Walks: A sunlit walk along the Norfolk Coast

Dearne Valley Walking Group's Norfolk Coast path walk has proved to be a resoundingly successful trip with 14 of the group completing the full trail from Holme Next to the Sea, Hunstanton to Cromer, over three days.
Dearne Valley Ramblers on their Norfolk Coast WalkDearne Valley Ramblers on their Norfolk Coast Walk
Dearne Valley Ramblers on their Norfolk Coast Walk

The first leg on Saturday was a 13.5 miles walk from Holme Next the Sea to Brancaster Staithe. The walk crossed Holme Dunes, passing Gore Point into the neighbouring village of Thornham.

From here the walk moved inland as there is no right of way through Titchwell’s Marshes, which is an RSPB sanctuary. We climbed out of Thornham, before descending into Brancaster and the village green.

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Picking up the path again alongside the coast we negotiated the rather tricky duck boards to Brancaster Staithe. The next stage was to walk back out onto the local marshland to reach the village of Burnham Overy Staithe.

As day two was always going to be the longest day’s walking with the highest mileage, our party met at Burnham Overy Staithe. We walked across the marshes to the unspoilt beach near Gun Hill and headed for Holkham. Next stop for DVWG was Wells Next The Sea, then continued towards Stiffkey and Morston.

A refreshment stop at Morston Quay led us onto the beautiful village of Blakeney. We then made our way towards Blakeney Eye before walking into the village of Cley.

An early start on day three. After arriving in Cley, we walked out of the village passing the windmill and once again onto the local marshes to Cley Eye. After about a mile of walking on shingle, we decided to alter our plan and diverted from the trail along a footpath into the village of Salthouse. After refreshments we re-joined the trail at Kelling Hard.

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From here slowly but surely we worked our way up onto the cliffs of West Norfolk to Weybourne, then continuing on to Sheringham where we stopped for a drink overlooking the beach at The Two Lifeboats pub.

After resuming our walk we headed for Beeston Regis, climbing Beeston Bump where there is a trig point and in true DVWG fashion we posed for a picture around the landmark. After descending the hill we got a pleasant surprise.

The Norfolk Coast Path was originally between Holme and Cromer. However, during the development of the English Coast Path it was slightly extended to Sea Palling in 2014, it would also seem that during this development that additional rights of way were secured through the villages of East and West Runton, keeping the path close to the cliff tops, removing the necessity to ascend into a woodland at West Runton and tackle the steep ascent of Beacon Hill, the highest point in Norfolk.

Finding this information out gave our party new impetus and drive to complete the walk and, following an ice cream break we walked briskly through the Runton villages to reach the outskirts of Cromer.

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From here we took a steady descent from the cliff top down to Cromer Pier and the finish of three days of wonderfully exhilarating walking in the sunshine along the North Norfolk Coast, posing for a celebratory finishing photograph outside the entrance to the pier. Our party finished off with fish and chips in the sunshine watching the sea, this brought to an end three days of excellent walking. We went our separate ways with celebration and congratulations ringing in our ears, quite rightly proud of our achievement over the weekend.

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