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I’m normally much more interested in quality caches than pure numbers, but there are so few quality caches and they are scattered about.  We are fortunate that living on the moor we can largely ignore urban caches and c&ds and concentrate on the many  good caches around Dartmoor.  But today we needed to boost our numbers and decided that we would start with one of the newer series and follow it with as many c&ds, etc. that we could fit into daylight hours.

We set off for Ideford and completed the excellent Ideford Common series before gradually moving south to Bishopsteignton, then south-east to Shaldon before ending up at Teignmouth. None of these places we had ever visited before and we were really impressed by this new area that once again we had found by geocaching.   In total we found 25 caches of varying quality and interest, but all had to be placed by their owners and I would thank them all.  And we wrote a unique log for each!

We ended the day by amazingly finding an excellent fish and chip shop open on a Sunday evening in February.  Even more amazing was that while sitting and eating our fish and chips I suddenly realised that there was a cache almost right outside the door.  So we found our 25th cache of the day!

Today was a Dartmoor Dave solo day!  A day to wander into the most remote part of the moor, walking using map & compass only, in as straight a line as the bogs would allow!  The main motivation for today’s trek were the new Hobo & Miss Kneeset Triangle caches, and of course to knock off a few more Dartmoor Forest caches.

The day started really well with easy finds on most of the caches, the highlight of the day being the Kneeset Triangle.  Somehow I have missed this little bit of the moor and was very impressed by the scenery and the Okement River valley.  Unfortunately the day was not conducive to decent photography, but I did manage a couple of the Okement valley.  The Kneeset Triangle caches were very enjoyable and the bonus cache well worth the effort. Highly recommended if you are prepared to walk into this remote part of the moor.

The day went rapidly downhill after Kneeset with a difficult river crossing, a steep climb, a DNF at the very boggy Stenga Tor and the last two and a half miles by torchlight.  But, still a very enjoyable day with 11 of my targeted 14 caches found with 1 DNF on a trek of over 13 miles taking 10 hours!

Muddypuddles has been placing Dartmoor Forest caches quicker than we can find them, but one of the latest ones is not too far away.  The Dartmeet cache has been there for over a week now and still nobody has dared to venture across the stepping stones that the West Dart is rushing over!  But now there is one near Saddle Bridge and it’s not that far from Dartmeet, so a nice little walk brings us two FTF’s and two more crossed off from the series.

We’ve been planning a new little series of our own and wanted to do something a bit different from my usual clip & lock boxes shoved under rocks.  So we’ve called it Expect the Unexpected and I placed the first in the series near Saddle Bridge.  I have to be honest and admit that this series has been inspired by the wonderful Joy of Caching series and my thanks to Kit and Buster for that.  Hopefully you will enjoy these as much.

We’ve geocached on Dartmoor for nearly two years and have yet to visit the shrine of Dartmoor geocaching at Woolwell.  So today we decided that we must make the pilgrimage to the “bin”, which would also give us the chance to pick up a few other local caches we had been avoiding for far too long.

The “bin” must be the largest cache I’ve yet seen and wasn’t particularly well hidden!  But it’s well worth the visit for the hospitality which we were afforded.  In fact we spent a very enjoyable hour or so with Yvonne and Stephen drinking coffee and chatting about our hobby.  As I said in my log, thanks for the 3 C’s (cache, coffee & chat)!

We took the opportunity to pick up 3 more of the Plymouth Airport – DASH series, a little series that so far has been well worth doing, but we still have a couple more to find.  We also took in the Plymouth Travel Bug Hotel, another cache that’s worth the effort if you are in the area.

Yes, we are now back up and running.  Judy and I managed to get out yesterday to place a new cache on Hanger Down on an unbelievably cold day.  The temperature was about -6C and the windchill must have taken it down to -12C.  I don’t think I have ever been so cold on Dartmoor before.  However, it’s a great place to come with wonderful views in all directions and we also took in the nearby Hanger Down Clump cache.  Certainly worth the visit here.

Dartymoor’s first attempt at placing a new cache for us unfortunately failed as he discovered he needed extra permission in the location he had chosen.  But he got back out there today to place a new cache on the eastern edge of Haytor Down.  Many thanks to Simon for placing this cache and I have therefore re-enabled the Dartmoor Mega Challenge!

The six missing caches for the Dartmoor Mega Challenge were all on the outer areas of the National park, and of course not close to each other. One in the west, three in the north and north-east, one in the south-east and one in the south-west!  Yesterday I asked dartymoor if he could kindly place the south-east one, so Judy and I set off northwards today to place the missing three in that direction.

Our first planned placement was a definite no go, a public footpath through very obviously private farmland.  Then Judy spotted a tiny common on the map at Fire Stone Cross, so we raced across to there.  The next was placed to plan down a lovely bridleway at Crockernwell before driving around to Cristow where we found a wonderful little brook tumbling down into the village and placed our last cache by a little ford.  We had never visited this part of the moor before and were very surprised at how beautiful it was and how hilly.

We had hoped to find a few caches as well, but ran out of time, although we did manage to find a delightful cache right on top of Heltor Rock, a cache which hadn’t been found since last May!  So, a very successful day.

“Where?” you might ask!  Whilst I have been trying to sort out the Dartmoor Challenge caches, muddypuddles has been very busy with his new Dartmoor Forest series and new caches have been springing up all over the moor, some with the strangest of names.

Today I decided it was time to go for some of his more remote caches and also to extend my own Lych Way series further to the west.  So I set off from Bagga Tor not realising that this part of the moor had had more snow than other parts and had drifted right over one of the new caches, making it impossible to find.  But a really great day to be out on the moor, only 2 caches found, but 3 new ones placed on a trek of over 7 miles.

Having wasted so much time with the the two Dartmoor Challenge Caches it was time to ascertain where we were and what needed to be done.  Yesterday I confirmed that all caches were in place for the Minor Challenge (and re-enabled the cache) and that 6 new caches were needed for the Mega Challenge.  So today we chose the nearest area needing a new cache and drove there not only to place one new cache but to find some that had been on the to do list for some time.

Surprisingly I have lived on Dartmoor for 30 months and have never visited Brent Tor Church. It is an amazing location with wonderful views in all directions, especially on a clear day like today, and one I would strongly recommend.   We then placed a new Never Say Never cache nearby.  If you don’t understand what this refers to, you will have to take a look at my profile!

When I disabled the 2 Dartmoor Challenge Caches I placed a link from the cache pages to a new topic on this web site as I knew lots were watching the caches.  The result was amazing with a sudden jump in the participants on the web site.  The support was really gratifying and thanks to all who contributed.  But half way through all the fun the lights went out! We had a power cut that lasted all evening until the early hours.  A little bit of controversy works wonders, just look what it did to the hits on the web site – they increased almost three fold!

Well almost!  Despite the huge interest in our two new caches, with lots of comments on the cache pages and lots of cachers watching, there is always one killjoy and so it is.  The reviewer has received an official complaint and has temporarily disabled the caches.  The problem is that although the caches follow the spirit of geocaching they do not follow the letter of the law!

Lots of emails back and forth, a telephone call with the reviewer and it is clear there are two options:  Abandon a week’s solid work, not to mention an 8 mile trek, or make a small change to the rules.  I’ve no problem changing the rules as it doesn’t make the challenges any easier – it just removes the level playing field of only counting 2012 caches.  The same number will still need to be found.  The most annoying thing is that it just wasn’t necessary, the rules were fine as they were, and changing them has achieved nothing!