Letterboxing in Guelph, Ontario

I'm here! I swear! I didn't go away, I've just been busy with life and unfortunately after PAL, letterboxing just seemed to slide low on the priorities.

Luckily, I broke an almost three month letterboxing fast with a trip to Guelph to letterbox with Vivian the Viking.  It felt really good to get out on the trail again.  Really, really good.  My latest logbook is now almost filled... Only a few more pages to go - so clearly I have new impetus to get it finished before my upcoming trek down to Live & Breathe.  Very exciting.  I have a new book all lined up and ready to go.

But, for now, Guelph.  I love letterboxing in Guelph.  Since my relocation to the Toronto area I haven't been able to get out there as frequently (distance/time), but every time I do, I'm very happy.

I had scheduled a time to meet up with Ms. Viking, but since I'm used to getting up so early in the morning and running on autopilot, I miscalculated what time I needed to be out and ended up in Guelph exactly an hour earlier than I needed to be.  Oops.  So I did what any good letterboxer did: I letterboxed, of course.  

What better box to break my fast with than Lone R's The Eagle Has Landed. What a great hide, but I'll spoil things if I go into any detail.  Lone R has done similar hides (or at least one off the top of my head) and she's really helping to raise the bar on the types of hide styles that we have in Ontario.  So I highly recommend this box!

The location was great and I think I've been down in that area for a number of other boxes.  The specific location it took me to was in the midst of a beautiful evergreen forest, with the morning rays scattering down through the trees and silent with the bubbling sounds of the creek nearby.  Very serene.  

Coffee and some time at the Chapters at Stone Road Mall which happened to be open on a stat holiday.  Weird.  Bought a replacement logbook - still in its wrapping and waiting in my car for the upcoming L&B!  Vivian the Viking arrives and we're off!

We head out to the trail head for Early Bedtime Essentials: Canadian Content by Fiddleheads. The clues for this series had myself and Ms. Viking running around in circles. Man, were we rusty. The clues themselves were fantastic, I think we were just off our game. Nevertheless, a fantastic tie-in to the theme and I know I'll be back to snag the two we missed.

The trail was actually one that I lived really close to during my time at the University, but one I'd never taken the opportunity to walk along. Thank goodness for letterboxing for righting all those wrongs (note: I lived in Guelph and went to the University for four years and didn't end up visiting the Arboretum until five years later when I started letterboxing. That is a sin. Thank you, letterboxing.)

The carves were perfect: it was great seeing something from nothing, the Paper Bag Princess was flawless, and Stanley was sure getting his party on...  The trail was great and we saw a lot of walkers and mountain bikers.  And dogs.  We had a really nice snugly visit with a lady and her two British Bulldogs - which I love.  

So what do you do when you're in town?  You get invited to Fiddlehead's home, of course.  Ms. Viking and I stopped by for a lovely visit with our lovely host and talked shop for a while.  She also told us where we went wrong for at least one of this series' boxes. Oops. Sometimes you feel real dumb after you miss a box.  Nevertheless, we headed out for another of her bedtime series!

We hit the trail for Early Bedtime Essentials: Old Favourites at the end of a dead end road.  Who would have thought that it would have led to one of the most beautiful trails in Guelph? 

This series again had perfectly linked-in clues that match perfectly to the theme. Great stories, missed a couple of the boxes, but again, we were not on our letterboxing game.  I also have some health troubles that act up from time to time and I ended up in some quite horrid pain about halfway through... Didn't have my usual drugs with me, so after this series, I headed home for the comfort of prescription drugs and a dark bedroom.  I feel better now, no worries!

Nevertheless, all in all, a perfect day of letterboxing.  The weather was perfect - not too hot, not too cold - and all said over 10 boxes to add to my collection.  Got a little eaten by the skeeters, but thems the risks of going out in the woods.  

Hope everyone is getting out on the trails now that the weather has cooled off!

Happy trails!