DAY 1 – Hunstanton to Burnham Deepdale
I’ve been planning this trip for a few months prior to August 2023 and to be honest I had considered the route from Hunstanton to Cromer something we’d done before. Catherine and I have travelled most of this part of the Norfolk Coastal Path at least once and sometimes more. A bit of a chore maybe… of course that’s very far from the truth. In the run up to an adventure I get fretful, musing on what could go wrong, can we do it, is it worth the effort etc etc. Climbing the stairs to the upper deck of The Coast Liner behind two other NAPs (New Age Pensioners – because OAP is no longer appropriate) brought the realisation that the adventure had begun!
Chatting to these guys all the way to ‘Sunny Hunny’ highlighted the reasons for this trip. Meeting new, like minded travellers is a joy. Sharing stories and ideas, walking routes and experiences is both stimulating and exciting. Who knows what may happen…?
Coincidence is another common trait of perambulations. Turns out that the wife of one of our new friends was running around Kings Lynn the evening before with Catherine (Ladybirds). Astonishing.
Contemplative movement, peregrination or rambling are some of the many ways to describe what we do. Whatever you call it the experience is always the same. As thoughts drip from your mind with each step, the end result will always be an ‘empty head’ which, on reflection, then fills with the wonderful images, chance meetings and feelings of achievement which must be the ‘why’ in our motivation.
I relied on my OS Map app to guide me through Hunstanton. The coast path can be elusive!
Over the cliffs then onto the sand. I chatted with a woman who was fencing off an area of beach. Nesting birds I queried? No, she replied, sand castle building competition!
Into Holme and the full realisation of the project hit me… all that way, right around Norfolk. Blimey!
Intermittent sunshine illuminated the scene. Wind drove the waves and I walked on boardwalks towards the nature reserve at Thornham. At this point the coast path goes inland for some reason and I didn’t fancy a rural detour so I stuck to the A149 straight through to Brancaster. After a quick bite to eat by St Mary’s Church in Brancaster I headed, once more to the marshy landscape behind the village. Around boats and back yards the path winds until popping out at Burnham Deepdale.
There’s a wonderful pop-up cafe in the lay-by opposite the bust stop, the perfect venue for a post walk coffee and time to catch the Coastliner bus to Sheringham 🙂
NOTE: I stayed in Sheringham at a friends flat for the first three nights hence the regular bus journeys to and from that beautiful coastal town.
DAY 2 – Burnham Deepdale to Stiffkey
Back to the best pop-up cafe on the coast for a bacon sandwich and coffee before heading off to Stiffkey. (Note: I thought I was clever and assumed some ‘local knowledge. I referred to Stiffkey as ‘Stukey’. This may not be correct. I have read articles showing that each pronunciation maybe the right one 😮 – a possible explanation).
STOP PRESS! I have confession…
I messed up with the journey plan on the second day.
More than halfway round, I was feeling a little weary (up since 4.30!). So I checked my progress on OS Maps. I also had an idea that the latest bus from Stiffkey was 7pm ish. That was an assumption (you know what they say about those). It was based on what I knew about The CoastLiner timetable. Sanders Coaches run a different service between Wells and Cromer (the Coast Hopper) and their last bus was due to pull into Stiffkey at 5.25pm!!! I still had 6 miles to go so stepped up the pace considerably (I felt that the following morning). Arriving in Wells next the Sea I realised I still wouldn’t make the last couple of miles in time to meet the bus. Stiffkey is a charming but quite remote coastal village and the chances of ‘picking up a cab’ seemed far too remote for my tired mind. So I jumped on an early bus at the Buttlands in Wells and was in the Robin Hood Pub in Sheringham, nice and early 🙂
DAY 3 – Stifkey to Sheringham
Beauty and the beast!
The third day began with another jolly journey on the bus. Sitting next to me, two ladies of Spain, were heading off to see the seals. They were keen walkers or so they said (the white leggings and trainers gave the lie to that ). Suddenly the guy in front spun round in his seat and presented what can only be described as a ‘happy Golem face’! So enthusiastic was he and delighted to have an audience as he relayed tales of gathering blackberries in the dunes at Scolt Head. These are moments which add another rich ingredient to the day’s recipe.
