Updated 3^rd October 2010

CONTENTS

Letterboxing Terms

Stamps & Carving

Code of Conduct

The Ridings Letterboxes

News

Irish Clues

Letterboxing Links

Boxes Refurbished 2007

Contact Me

The grouse-shooting season starts on August 12^th, and continues until December. If there is any sign of a shoot, or land management in progress, please letterbox in a different area in order to avoid attention being drawn to our activities.

Treat all letterboxes you visit as you would your own. Wrap everything carefully in any bags provided, sealing where applicable. If possible put the inky stamp separate to the visitors book. Shut boxes tightly and hide, taking time to camouflage properly.

Always obey the Code of Conduct to keep the name of Letterboxing free of criticism. (See below)

We have introduced a Yorkshire Letterboxing 101 badge

in recognition of Letterboxing in the Yorkshire area.

Thanks to YT and Nigel and all those who have put out and visited the boxes over recent years.

This is a 35mm metal and enamel pin badge

The badges will be available to anyone who has 101 Yorkshire Letterbox stamps from boxes visited, planted, cuckoos, wanderers etc.

The badges are available at £2.00 each plus P&P which currently is £1.10 for up to 4 badges.

Please E-mail me for further details

Notices: -

Well done to JorvikLb who has achieved her 101 finds. Welcome to the 101 Club.

Boxes visited and in good condition:-

Boxes visited and refurbished:-

Boxes taken in and deleted:-

Western Moors Cuckoo Nest (267) has been temporarily taken in. I have never been very happy with its position and feel it is too easily overlooked by the herdsman when he is feeding the cows. I hope to have it resited shortly.

The Cuckoos The Leader (126k) and The Letter (50k) have been found and are still circulating.

Menu

New clues: -

American

Amended clues: - (clues amended with Box Owners permission only)

New Cuckoos:-

New Wanderers: -

New Travellers:-

New Parasites:-

Refurbished Boxes 2010

101 Cluelist Numbers:-

Refurbished Boxes 2007

58, 68, 77, 79, 80, 114

Refurbished Boxes 2006

1, 10, 12, 15, 16, 22, 23, 39, 44, 45, 49w, 52w, 56, 59, 62, 63, 66q, 67, 78, 82, 95, 98w, 99k, 100, 108, 116, 126k, 127, 128

New boxes 2006

221 to 295

New boxes 2007

296 to

Menu

Letterboxes in Ireland.

An Bosca Litreacha Eireannach no.i9

Irish Grid Ref O 24 57

From arched iron gate in the Tower go out Southern doorway. Note wonderful view of The Wicklow Mountains ahead, and Lambey Island to the left. From this doorway go right, past barred window on R, around corner of tower and 350º to wall corner in front of you. Next 130º 14p. Stand with back to the ruins and you will see a stile in the wall across the field. Box is LHS of the stile in hole behind the ivy at approximately waist height.

Green and black ink needed

Seamróg no. i12

Irish Grid Ref O 01 78

From the car park take the path southerly which leads up to the ruins of a small church. Opposite the steps up to the church is a stone wall with a stile in it. Use the stile to go over the wall and walk around the perimeter to the south corner. In the corner, growing very close together are a twin trunked tree and a single trunk tree. The letterbox is between these trees, against the base of the LHS trunk, wedged in the ivy.

Green ink needed

Skerries Martello Towers no.i11

Irish Grid Ref. O 26 61

Start at Red Island car park, which can be found at the end of the Harbour Road. Go to the Martello Tower and follow the footpath down to the sea/beach (known as the Strand). Follow the beach along the green grassy walk which is between the beach and the road until you come to the Information Board where the road turns to the right. Cross the gully and again continue to follow the grassy walk until it comes out onto the road. Turn left and follow the pavement which runs beside the sea and up to the bus stop which is at about the same point that the houses across the road stop. Continue a little further along the pavement (green grassy area on your right) to first gateway on L with gravel track. This now has a new gate across the track. From gatepost on RHS about 3p (in the seaward direction) to large concrete block on your right. Box under this concrete block at the LHS back of block. To see a wonderful view of Shenick Island and Martello Tower follow the track a little further towards the sea, but be careful because there is a cliff edge not far after the track ends.

Green, blue and grey ink needed

Cuckoos - starting out in Ireland

World Cuckoo no. 2 - This Way no.i10k

This Cuckoo box is travelling the world, so if you find it please move it on to another letterbox in whatever region or country you find yourself next. Started out in An Bosca Litreacha Eireannach, Skerries, Ireland.

