Letterboxing

Letterboxing is a fun and adventurous way to explore nature and find places you might
never have stumbled across. If you’ve not done it before, it’s a bit like orienteering or the more modern geocaching.

The Alderney Wildlife Trust (AWT) has dotted 18 letterboxes around Alderney in some intriguing and beautiful locations from woodland, wetland and heathland; across sandy beaches, dunes and rocky shores. Our natural landscape abounds but your adventure wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t bring you into close contact with Alderney’s historic landmarks and cultural landscape too, including some of the 18 coastal forts and batteries that pepper the island.

For just £10, the Alderney Wildlife shop on Victoria Street will provide you with a lovely Letterboxing Pack (with a notebook, pen, ink stamp and an inkpad plus a round island walking map) to set you off on your outdoor adventure. With a fair wind and long strides, you could get round the whole island in a day (probably 12hours or more) but it is very challenging, we would recommend giving yourselves a minimum of 2 or 3 days.

The 'letterboxes' contain a unique ink-stamp, some of which have been made by St. Anne’s School, and a visitors’ book and this leaflet contains clues to lead you to all 18. When a letterbox is found, stamp and date the visitors’ book inside the box and of course your own logbook, recording anything of interest you might like to share or any sightings – birds, flora or sea life for example.

The origins of Letterboxing seem to have been on Dartmoor where hikers began to leave a letter or postcard inside a box along the trail (sometimes addressed to themselves, sometimes a friend or relative)—hence the name "letterboxing". The next person to discover the site would collect the postcards and post them. Why not give this a go here on Alderney and select a postcard to add to your pack and leave in one of the boxes along the way. Please note the AWT does not accept any liability for personal data you may place within a letterbox.

Once you’ve collected all 18 stamps in your own notebook, head back to the AWT shop for your final stamp. If you would like to return your pack, keeping your notebook in which you have recorded your journey, we can re-use the rest of the pack. In return we would be happy to refund you £5. AWT are passionate about recycling! If we haven’t received the pack back within 21 days we will assume you are keeping it.