The weather was grey and misty when we arrived in
Burnham Overy Staithe for stage 3 of our
Norfolk Coast Path walk. Apparently Nelson learned to row here and once we turned down the harbour road it was clear the tide
was right in. There is parking here at the harbour but do not leave your
car without
checking the tides! Having recently taken delivery of a new car we were reluctant to see it floating out to sea so went to plan B. We drove on to
Wells-next-the-Sea and
parked up in the car park before catching the first
Coasthopper bus of the day
(Sunday – 9.40am but do check the timetables) back to Burnham O.S.
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| Burnham Overy Staithe |
Once we were off the bus at The Hero pub we took the road opposite down
to the harbour and turned right.
This part of the walk is along a bank which winds its way towards the
sea. The air was still with not a
hint of breeze this morning but you are quite exposed and I imagine, like our
previous walk, it could be cold on a blowy winter's day.
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| Burnham Overy Staithe |
Despite the restrictive parking, it was nice to see
the tide in for a change. On our previous two walks (
Stage 1 &
Stage 2) we had been surrounded by mud and all
the boats were stranded in the marshes.
I’ve never really seen Small Egrets until I walked this path and today
there were lots making the most of the food bought in on the tide.
There were a few serious photographers
out too, long lenses balancing on monopods pointing towards a group of what I thought were Egrets as they
fished in the lagoons. (I later zoomed in close to the photo I took - they were a long way away so it's not clear enough to post up - and have decided they were actually Spoonbills, another first for us)
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| Dunes leading onto the beach |
After about 1 ½ miles the bank became a boardwalk and we
headed into the dunes.
After a
short climb over the top we stopped to take in the view - a spectacularly
beautiful sandy beach.
The
official coastal path goes through the dunes but we went down onto the
sand.
The tide by now was just
starting to go out and we turned right walking along the edge of the shore for a
few miles as the sun started to burn through.
It truly is a stunning unspoilt stretch of beach.
We crunched over millions of shells,
especially razor fish shells which litter in drifts along the high tide
mark.
This beach, and many of the
North Norfolk beaches were badly damaged by the storm surges in December 2013
but you can see the dunes starting to re-establish themselves already.
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| Razor fish shells on Holkham beach |
We followed the line of the dunes for a while in the now
warm sunshine. We actually started
to find walking on the sand got tougher as it dried out and, knowing we had
quite a way to go, we took a path on the right, cutting through the dunes
slightly early, and walked along the inside edge of the pine woods coming out in
the nature reserve near the bird hide.
The hide was full with people watching large noisy flocks of geese out
on the marshes. The official route
goes a bit further along the sand/dunes coming out at Holkham Gap. Either way you will eventually come out at the top of Lady
Anne's Drive in Holkham. Again you
have a choice, you can walk through the pine woods or as we did cross the road
and follow the bike trail along the outside edge. You could also just keep to the sand and walk right to Wells if your calves will take it, although again do watch the tide times as there are many sandbanks and strong currents along here.
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| Holkham beach |
We had done this part of the walk
before, albeit in the
opposite direction.
As it is close
to the car park at Holkham and to Wells holiday park it was busier than the first part. As well as walkers, we passed dog walkers and cyclists, all enjoying surely one of the last warm summery Sundays
of the year. We stopped for a while on a bench and watched a pair of buzzards circling over head.
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| Buzzard at Holkham/Wells |
Eventually the trail bends round to the left, passing some
holiday chalets and then at the signposted junction we took a right towards a
car park. We stopped briefly here for the toilets but decided to carry on to
the town for something to eat, although the café near the car park is
good.
We climbed the steps onto
the pathway that runs alongside the harbour and Beach Road and followed it
towards the town just as the clouds began to gather again.
(There is a
little train that runs up and down here too sometimes)
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| The walk to Wells-next-the-Sea town |
The car park we started at is just to the right at the end
of the road but we stopped to pick up our lunch in the excellent
Wells Deli opposite and
ate it on the harbour wall before heading home.
Route:
1.
From The Hero pub in Burnham Overy Staithe
follow the road opposite to the harbour.
2.
Take a right and follow the path along the top
of the bank.
3.
At the dunes either follow the path on the right
along the top of the dunes or go down onto the beach and turn right.
4.
Follow for a few miles until you reach Holkham
Gap on your right (not signposted)
5.
Follow the boardwalk away from the beach and either
go through the woods or along the marked path on the outside of the woods.
6.
Follow the pathway until you reach a junction.
7.
Take a right and go through the gateway into the
car park.
8.
Walk between the café and the toilets and take
the steps up onto the pathway.
9.
Follow the pathway into Wells town.
10.
At the main road turn right to get back to the
car park.
Our route was 6.96 miles.
Terrain: Grass paths and boardwalks from Burnham O.S. flat
and easy although small climb into the sand dunes, beach is mixture of wet and
soft sand, through the nature reserve and along the edge of the pine woods the
paths are wide and sandy and easy going. Flat tarmac path to the town.
Habitat: Marshes, coastal, pine woods, nature reserve,
ponds, harbour, urban
Facilities: Toilets at car park in Wells, Coasthopper bus
stop near car park.
No toilets
that I could see at Burnham O.S. although there is the The Hero pub.
Toilets and café at the beach end car
park of Wells.
Numerous shops,
cafes, fish and chips in Wells town.
You can see my photos from the other stages of our Norfolk Coast Path walk on my
Flickr album