The Celtic Sword no.i3k

Moving from box to box.

The Ridings Letterboxes.

If you would like a cluelist for this area, complete with Grid Ref’s, (in Word document format) please contact me.

Riding Notices:-

1. Boxes in this area taken in and/or deleted:-

Duck Pond (r6)

2. Railway Memories (r32) has been relocated.

New Boxes:-

Railway Memories no.r32

From the old station find southern sloped end of Platform 2. Go 105p to large hawthorn tree on L with ditch dividing fields behind. Next 105p again to another large hawthorn tree on L. Finally 67p to larger gate post on left with iron hook in top. There is a wooden post directly next to it. Box at base of this wooden post. Beware of brambles in summer.

Green Ink

Game of Nine Pins no.r30

From 43.25.15.21.21.31.24.33.22.13.11.42.35.11.42.25. walk along the bank side with the Humber Estuary on your left and dyke on your right. Just after the dyke disappears on the RHS make your way to the first large twisted multi-trunked tree in ditch beside track into field. Go to the main centre of the tree and cross to stand with your back to the field bank, and with the lazy multi-trunks in front of you facing the estuary. Box tucked under bottom trunk, roughly in the centre, covered in bark debris and grass.

This letterbox, with beautifully carved stamp, was sent from the USA by phynstar to be planted beside the Humber Estuary. It is 'twinned' with a letterbox called 'Humber Pilot' which was made by The Yorkshire Tortoise and is planted beside the Hudson River, New York.

Black Ink

Ridings boxes planted 2006

r1 - r20

Ridings boxes planted 2007

r21 - r31

Ridings boxes planted 2010

R32 -

Cuckoos:-

Personal Travellers:-

YT’s PT no.r23t

There are a few ways of getting this Personal Traveller:-

1. When we meet tell me an English slang term for being exhausted and this PT will be yours. Those who guess the term carved on this stamp will get a bonus box - Wee YT.

2. Look for a small box you would not expect me to have and ask me why I have it.

Wee YT no.r24t

Given to those who correctly guess the slang term carved on YT’s PT stamp. Those who find YT’s PT by other means may try again for Wee YT the next time we meet.

STAMPS & CARVING

There are many good tutorials about carving stamps, which I cannot better, so I have listed some links to help you at the bottom of this section.

When I started carving stamps myself I was taught that the scalpel type of hobby knife was the preferred instrument for cutting, not lino gouges, and that is what I have used ever since. Recently I have tried lino gouges, but still find that I am unable to do any detailed work with them. I do however, find them very useful for clearing out large expanses of material cleanly. You will find that the tutorials recommend lino gouges, and if they work for you that is great. Most of the advice applies to both ways of carving, so even if the tutorial is describing a lino gouger it can still be related to a hobby knife.

I have three bits of advice which I consider very important:-

1. Do sit where the light is good, beside a window, or with a good strong light. It really does make an enormous difference.

2. Do not try to carve LETTERING until you have had more experience in carving. Lettering is very difficult to carve and the results can be very off putting to a new carver!

3. Do take care with finding and copying your picture. The right picture and how you copy it goes towards at least 50% of the final result.

Stamp tutorials - everything you need to know about carving.

Clip Art Source - Royalty Free.

http://www.artzooks.com/photos-images/Liquid-Library.html

Carving:-

http://sunnisan.com/jacqui/tute-carving.html

http://members.aol.com/Letterboxr/carving.html

http://www.atlasquest.com/tutorials/carving/

http://www.letterboxing.org/kids/kidstamp.htm

Stamp carving materials

Erasers can be bought cheaply from W H Smiths in England, and they are the best to practise on. I have found two sizes that are useful, the white 3.5 x 4.5mm and the larger pink 8 x 4.5mm. The pink rubber says For Big Mistakes on it. It also comes in blue, but beware because it is hard to see your drawing on the blue eraser.

http://www.stampeaz.com/

An American site, but the owner is a fellow letterboxer (Webfoot) and extremely helpful if you need advice.

Postage/packing is comparable to UK sites, and conversion/payment is easy using Pay Pal. Dollars are very roughly double our pounds so all you have to do is halve the dollar prices you see and that will give you a rough estimate of how much things are costing.

Stamping:-

One tip I have found very useful when stamping images into my logbook is to put a folded piece of kitchen roll underneath the page I am stamping. This helps iron out any imperfections and gives a good stamped impression.