Togging up in the bus shelter at Stiffkey I prepared for a day in the rain. Twenty minutes later I found myself immersed in a damp, beautiful solitude… Stiffkey Greens or Salt Marshes were spectacular, the high drama of a big tide (9 metres +) made this section unforgettable. The extreme water level meant several paths were flooded however.
Meeting with a young couple traversing the inundation was generosity personified. The young woman offered me a piggy back across the flood to keep my boots dry! People are as important as the places on these occasions.
Marshes are beautiful even in the rain (oh and it DID rain) but 5 miles of shingle… The Beast!
Catherine and I have walked part of this between Salthouse and Cley next the Sea before but that was a blue sky day. Today, as I gazed at the misty grey horizon it seemed impossible that this was the coast path. One of those mental challenges (sometimes much more daunting than the physical). Five miles of trudging through a billion tons of slippery gravel saps strength and challenges even the fittest backpacker. Two hours later the site of a hill was almost too much to bear! Skelding Hill may only be 45 metres up but that was almost a step too far.
Sheringham isn’t revealed until the last few hundred metres of this walk. It’s hidden in a valley. Suddenly the promenade was under foot which inevitably led to The Crown via Lifeboat Plain, where I enjoyed a couple of very well deserved pints but much more importantly… met up with Catherine.
DAY 4 – Sheringham to Bacton
This was the first day of THE BIG BIRTHDAY WALK which didn’t involve public transport.
A tale of two walks. Sometimes traversing miles of Sandy beaches whilst dodging the highest tides then off into verdant green pasture (or Nature Reserves) for a little R&R!
15 miles of deserted sandy beach between Sheringham and Bacton… spectacular!
Logistics rule!
Putting one foot in front of the other (wash and repeat) is simple, but organising a one way hike where each section has to be approximately 15 miles long is slightly more challenging. Sometimes the ‘end’ is in inhospitable terrain! No, not civil war, man eating tigers or earthquakes but simply ’no room at the Inn’ (or more likely – no ‘Inn’)!
I’m convinced many of my friends could walk reasonable distances and most could navigate a path but eating and sleeping aren’t options. This is where buses fit in. They either take us to the start of the route or moved us backwards or forwards to our chosen ’stop’.
Today however we were moving on (which inevitably means a heavy pack because we’re moving everything to the next accommodation).
Carrying 10k over 15+ miles doesn’t sound too bad… add in 35 mph winds and some energy robbing sandy beaches and you end up with a ‘challenging walk!
We arrived at The Cliff Top Inn which is right on the Castal Path. Beach, Bar and Food then a very cozy bed… what’s not to like!
This is where we both find ourselves this evening… wind burned, physically drained and euphoric after another rapturous ramble.
DAY 5 – Bacton to Winterton-on-sea (didn’t involve public transport either 🙂
Windy weather set the scene again today as it ripped up some awesome foamy waves and made the watery backdrop into a photographers distraction! Journey delayed for approximately 1 hour due to competitive photography!
Endless sandy beaches stretch from Bacton to Winterton-on-Sea so this day’s traverse was similar to day 4. Windy too with lots of dramatic clouds and always the thundering foam from the roaring sea in our eyes and ears. Walcott was (according to some locals) one of the best places to watch the towering surf… so we did.
St Mary’s Church, Happisburgh (pronounced Hays-bruh) provided something to aim for as we rose from the sandy beach to a grassy cliff top path. High on a hill north of the village the church tower is visible for several miles on the approach. After that there’s the famous red and white striped Happisburgh Lighthouse which is the oldest working light in East Anglia, and the only independently run lighthouse in Great Britain.
From the cliff top adjacent to the lighthouse you can see ‘The Spirit of Hasbro’, a ‘Time and Tide’ bell designed to be rung by the waves at high tide, Happisburgh’s bell is one of 13 bells situated around Britain’s coast.
The coast path runs adjacent to the beach along the sandy eroding cliffs, through the village (and a nice little coffee and cake stop :-o) then once more down to the shore at the Inshore Rescue Boat station.
