Friday 4 February 2011

The future of Dartmoor letterboxing

Welcome to the fortune teller! Come in, and gaze into the crystal ball... This is the future of letterboxing...

It will begin with a makeover - as most things do. Adopting initials like DLB (Dartmoor Letter Boxing) will make it seem fresh and inviting. The 100 club will go online. Your unique membership number will grant you access to online cluesheets and catalogue. Meets will be more frequent and more local. With more online communication, unmaintained boxes will be harder to forgive. With more local meets, the word of mouth clue scene will blossom. The younger generation will adopt letterboxing. Geocaching will be kept at bay again. 10 figure grid references will vanish so to banish the LBT (letterbox thief). Stamping up and posting on postcards make a comeback in honour of James Perrott and the pioneering days of letterboxing...

Is all this impossible? I don't think so. I've seen the future. Its LBNA (Letterboxing North America). Since our hobby transferred to the New World some 13 years ago, it might have experienced a few amendments and alterations (Not many bearings here!), but I think we can learn a lot from them. WITC has yet to try American letterboxing, but are due to visit the the USA and attempt it later this year!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Personally I cannot see much if any of the above happening. Nice wishlist though.

Ryan said...

Don't forget to check out Atlas Quest at http://www.atlasquest.com as well. It's the other major letterboxing website exported from America. =) You'll even find hundreds of letterbox clues listed for locations all over England that--so far as I know--aren't listed anywhere else.

And it's definitely worth a visit if you plan to find some letterboxes in the United States!

-- Green Tortuga