In August, after a very long time off walking due to Covid 19, we were at last able to restart our coast walk. Fortunately my sister Rosemary and her husband Robert who live in Maldon kindly offered to host us for this section of the walk. This meant that we would have no concerns about finding Covid-safe accommodation or places to eat.

One advantage of having been delayed, is that we are now in the summer season which means that we can make use of the ferries which are all seasonal. This will save some the slightly repetitive walks up the Stour, Orwell, Colne and Crouch river estuaries. Our plan is to walk the coast of the UK but not including all the rivers if there is a suitable crossing point close the the sea. We had already walked up the Deben to Melton but we will go back a day to restart our walk at Bawdsey. This is where we left the coast to walk up the R.Deben as there were no ferries sailing back in March.

Having waited for Covid restrictions to be lifted and then had a long-awaited visit from our daughter and her husband for a couple of weeks, the second week of August was the soonest we could start. This coincided with a major heatwave in the South East which was not good news for a couple who moved to the North Pennines for their retirement to escape hot weather.

For those who know or live in Essex you should now jump to Day 40 and miss out my introduction to Essex which will be of no interest to you (and may be damaging to your health).

Essex is the final East Coast county we have to walk round and apparently has the longest coast-line of any county if you follow up all the river estuaries and creeks that are a major feature of Essex. Essex has many small islands and several of these are tidal or connected to the mainland by bridges or causeways. There are few coastal towns and villages in the county because the coast was originally an extensive marsh. Towns and villages were built on islands of higher ground away from the sea and now much of that marsh land has been reclaimed and is farmed by Barley Barons and Wide Boy Wheat farmers. The coast is continuously guarded by a sea wall. All these things come together to ensure that the coast of Essex is unremittingly dull. It might be better earlier in the year when there would be more marshland birds or spring flowers on the sea wall but in the summer the landward side is mainly fields of stubble; the seawalls are overgrown; the seaward side is mudflats and salt marsh when the tide is out – and water and salt marsh when the tide is in.  There are of course the holiday resorts of Walton-on-the-Naze, Frinton, Clacton, Shoebury and Southend. All are dull stretches of concrete promenade punctuated with lines of beach huts and occasional tacky promenade and pier attractions. Least attractive of all are the beach-goers, almost universally overweight, bulging unpleasantly out of their bikinis or shorts mostly with slate grey faded tattoos.

The best feature of the Essex coastline is the ferry from Tilbury to Gravesend.

I feel better for getting that out of my system.

Tuesday 24th March 2020

I awoke feeling decidedly down. Last night Boris Johnson announced the lock down. It seemed we could not complete our walk. However, looking at the map, we could complete a circular walk and get us back to the car without involving a taxi or public transport. We knew that on our walk we were well away from the public and so we were social distancing just by continuing. So our short walk was going almost double in length to about 20 miles.

I had sent an email to our taxi driver late last night effectively cancelling the booking we had made with him for this morning. He was going to meet us in Woodbridge where we would leave our car and he would drive us to Ramsholt Dock to resume the walk, finishing at our car in good time for the long journey home. I had said that in view of the lock-down, we would have to pay him off and thanked him for driving us over the past couple of days. Not having heard back from him, I rang this morning and he was having none of it and was quite happy to stick to the original plan. So he duly turned up at the B&B to follow us to where we were to leave the car and then drive us to Ramsholt Dock. That was far more than we could have expected or even wanted but he was quite insistent and so we gave in.

It was a fantastic morning again with clear blue skies and a light breeze. The view across the River Deben was just as good as last night. It was so warm we set off without the need for jackets. The path along the banks of the river was very good. In some places it was close to the water, in others it was along the sea defences and in a few places it wound through woodland. It was just delightful.

Near Methersgate we had to turn inland to walk around the Haddon Hall estate. One thing we have noticed in East Anglia is that the local land owners are very proprietorial over their land and tracks. The place is littered with “Private”, “Keep out”, “No access” and “No path” signs and often with locked gates or other means to make them impenetrable. So our relaxed attitude to walking respectfully over private property, that we have developed in the north of England, has had to be tempered.

