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DISTANCE: 5.5 miles.
MAP: OS Landranger 133 North East Norfolk.
STARTING POINT: Walcott Gap (GR 359329).
GETTING THERE: From the A149 Great Yarmouth-Cromer
road ½ mile west of Stalham take a road signed Bacton 8, Happisburgh
5.
At a T-junction turn left, signed ‘Walcott 4½
Happisburgh 4½ Bacton 7½ . Follow this road until it reaches
the sea at Walcott.
There is parking on the right for a few cars at
this point. Should this be full, you can park on the roadside a
few yards further on.
ALTERNATIVE STARTING POINT: If you want
to visit the teashop at the beginning or end of your walk, start
at the beach car park at Happisburgh. To find the teashop, return
to the road and turn left for a few yards. You will then start the
walk at point 9.
THE WALK
Please note: there have been many official path diversions in this
locality and the paths on the ground are not as shown on the OS
map.
1. Walk back along the road for about ¼ mile.
2. Just after a road on the left, signed ‘Coastline
Village’, take a path on the right to continue in the same direction,
parallel with the road. After ¼ mile the path crosses the road
to continue in the same direction, still parallel with the road.
At the lighthouse walk in front of the pub and
continue ahead to a church, usually locked.
3. Cross the churchyard and turn left on a path
on the far side of the church. Follow the path out of the churchyard
and straight ahead across a field, in the direction of a farm, to
a lane.
4. Turn right and walk along the lane for 1/2 mile,
crossing a road.
5. At a road junction with a lane on the right,
turn left on a less-than-obvious path, initially between farm buildings
and then to the right of a bank. When the bank ends at a wind-bent
tree, continue along the strip of grass between fields for about
80 yards and then bear diagonally left across a field towards a
church, crossing a ditch at a plank bridge. (The exact line of this
path varies from year to year).
Look for a power line supported on three poles
at the far side of the field. The bridge is about 15 yards to the
left of the middle one. Over the bridge continue in the same direction
across the next field to a lane at a road junction.
6. Turn right along the lane.
7. About 140 yards after Kiln Cottage take a signed
path on the left level with a small building surrounded by a wire
fence a field away and walk across a field in the direction of the
lighthouse. Continue along the right-hand side of two more fields
to a surfaced path beside a lane.
8. Turn left and then right along Beach Road,
passing the entrance to a public car park, to the teashop on the
left.
9. Take a track next to the teashop and at a T-junction
turn left behind some clifftop chalets.
10. At a lane turn right for a few yards to a
lifeboat station then left on a path on top of the cliffs. Follow
the path past some disused coastguard buildings.
11. When one field away from the chalets of a holiday
complex and level with a small building surrounded by a wire fence
a field away to the left, the path ahead goes through a low bank.
Do not go through the bank but turn left to walk with the bank on
your right to this structure. Turn right along a track to a lane.
12. Turn right and follow the lane round a left-hand
bend, then a right-hand bend to a second left-hand bend.
13. Take a track on the right to continue in the
same direction to reach the coast. Turn right down a concrete ramp
then left along the shore, back to the start.
From Teashop Walks in East Anglia by Jean Patefield,
published by Countryside Books, £6.95.
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