Cart Gap and Eccles on Sea to Horsey Gap and return

It was a glorious sunny day, and although it wasn't hot, neither was it too cold. However this lovely weather followed a wet and windy period, with three named storms within 10 days, and our decision to return to the Norfolk coast rather than heading up to Nottinghamshire on the Midshires Way was partly made on the basis that inland footpaths are likely to be very wet underfoot at present. Our only real problem with the weather was that we were driving towards the sun, which was low in the sky and in the direction in which we were travelling, on both our outward drive east in the morning and especially on our return drive west in the late afternoon. We left home just after 8 am and travelled by way of the A47, then took a now-familiar if rather narrow rat-run through Weston Longville before heading east on the A1067 and A1270 past Norwich Airport, and onto the A1151 through Wroxham and almost to Stalham, and the B1159 north towards the coast. It was only the final few miles that took us on more minor roads to the south of Happisburgh and so to the car park at Cart Gap (TG398299; £7 for parking for the day, which seems the standard price on the North Norfolk coast unless you are sneaky).

We were walking by 9.35 and started by retracing our steps along the coast to Eccles on Sea, though today the tide was lower so we were able to walk on the beach rather than the concrete at the base of the sea wall. Past access point 29, we were on to new territory, and we continued along the beach, heading towards the distinctive "rock reefs" which are part of Sea Palling's sea defences. In case you're wondering, most of our photos this morning were taken of the view back towards Happisburgh because the sun was not well positioned for photographs showing the view in front of us. Richard managed one rather nice shot showing the rock reefs with the sea edging further onto the beach between them. We spent some time watching a surfer just past the end of the first rock reef; the surfer was not being terribly successful and neither were our attempts to photograph them!

There were a number of other people about, mostly dog walkers, but the beach wasn't in any sense crowded. It got slightly busier as we approached Sea Palling and at the end of the fourth (of nine) rock reefs, we headed up the slipway off the beach and into the bustling little holiday resort where there was a distinctive smell of fish and chips and little sheds, presumably to allow you to shelter to eat food purchased at one of a variety of stalls. After the endpoint of the Norfolk Coast Path moved east from Cromer (at some stage after we last walked it in 2012), for some time it terminated in Sea Palling, but the terminus is now at Hopton on Sea, close to the Norfolk/Suffolk county border. A Norfolk Coast Path sign told us it is 16 miles back along the path from Sea Palling to Cromer, but we've 20 miles still to walk to Hopton on Sea. Our way of walking this section, on day walks and just taking one car, means that progress is slow, but we are getting to experience alternative inland return routes and thus "getting under the skin" of the place rather better than if we just dashed along the path. I'm enjoying it.

It would probably have been OK to continue along the beach from Sea Palling, but the main route of the North Coast at this path is behind the dunes and we took this route. After a brief section between caravan parks etc. we emerged onto a very pleasant track - and it was easier walking than along the beach. We had views inland to Sea Palling Church and ahead to Waxham Church. There was a diversion away from the dunes around some fiercely private cottages and at Waxham there was a popular track from the village (where people obviously take advantage of free parking on the road) through the dunes to the beach. I was keen to see the beach, so we turned left onto the track. We just got to the top of the slope, saw that the beach looked like, well, a beach, and retraced our steps to the route of the coast path. I later realised that had we gone down onto the beach we'd have been close to the end of the final rock-reef and so been able to photograph the view back along them. Ah well. Back on the route, another short diversion took us past an (expensive but no doubt very nice) holiday cottage, Shangri-La.

Although our focus was on the coast, the fact that we'd driven by way of Wroxham and Stalham this morning provided a reminder that the Norfolk Broads were not very far away, and it was easy to imagine that the landscape to our right bordered Broads, especially since the next little section, a narrow path with a fence to the right, was rather damp under foot! However, before long the path wandered up into the dunes, which made a pleasant change. I'm very aware that we could have followed paths through the dunes earlier, but - quite rightly - this is discouraged in the interests of conserving the fragile landscape, so we had so far walked on either the seaward or landward side of the dunes. There were good views back to Waxham and I couldn't resist the opportunity to take a slight detour to another vantage point above the beach.

