#Microblog Mondays 176: Letterboxing
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Before we got into geocaching, we tried letterboxing. It’s the same concept, except you follow clues instead of coordinates. We kept our notebook in my purse so we could mark it if we found a letterbox while we were out.
I just read about the origin of letterboxing, and it made me want to drop our notebook back in my purse:
Letterboxing began in the mid-19th century, when a man knelt in the peat bogs of Dartmoor, England, constructed a small cairn, and placed a glass jar inside. He told other hikers to leave something in the jar if they came across it, and people began to leave messages for future visitors.
With that act, James Perrott unwittingly laid the foundation for a hobby that continues more than 150 years later.
Don’t you love that? To be a hiker and know that there is this jar out there filled with messages for you if you can find it?
Have you ever been letterboxing? Want to start?
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14 comments
I love the idea of geo caching, but have never managed to actually do one. I did participate in postcrossing for a while- not quite the same, but the same communication with a worldwide community.
I’ve never done either, but it sounds very interesting. I especially like the idea of exchanging messages while hiking, just having that evidence of all the people that have walked that path before you.
I have never done it. But yes it sounds fascinating:)
This is something which I never heard of . Leaving messages for future visitors is an interesting concept
Never heard of letterboxing (geocaching yes), but now I’m intrigued.
I still have a flip phone, so I’ve never done geocaching. Letterboxing sounds like more my speed. Of course, I’d give anything just to have weather decent enough to go outside for a hike. It doesn’t have to be warm, just warmer than this.
I’ve never letterboxed or geocached, but they sound intriguing…
I’ve never done either nor talked to anyone who has, but it sounds SO FUN and I’m going to look into whether its a thing around here.
Never done geocaching. What fun to leave a note for future visitors. 🙂
I have never heard of letterboxing before. My stepfather was a HUGE geocacher, so E. has gone with my mum in search of caches. It isn’t something I’ve really gotten into myself, but I can see the writing on the wall as he’s very keen and it can be a fun way to explore places.
I’ve never done it but my sister in law does things like this with her kids. They once painted a whole heap of little rocks and left them around random places with sweet positivemessages written on the back. She also went around a put notes on all the cars parked in the parents with pram-parking … putting some flowers and notes on the cars saying “you’re doing a great job as a mum”
What a lovely description of the origins of letterboxing, it sounds sort of like those letters in a bottle you wrote about a month or so ago. We’ve done geocaching, but not letterboxing. Maybe we should give it a go again!
Have done a couple letterboxes (and 600+ geocaches) but I don’t think I’ve done any good ones. The letterboxes I’ve found were very in love with very technical wayfinding. 26 degrees North-Northeast, etc. I wanted more pirate map-like directions. I’m sure those kind are out there but haven’t looked hard enough. Generally I’ll just go for a geocache instead.
I will read up on it… Never heard of it… Don’t know what it is. The only “letterboxing” I’ve heard of is when they make your movie show up in a weird shape on your T.V.