HOW TO USE MULTICOLOURED STAMPS
Use felt tip pens to colour in the actual stamp before printing. Alternatively if you haven't any pens there may be sufficient ink still left on it. To obtain a print breathe on the stamp to dampen the ink again.

- Known in the letterboxing world as ‘huffing’ !

HOW TO USE DOUBLE SIDED STAMPS
First stamp with the light coloured side. Turn the stamp over to the darker side and carefully align the stamp with the previous impression.

For more tips on stamping:-

http://www.atlasquest.com/tutorials/stamping/stamping.html

Cuckoo Box ( k )Cuckoo boxes are found inside a normal static letterbox. If you are visiting another letterbox shortly, take the cuckoo's vistors book and stamp with you. When you reach the next letterbox, stamp the cuckoo's stamp into the static box and put a stamp of the letterbox you have found into the Cuckoo's visitors book. Please do not take the wrong book/stamps by mistake.

Cuckoo Nest Box

Ever found a cuckoo, then not been able to find another box big enough to hide it in again? Then this is the box for you!

A Cuckoo Nest Box is a static box with a permanent visitors book, but it also contains a minimum number of cuckoos. You can leave as many cuckoos in the nest as you wish, but you can only take a cuckoo out if you have brought one to replace it. Instructions for stamping up are usually in the box. Remember - only take a cuckoo out if you are putting one in. Of course if you haven’t brought any cuckoos you can still log into the permanent visitor book.

Wanderers ( w )

Wandering boxes are boxes that are hidden close to a static box. The clue is mentioned in the back of the Static box visitors book. These boxes move, now and again but are only moved by their owners.

Personal Travellers ( t )

Travelling boxes are carried by their owners. Ask any letterboxer you meet if they carry one.

Parasite ( p )

Parasites are similar to Cuckoo boxes in that they move from box to box. The difference is that they move from Letterboxer to Letterboxer, not planted out in the wild. They are automatically passed on to anyone with a traveller.

Quiet Boxes ( q )

These are letterboxes which are listed on the cluelist but whose clues are not publicly available but passed on by word of mouth.

Bonus Box

A static box, usually attached to a series, whose clue can only be found in the back of the visitors book in the host series box.

Personal Stamp

This is the stamp letterboxers use as a signature. It usually contains the alias they have chosen to use when letterboxing.

Yorkshire 101 Club badges for information on how to obtain a 101 badge email:-

bronja875@msn.com

North York Moors

http://www.roydmoor.com/chklst.html

Letterboxing History

http://www.atlasquest.com/aboutlb/history/

Out of the Area sites

http://www.ian.kirkpatrick2.btinternet.co.uk/page1.htm

http://www.letterboxingondartmoor.co.uk/

Letterboxing Books

Fiction -

Dartmoor Burial by Audrey Peterson

Non-Fiction -

101 Dartmoor Letterboxes by John Hayward

Dartmoor Letterboxes by Anne Swinscow

Internet Letterboxing Clubs – with UK letterbox clues.

http://www.atlasquest.com/

Virtual Letterboxing!! - for those wet days.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/peatbank/

http://www.letterboxstamper.co.uk/fun/webboxes/letterboxingfun.html

http://www.letterboxstamper.co.uk/fun/webboxes2/dizzygame2.html

Letterboxing Podcast - no need for an iPod, just listen on your computer.

http://letterpod.podbean.com/about/

1. Digging holes in the ground is illegal, and absolutely FORBIDDEN. No box

should be placed in a hole in the ground, and the soil surface should not be

disturbed when looking for a box.

2. No box should be placed in any animals earth, set or warren, even if it

appears to be disused. (Offenders may be prosecuted)

3. If a box is placed in a hole in a dead tree, make sure that it is not likely to

cause harm to rare lichen, moss, insects etc

4. Avoid putting a box on heathland where it may disturb a ground nesting bird

5. All boxes must have a contact address or telephone number

6. Do not place a box in any monument, nor any site of historic or archaeological

importance

7. Avoid public resort areas

8. Boxes should be as sturdy as possible and an unobtrusive colour, but NOT

wrapped in plastic bags or sheeting. – Animals eat it!

9. Respect other people’s property and privacy

10. Do not leave litter (aim to leave a site tidier than you found it)

11. Try not to disturb vegetation or wildlife when planting or looking for boxes

12. Be aware of the security issues of leaving boxes following recent bombings

13. Follow the country code

Contact me