Back to the right of the dunes, we passed Poplar Farm away to the right and then walked right past Warren Farm which seems to be the home of Waxham Sands Holiday Park. The holiday park was closed, though there were a good number of caravans apparently in storage, so presumably they will open again in the summer. Soon we were within sight of the large Horsey Gap car park, which was very busy. We took a path to the edge of the dunes and - hey presto - there were a few of Horsey's famous seals. It took us some time to find and get onto the ramp down to the beach, but when we did we were rewarded by many common and grey seals lying basking on the beach. It was all well organised, with wardens keeping the crowds away from the seals, and - by and large - people were being careful. Do bear in mind though that during the breeding season, which I think has just ended, you are discouraged from going onto the beach at all and at all times you are asked to keep at least 10 metres from the seals. This means that walking along the beach for this whole stretch of coast is risky because of the tide, and also because of the risk of disturbing the seals.

We sat on the concrete sill of the sea wall at the back of the beach and ate our lunch, watching both the antics of the seals and the antics of the people watching the seals. We were in the shadow of the dunes and surprisingly cold, so we didn't stay long. We climbed back onto the dunes which form a low cliff above the beach at this point. We walked along the main path to the car park and were soon back on the Norfolk Coast Path, heading back the same way that we had come to Waxham. At this point, we decided to vary our return route a little. To start with, we followed a circuit past Waxham Church (where we took advantage of a bench to stop for a rest and an apple) and Waxham Barn (where we stopped at the adjacent Dunes Cafe for a cup of tea). Waxham Barn is a massive thatched Tudor barn, now a wedding venue; we couldn't get into the barn itself because there was a wedding showcase in progress. We decided to walk the mile back to Sea Palling by way of the road; this was our one poor choice of route of the day, the road was a bit too busy for comfort, and the route immediately behind the dunes had been nicer. We could also see people walking along the top of the dunes, but this is definitely not an encouraged route.

From Sea Palling back to Cart Gap we followed the alternative high-tide route of the Norfolk Coast Path, which is also signposted as part of a circular walk, presumably with its return route along the beach, the way we had walked this morning. The alternative route is again behind the dunes and I wasn't sure I wanted yet more walking without a view to the sea. However, it was a peaceful and enjoyable walk, and had we wanted to we could have taken one of the regular paths off our track through the dunes and so to the beach. Our walking surface varied from footpath to track to muddy lane and there were regular dwellings alongside the route, varying from mobile home to wooden shack (several of which had people working on them) to more substantial bungalow, to more conventional house. The road edges away from the coast at one point, but you need to be careful not to head further inland to Hempstead Heath (though this looks rather nice) which at one point means you need to take a track off the road to the right towards some mobile homes. There were good views to Hempstead Church which stands by itself about a kilometre from the coast.

A slight veer to the left eventually brought us to the "back" of what remains of the village of Eccles on Sea (I wrote last time of the sad history of the village) aka the Bush Estate, with more of the mixture of housing from wooden shack to more substantial dwelling. It's a fascinating place. At the time of writing one of the properties is for sale and the estate agent's blurb describes it as a "STUNNING TWO BEDROOM IN STUNNING COASTAL LOCATION. A beautifully presented property in THE SOUGHT AFTER BUSH ESTATE within 1-2 minutes walking distance of the beach!". You are indeed close to the beach and maybe the Bush Estate is sought after, but from the photos on the agent's website, I am not at all sure I would agree with the description of the bungalow...It's a good job we don't all look for the same thing when buying houses!

We reached the point at which we had headed inland from the beach last time we were here and walked along the same rutted track (now with some quite deep puddles!) back to the car park. I went down to the beach and was surprised to discover that there was about as much sand as when we'd left this morning, despite the fact it was less than an hour after what I had thought was high tide (albeit a "low" high tide). There is something about the tide times around here that I don't understand, so we need to be careful when planning future walks.

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