There were plenty of birds on the river and mudbanks.

After Haddon Hall the footpath returned to the river at Ferry Cliff (sadly there has been no ferry here for many a long year). A set of steps descended the cliff to the water’s edge where a path, which is probably slightly tidal, clung to the water’s edge. We stopped for a coffee and I rolled a log into a suitable position for sitting on and we sat very happily in the warm sun admiring the view.

We were interested when we came across what I thought was going to be a golf course. In fact the beautiful green sward turned out to be grass grown for turf.

The final two or three miles of our walk was through the Sutton Hoo estate to the B1083 which we followed to Wilford Bridge to cross the River Deben at last. Then it was but a short stroll to the car park outside Melton where we had left the car.

We had only seen three other walkers that morning and we had easily given them all a wide berth and so we feel we were fully complying with the social distancing rules. Now we had to drive home and find a supermarket with some food since we were returning to an empty house. We decided to try the large Waitrose at Newark. To our surprise the shop was almost empty of customers, was almost fully stocked and had staff getting bored with nothing to do. We did a non-panic essential food shop and then set off home to Yorkshire.

Monday 23rd March 2020

Our walking days are numbered but we are determined to finish this leg before retreating to Bishopdale and isolating ourselves, relatively speaking.

Today we were going to have to compromise on our coast walking. To walk the eight miles down Orford Ness and back again seemed a bit silly and if we had wanted to do that we would have done it yesterday. Few other coast walkers include Orford Ness and John Merrill didn’t include it in his original walk around the coast of Britain. We would have to get across the Butley River. In summer there is a ferry service but only at weekends and so we had no choice but to follow the official Suffolk coast path to Butley Mills and cross the river there. This would cut out an area of marsh land between Aldburgh and Orford which was only dubiously walkable.

It was a beautiful morning with a clear blue sky and a touch of frost. We drove to Snape Maltings where we could have the pick of the parking. The path initially followed the banks of the River Ald which is a slow flowing river spread out over mud banks with lots of birds for us to watch.

Then the path turned way from the river and through agricultural land and woodland. We hadn’t realised what a lot of pig farming goes on in Suffolk. There were lots of free range pigs and lots of piglets.

Eventually the path returned to the Butley River at Butley Ferry where there is a pedestrian ferry but it only runs at weekends and in the summer and obviously not when there is coronavirus around. This was the reason for going via Butley Mill.

Once we reached the Butley River, it was only a short walk down the dyke to the River Ore. The Ald changes its name to Ore as it passes the village of Orford. The R. Ore then separated us from Orford Ness. There was a strong wind blowing in off the sea which was pretty cold but there was bright sunshine as well and so long as we kept moving we were quite warm enough in just our sweaters.

Orford Ness is impressive as are the nearby marshes. We stopped for lunch and sat on the side of the dyke getting some shelter from the sea wall. It was delightful to enjoy the sunshine watching the birds on the marshes.

We carried on along the dyke until we reached the road at Oxley Marsh where we turned on to the beach until we reached the first Martello tower at Shingle Street. There is a series of four Martello towers, three of which have be converted for residential use.

At the final Martello tower we turned inland to Bawdsey. We decided to press on to Ramsholt Dock which will reduce tomorrow’s walk so we can get home sooner. Though that added on nearly 4 miles it was quite fast being on tarmac roads which were very minor roads and almost deserted. We arrived at Ramsholt to a glorious site of the sun beginning to lower over the waters of the R. Deben.

Sunday 22nd March 2020

This morning we awoke to clear blue skies and the weather forecast suggested that it would persist not only for today but for several days to come. We had breakfast at 7.00 and by 8.00 we were being driven back to Walberswick to restart our walk.

We walked down the path to the beach. The sea was running high with big waves smashing on to the shingle beach. We could see all the way along the beach and so we started to walk. The shingle was very hard work to walk on; the tide was on its way in and there was no sandy margin. So we walked the shingle bank between the sea and the marshes on the landward side.

