King John's All Washed Up Letterbox Hybrid

The Wash National Nature Reserve is the largest in England and covers an area of 86 square kilometres along the southern shores of the Wash. The combination of shallow water, large tidal range (up to 30 feet) and the constant input of nutrients from the rivers results in the mudflats holding an enormous concentration of invertebrates and thus one of the most important feeding areas in western Europe for waders and wildfowl. The best time to see migrant birds is on a rising tide from early September to early May as the birds move from the intertidal zone to the surrounding land. For more information on the Wash NNR visit English Nature where you can download an information sheet.

The shorter approach is from Ongar Hill in Norfolk (6.3 km) but it is also possible to reach the cache from Guy's Head in Lincolnshire (7.5 km). Both approaches follow part of the Peter Scott Walk which starts by the eastern Lighthouse at the mouth of the River Nene in Wingland and ends at Kings Lynn 5km southeast of Ongar Hill. Although there is a network of metalled farm roads shown on the map these are all private and should not be used. Anyone attempting to drive closer to the cache is likely to encounter locked gates, wide dykes separating you from your destination and irate farmers and conservationists. The route of the walk has all been reclaimed from the sea since 1910 and in fact the island, called the Inner Trial Bank, was constructed in 1972 as part of a feasibility study for a large freshwater storage reservoir. About 3km offshore there is a larger island, the Outer Trial Bank, which is close to the proposed outer edge of the now abandoned reservoir scheme.

Eight centuries ago in the autumn of 1216 there was civil war in England: the barons were in revolt against King John, the French had captured the Plantagenet heartland of Normandy in 1205 and now held much of southeast England, Norwich Castle was about to fall to the Dauphin Louis, the Welsh were in revolt , King Alexander II of the Scots was marching south and King John had even managed to get himself excommunicated. The King now recalled the Crown Jewels and Royal Regalia from the Knights Templar to whom it was normally assigned for safe keeping. With the Royal Treasury in tow and acting as surety on loans to pay his troops the King arrived in Bishops Lynn on the 9 October, crossing the Wellstream on his way from the defence of Lincoln and the pillaging of the rebel baron's lands. Bishop's Lynn was the seventh richest town in England its merchants coffers filled with the riches of Hanseatic trade and its fishing fleets bring home whale oil and cod as big as a man from the Atlantic seas around Iceland and Labrador. The King was three days in the town where he feasted on peaches and new cider. On the 12th the King departed for Newark by way of Wisbeach with 2000 knight while the baggage train went by the shorter route due west intending to meet the King in Swineshead in two days.