Sand blown and salty we hiked once more along deserted beaches and concrete defences, through Eccles-on-Sea, Sea Palling, Waxham and Horsey Gap (Horsey beach isn’t just any beach. It has the huge added attraction of being a fantastic place to come and watch the seals during the winter months… we were a bit early).
We approached Winterton-on-Sea, through Winterton Horsey Dunes which, as well as being a wonderful nature reserve and bird watching area is also a naturist (or nudist) beach…twitchers and nudists – what could possibly go wrong? 😮 (note: we didn’t’t see any rare birds, seals or nudists!!). The seven stage tower of (over 40 metres high) of the Holy Trinity and All Saints Church in Winterton, was clearly defined on the horizon (another of so may huge churches along this route) something to aim for as it was close to the Fishermans Return pub where we were to rest our heads for two nights and drink some of their wonderful ales!
DAY 6 – Winterton-on-Sea to Hopton
Catherine had a great idea! Travelling on the bus to Hopton then walking back towards Winteron meant that we got the drudgery out of the way first… or so we thought!
Whoever was responsible for extending the Norfolk Coastal Path to Hopton didn’t think it through.
Hopton is a sedate ‘holiday homes’ kinda place. The beach it shares with its neighbours is beautiful. So leaving it to walk into the grimy streets of Great Yarmouth was disappointing to say the least!
The Coast Path winds along the quayside into the city passing lots of heavy ship based engineering before traversing the water over Haven Bridge. More dirty streets littered with amusements before arriving once more on a noisy, plastic promenade. After that it’s pretty much concrete walkway alternating with Sandy beaches while constantly negotiating incoming tides and fun fairs!
Things slowly calmed as we travelled towards Caister-on-Sea the scene mellowing even more as we reached the Palms of California.
Newport and Hemsby showed just how relentless nature can be. The Sandy cliffs were intertwined with sanitary pipes and electrical cables. The remnants of homes and gardens now vertically displayed.
Finally the landscape melowed to soft Sandy seaside once again as we wandered into Winterton.
DAY 7
To call the fragmented fiasco we encountered on our journey today ‘public transport’ would be a misnomer. It’s more like random vehicle routing with occasional public nuisance thrown in!
The plan for Hopton to Southwold unravelled and poor public transport links meant that we had to miss a days walking in order to get to our final destination.
The wonderful Coast Liner and it’s sister The Coast Hopper run every hour all around the coast from Kings Lynn to Cromer so I assumed this level of commuter joy would continue round the corner. But no, it doesn’t. Nor indeed does the unbroken peripatetic perfection that is the Norfolk Coast Path (aka England Coast Path). It is disrupted around Lowestoft!
So we jumped on a bus at Winterton on the penultimate day, prepared for a disjointed and lengthy journey through Suffolk. In Lowestoft we boarded another bus to Halesworth then jumped on a train bound for London! Just before alighting at Saxmundham I managed to save the day by plotting a scenic walk into Aldeburgh!
The sun was out and we enjoyed 8 miles of scenic Suffolk landscapes before arriving at the end of the day at The White Lion Hotel in Aldeburgh. 🙂
Birth Day 🙂 (No. 8)
Today was really the focus of the trip. I intended to arrive at the end of our pilgrimage on my birthday. As it turned out we arrived in Aldeburgh the day before but, not to be deterred the 10th was celebrated by yet another sunny, sandy and generally ‘beachy’ walk all the way to Sizewell B Power Station (we know how to have a good time).
The walk was stunning and just to improve it slightly we ducked into The Dolphin Inn in Thorpeness. Seated in the beautiful garden alongside many other tourists we enjoyed a light lunch and a couple of very nice ales!
In the evening we returned to the wonderful White Lion Hotel where we partied hard both in the bar and the fantastic restaurant… I was in bed by 8.30pm!!!
Day No. 9… Coming Home
Early morning on the 11th August we walked a couple of miles, through Aldeburgh, to a bus stop. From here we travelled to Lowestoft then on to Norwich. It’s plain sailing from Norwich to home via the luxurious X1! All in all a thoroughly wonderful adventure 🙂