The official Suffolk Coast path runs slightly inland but parallel with the shore line. It would probably have been slightly easier walking than following the shoreline on the shingle as we did but it was such a nice day even if there was a strong cold wind. There were a number of other walkers mainly with dogs but one or two birdwatchers were amongst them. We came to the end of the shingle bank at Dunwich which was a relief. The café and shop were closed as per the government coronavirus ruling.

From Dunwich we followed the inland path because the beach is too narrow and the cliff edge is privately owned and walkers are not welcome. We passed the ruined Franciscan Abbey and then walked through Dunwich Heath which was a pleasant contrast to the beach.

When we came to Minsmere we could follow the beach again. We would have about 8km along the beach until Thorpness. This time, fortunately, there was a fairly firm path running along just behind the shingle beach. The path took us past the Minsmere bird reserve and then past the Sizewell Nuclear Power Station and to Thorpeness which seemed to be a more of a holiday village. There were a couple of places serving takeaway coffee but we didn’t linger and moved on to the beach to the south of Thorpeness. We found a good bench where we sat and had lunch but it was quite cold in the wind in spite of the bright sunshine.

Just before Aldburgh the path turned inland and we passed a field of Przewalksi’s horses before skirting around the back of the village and through Aldburgh Golf Club.

Then we followed the Sailors’ Path across Hazelwood Marsh and Black Heath Wood and almost to Snape. Just before Snape, the path turned south and then along the banks of the River Ald and to Snape Maltings. It is said the path was used by sailors to return to Aldburgh if their boat got beached at the Maltings as the tide went out. Anyway it is a very pleasant walk. As we walked across the dyke we could see black-tailed godwits feeding on the mud banks.

The Maltings were silent, normally they would be heaving with visitors but coronavirus has closed it down completely.

Saturday 21st March 2020

Today was planned to be shorter day and much to Jill’s relief (after several missed promises by me; I should have been a politician) it was a shorter day.

We left the deserted Premier Inn soon after 8.00. The Beefeater restaurant was closed which didn’t matter because we had our own breakfast in our room but as we left the hotel I felt I should turn off the lights and lock the door. Our next stop was Tesco on the outskirts of Gt Yarmouth. There was a queue for sanitised trollies but we only needed a basket. All of what we needed was available. We did look for cat litter in preparation for a potential visit from Emily, Charlie and Margot, the cat; there was none. It would seem that desperate Tesco shoppers deprived of toilet tissue are now using cat litter to clean their arses.

We self-checked out which seemed like a sensible option except it required two visits by the self-check monitor because Jill and I try to work too fast and don’t sequence our scanning and bagging very well. And then we needed petrol; there was plenty of that and no queue.

A half hour drive took us to Kessingland where we parked where the school bus usually turns but that doesn’t happen on a Saturday and won’t be happening any time soon.

It was a bright, clear morning with clear, blue skies but there was a very strong, cold wind blowing in off the sea. There were big waves pounding the shoreline and the water was brown with the churned up sand. We walked along the broad sand shore which is being created by deposition of sand.

All too soon, we came to where the coast path swings inland to avoid the narrow shingle bar that separates Benacre from the sea. This bar sometimes becomes breached in winter with heavy seas and so is not a reliable all-weather walk.

We did not wish to risk following the shingle bar then having to backtrack a long way if the sea had broken through. Instead we took the rather tedious, official Suffolk coast path along tracks and roads in land and back out to Covehithe and only a few hundred yards from the sea. Unfortunately the walk past Covehithe Broad and Eastern Broad is not consistently walkable and there is no right of way. Reluctantly, once again, we followed the official path inland but did take a shortcut walking down the B1127 which was probably not a good idea because the road is quite fast but has no verge and is edged by hedges. We managed the walk without incident but it was complicated by the road being flooded. Fortunately we managed to edge around it but it did underly why we had read advice to avoid some of the other paths because some of the board walks are apparently now under water. From the road we could see where the path would have come past the reed beds and how waterlogged the ground was.

