reappear as coins often do.

Considering that Kevin’s and Sue’s coin didn’t even get placed until August, it is amazing they they managed to finish third with Tammie’s coin fourth.  The top 4 coins have a total mileage of over 63,000 miles and visited places all over the world, including two going to New Zealand and one to Hawaii.  Trips to Europe and America by the race participants were almost common place, with almost all the coins reaching foreign countries at some stage.

What is really amazing is that out of 27 coins which started the race, it appears that 20 of them are still being moved around, which is excellent considering the quality of these coins and all the bad news stories that are always being circulated regarding trackables.  Two of these 20 coins did reappear after it was thought likely that they had been lost, so you should never give up hoping.

I did say that I would offer 4 prizes if we received 30 entries, and it is no fault of those participating that some coins never got activated or placed.  I will therefore honour that and award 2016 Dartmoor Geocoins to the first 4 in the race. 

So that’s all for the 2015 race, we will start the 2016 one some time in the new year and hope for the same great support that we had this year.  Many thanks indeed! 

Name/Geocoin Link	Cacher Name	Miles Travelled	Last Location	Status
Christine Hutchins	chutch74	21,955.2	Massachusetts	In cache
Justine Tear	The Old Grey Mare	15,151.3	Hessen, Germany	Last seen on 25th Sept Marked as missing 🙁
Kevin & Sue Bastow	dartmoor strider	14,225.7	Coffs Harbour New South Wales	Still visiting!
Tammie Walker	tacks spaniels	12,423	Washington	In cache
Steve Godfrey	Godfairies	8,064.8	Near Sunderland	Retrieved - no news since 16th August
Brian Imeson	Ponte Raiders	7,614.5	Halifax, Yorkshire	Still visiting!
Paul Smirfin	The Smirfs	7,010	Ontario	Retrieved
Colin Ramage	BigCandLittleC	6,915.3	Hessen, Germany	Retrieved
Nigel Greer	TeamGruffalo	6,308.6	New York	Visiting
Neil Armstrong	Finder-Man	5,995.4	Limburg, Belgium	Still visiting!
Sue Nickels	tobytwirl	5,855.8	California	In cache
Andy Manning	Touc and Becks	4,663.2	Karlovarsky kraj, Czech Republic	In cache
Trevor Pearce-Jones	angels55	3,578.7	Ontario, Canada	In a TB Hotel - no news since 6th August
Sammie Jane	tiggersam	3,924.5	Niedersachsen, Germany	Visiting
Janet Kneller	Weather-IT	3,781.9	Hamburg, Germany	In cache
Cathy Pengilly	Pinguigloo	2,615.7	Bayern, Germany	Visiting
Joe Bird	miss130	2,467.4	Salzburg, Austria	In cache - no news since 1st September
Kevin & Hels Ashford	Eros & Us!!!	1,771.4	Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany	Retrieved
Adam Holland	tango5tavy	1524.9	North Wales	Still visiting!
Paula Grebot	Qashguy+2	1,263.1	Niedersachsen, Germany	Visiting
Bill & Mary Kingdon	The Odyssians	1,050.1	Near Stockport	Retrieved
Suzy Ayshford	jazz_a (-339 miles)	713.3	Exeter	In a TB Hotel since 22nd June 🙁
Colin Masters	Clan Masters	550.2	Knighton, Powys	In cache - no news since 29th August
Zara Lester	zjac	517.3	Noord-Brabant, Netherlands	Retrieved
Jason Deane	dixie_gooner (-2.1 miles)	423.6	TB Hotel on the M62	Still visiting!
Paul Blake	ping68	177.4	Hampstead Heath	Visiting
Theresa Phillips	taz9213	13.7	Exeter	In cache - no news since 4th June 🙁
Alex Goedhals	Team Noodles	0	With Owner	Never released 🙁
Emily Branson	Brave bransons	0	With Owner	Never activated 🙁
David Routley	daver59	0	With Owner	Activated - but withdrawn from race 🙁
Graham North	Flexburyites	0	Please confirm location	Unknown

I don’t normally release the design for the new coin but tonight I spotted the Devon Mega request to help fundraising just as the final factory die art arrived on my desk.  So here’s the deal – for the first 50 coins sold before Christmas I will donate £2 to the Devon Mega funds 

I have been promised the coins by the beginning of December, so they should make excellent Christmas presents.  The cost is the same as the previous 2 years, £15 including £2 p&p or £28 for 2 coins.  The Devon Mega will receive £2 for each of the first 50 coins sold!

If you are interested please post a comment below or post a comment in the Dartmoor Geocaching Facebook group

 

Our busy Summer season at The Cherrybrook is drawing to an end which means that I can once again turn my attention to caching  

There’s so much occurring at the moment it’s difficult to know where to start!

Update on the Dartmoor 2015 Geocoin Race

Another great month for the race with coins moving all over the world!  We now have coins in New Zealand, Canada, California, Nepal and at least 5 different European countries.  The vast majority of the coins have moved recently and only a handful seem to be stuck or maybe lost.

Both Christine’s and Kevin & Sue’s coins have gone to New Zealand, but the race leader is now Justine’s coin which has gone to Hawaii and back – amazing. 

Zara’s coin was lost for two and a half months but was then found and is now in Amsterdam.

Latest race positions can be found here

New Dartmoor Geocaching Facebook Group

This web site always had a very active user forum where many topics have been discussed over the years.  However, it is very clear that most now prefer Facebook and the use of the forum has declined severely.  I therefore thought that it was time that we had our own Facebook group which I have now set up.  Please click on the Facebook icon to visit the group.

Please join the group and enter a draw to win a Dartmoor Geocoin

The first 50 cachers to join the group will be entered into a draw to win one of the Limited Edition Dartmoor Geocoins.  A second draw for another coin will be made once we have reached a total of 100 cachers.  Please do join our group today 

Family Friendly Series for Half Term

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was planning a new family friendly series for half term.  I have now mapped out the route completely and have final locations for over half the caches.  In total there will be 32 caches on a route of 7.5 miles but with a couple of opportunities to shorten this.  There will be several largish caches which hopefully I can fill with swag and many others will be novelty type caches.  None of the caches will be too difficult and my hope is that everyone will have lots of fun with no DNFs

Over the next few days I should complete the planning and all will be submitted for review (in dribs and drabs Heather has requested).  The plan is to have these available for Wednesday 28th October.  I am not certain what would be the best time to have these published and are very happy to receive your views on this?

For now I will tell you that the route will take in Bellever Tor and much of Bellever Forest, but I am not given any other clues as to the route.  However, I will publish a map of the route on this web site before publication of the caches to allow you to plan your day and parking etc.

2016 New Year Cream Tea Event

The event listing for our Annual New Year Cream Tea Event has now been published, but it doesn’t tell you very much!  As you will all be aware, there are restrictions on what can be placed in an event listing, so it is left to Facebook and this web site to fill in the missing details.  It will be of a very similar format to last year where Judy and I donated the Cream Teas and ALL proceeds from the event went to the Devon Air Ambulance Trust.  However, this year we will be also be raising funds for the Devon Mega.  At the moment I would see a raffle for the DAAT and an auction for the Devon Mega, which will also get a third of charge we are making for the cream teas.  Last year we raised a total of £337 for the DAAT, can I suggest that we target £500 this year