Blakeney to Cley next the Sea
Walked many times, photographs taken 26th December 2008
3 miles along the Norfolk Coast Path
Click here for all our photos from this walk
We've enjoyed visiting Blakeney and Cley next the Sea for as long as we've lived in East Anglia, and there's a convenient circular walk that follows the Norfolk Coast Path along the sea wall in a loop coastwards between the two villages and then returns on a path alongside the road. On Boxing Day 2008, we used the excuse of taking photographs for this website to get out to the coast for some exercise. It was a glorious day and although we didn't leave home until after lunch (and it is an hour's drive to Blakeney) we managed to complete the walk in daylight.
We parked in the (free) car park at Blakeney Village Hall and walked down to the quay. There were loads of people about and more shops open than I'd expected for Boxing Day. Blakeney was once a major port, but it sits behind the shingle spit of Blakeney point and the navigable creeks to the open sea have largely silted up. However its long history and former importance are obvious in the narrow streets of cobbled cottages, the 14th Century Guildhall and the 15th Century Church on a hill a distance from the village centre, with the taller of its towers visible for miles around. The quayside has been recently renovated and in summer it bustles with tourists and pleasure craft.
Initially the path along the sea wall was quite busy but - as always - the number of other people diminished rapidly as we got further away from the car park. The path leads out across the saltmarshes to Blakeney Eye. It is always an interesting walk, with wildlife and occasional beached yachts on the muddy creeks behind Blakeney Point.
Looking inland there are views across the marshes to Blakeney Church and Cley Mill and these were stunning in the late afternoon light, with reeds shimmering in the foreground. I kept taking photographs, expecting that it would be too dark by the time we got to Cley, but I needn't have worried.
As you reach the channel that leads from Cley, you feel you can almost touch the shingle bank at Cley Beach, but apparently this route would be very dangerous and the path turns inland and meanders its way towards Cley Mill, now a B&B. This is one of my favourite views of the North Norfolk Coast.
On this occasion we didn't bother to go into Cley Village, but turned right along the road to Blakeney. The guidebook describes this section as an uphill grind, but it was more pleasant than I'd remembered it, with a footpath alongside the road all the way. We passed Blakeney Church, which is huge, then walked back down through Blakeney to the Quay, past some beautifully renovated cottages. Amazingly the Spar Shop was open, so we stopped for drinks before setting off for home.