Finally we got to the coast just before Southwold. Here there was no beach and the waves were pounding the sea wall. It was still clear and bright and the wind just as strong and just as cold. We found a seat in a brick shelter overlooking a pond behind the beach huts and settled in for our lunch. The sun streamed in and kept us warm and a pair of mallards marched over to join us and pecked around our feet for crumbs.

We had thought Covehithe had a large number of cars parked to access the beach but Southwold was even busier. I don’t think people were getting too close to each other and the strong winds would certainly have blown away any virus.

We were able to get on to the beach past the pier at Southwold and we followed the water’s edge as far as the River Blyth. (No connection with the River Blyth in Northumberland). Here we followed the river inland a short distance and to our surprise we found the passenger ferry across the Blyth operating. However, we were in plenty of time and so we walked along the riverside path to the Bailey Bridge and crossed over to the other bank and walked back down the river to Walberswick.

Though cafés were closed due to coronavirus, there was an ice cream seller and so we enjoyed an ice cream as we waited for our taxi to take us back to Kessingland to collect the car.

We drove to our B&B where our social isolation continued. We are the only guests. Fortunately we can eat in because no where else is open. We will complete the next three days of our walk from here as base but then we will have to return home to Yorkshire.

Friday 20th March 2020

This morning we had our simple breakfast in our room and then set off. We crossed the peninsula to the river side and walked up the road past the industrial enclosures until we reached the bridge over the River Yare. We crossed by the road bridge which gave views down the quayside of the Yare and the town hall. On the opposite site is the Ice House, a brick building with thatched roof that was used to store ice collected from South Walsham Broad from 1840 until 1910 though latterly the ice was imported from Norway. It was subsequently was used a grain store.

Once across, it was back down the other side two or three miles until we reached Gorleston on Sea where there was a traditional promenade. We were interested to see a small flock of turnstones on the bank next to the prom. A café was open with indoor seating at widely spaced tables so we stopped for a coffee out of the wind.

Then we were on the sandy beach once more for a while until. The tide was almost in and as we got further from Gorleston on Sea so the beach narrowed and we were walking just behind the wooden sea defences which in places had been broken through by the waves.

When we could no longer walk the shore line we took to the cliff top path past the holiday villages at Hopton and Corton.

Today was the the Friday that all the schools closed down. Perhaps fittingly, a local primary school had brought its children down to the beach for a final play – though perhaps it was more of a geography field trip.

Once past Corton, we were able to take to the shoreline once more and then at Lowestoft North beach we were on the sea wall. Finally, in the harbour area, a series of diversions took us to the road bridge over the River Waveney at the harbour. South Lowestoft took on a much more attractive nature with a long promenade and some gardens where we stopped for our lunch and promptly got caught by the only rain of the day.

A quick lunch done and we crossed the substantial sandy strand to get to the water’s edge for the last few miles to Kessingland. Initially the beach was wide and the the walking was easy but then it narrowed and the path followed behind the sea defences, sometimes on very soft, dry sand. We had to make one or two diversions inland where the beach was not walkable, making use of such delightfully named breaches in the cliff as Crazy Mary’s Hole. The cliff was itself quite unstable in places.

As we approached Kessingland, the beach broadened out into a wide, flat expanse of sand which is gradually being colonised by plants. The area is much larger than as represented on the OS map and appears to be perhaps a quarter of a mile or more from the old sea wall to the edge of the beach. The deposition of sand has presumably been quite rapid.

At Kessingland we stopped and ordered a taxi to run us back to Great Yarmouth, to discover that all cafés, restaurants and bars are being closed because of the coronavirus. Fortunately for us, the Premier Inn is serving residents tonight but they will be the last meals served. We are aware our coast walking may soon have to end. On the positive side, our B&B for tomorrow and the rest of this leg is still open. We will be the only guests and she will provide us with evening meals – so with luck we will just scrape by without abandoning this leg of the walk.