Retrieved

We were on a mission. A seemingly impossible mission. To seek out and retrieve an old letterbox of ours. Its been sited a while. About 9 years in all. In which time we had revisited it once, about 5 years ago.

Its not a big or particularly advanced stamp. But it is our property and responsibility and it was well overdue a recall.

Sited on Greator Rocks, close to Hound Tor's medieval village, we saved it for a quiet day to search in peace without the Summer holiday masses. Unfortunately the bracken was very high and the tree we had sited the box 3 paces from was as short now as it was when we sited the box. At least it was still standing!

In a crevice, plugged between rocks, our clue read. These were days before our GPS. Magnetic Deviation meant our bearings would all be about 1 or 2 degrees higher now.

We found the rocks, and behind some firmly pressed vegetation at waist height our box lay. It remained in good condition despite the bitter winters, baking summers, possibly a wildfire or two, the crowds that passed by and somehow the faithful pill pot kept all of it out.

Mission: possible.