Half way through this walk….
It’s a ‘haul out’ and it’s another seal spectacle! Wow, look at that.
Two minutes earlier I photographed the image you can see below, written on the chalk board : ‘Large Adult haul outs at Viewing Platform’ and then ‘Total births to date 1423’.
Sunday 22nd January 2017 and Sunday 29th January 2017!
Two walks – the same route – two weekends running! Are we loosing our quest for adventure? Never.
Here we go – this is a 7 mile route which skirts the edge of Martham Broad at the start, passes Horsey Windpump, takes on a bit of beach in the middle and ends up on quiet tracks. Wrap up warm, take your binoculars and camera and see what happens along the way….
With sunny skies on both visits I have used a combo of photos taken on both days. They may look like they were taken on the same day but the waterways were completely frozen over on the 22nd but back to normal on the 29th.
We parked on the Horsey Road at West Somerton Staithe – there’s room for three cars on the side of the road here.
The frozen water at the end of the Staithe – right next to the road
Step away from the parked car and the route is clear
More and more information boards seem to be popping up alongside nature reserves these days which is great. Good work whoever sorts that out. It also saves me drawing most of the route for this post! We are following route 1 (orange line on map) going away from the car and then taking route 2 back (green line on map). It doesn’t quite show how we linked them which is a little bit irritating!
These days I’m the one taking all the photographs. It’s a surprise when, five minutes into the walk, Tim says “I’ll just take one of you here”. Awwh, just like the old days I turn and try to pose nicely (and not fall off the slippery wooden bridge). Ok, moving on…..
The path from here is grassy and broad and the sound of distant geese fills the air. If you’re lucky you can spot something a little bit more unusual as we did on the colder of the two days. A pair of Bearded Tit flittered alongside us in the reed. What to do, use binoculars or try and photograph? Quite honestly the resulting photos didn’t do them justice so I’ve left them out of this post. It was lovely to just stand and stare for a bit.
All along this section we are on a stop/start/stare slow motion – on both visits the binoculars were put to good use. I can’t list out all the ‘spotted’ birds – when it comes to twitching we have a long way to go.
After about two miles we are back on the Horsey Road and taking on possibly the worst bit of the walk. Why so bad you may think. Well, there is no pavement and very little verge. So we played a game of dare (and chicken) with the passing cars. Make it to the mill and you’ll live to see another day.
On the road to the mill
As you can see (from the photos above and below) the National Trust are busy working on the mill at the moment. The scaffolding has been up for a while but, from the information boards in the car park and at the tea shop, it looks like it will be back to its very old (1912) self sometime later this year.
Ice creams, teas, coffees, gifts – not open!
Shame about the closed tea shop. It’s a favourite stopping point when we’re out on our bikes in the spring or summer or when we’ve hired day boats with friends and family. We make do with a boiled sweet this time.
The car park is quite big here so might be worth starting the walk from this point if the three spaces back down the road are taken.
I should mention that the Nelson Head pub is a two minute walk from here – and there’s always the option of doing a quick down to the beach and back for a pint and/or spot of lunch. It’s been a long time since we visited even though we pass it regularly. I think the last time was when we got soaked having cycled through some of the deepest, widest puddles ever – we staggered in and gently steamed in front of a roaring open fire with a couple of pints.
From the mill cross the road and follow footpath signs across fields. It can get sticky underfoot here – be warned. Very soon you’ll be back onto a solid track. The dunes might seem like a distant line on the horizon but keep going it should only take about 20 minutes.
The track to the beach
Finally the dune and the beach. Surely all those pups have fledged or whatever pups do when they are old enough! There are no signs of any wardens and people are on the beach. The beach is ‘closed’ just here during the pupping season and The Friends of Horsey Seals do a grand job – busy from November through to…well, now I suppose.
My previous post mentions the seals :-
It’s all about the seals on the Norfolk coast
We followed the landward side track until we reached the steps to the ‘viewing platform’ – as mentioned on the board (first photo of this post ). Up the steps and over the dune until we were met with the unusual sight – lots of adult seals all ‘hauled up’ onto the beach in big groups just along the shoreline and just behind them masses of humans all standing around looking at them.
This is a normal situation for these seals, as I understand it they all come out to moult. Pupping and breeding time over its a chance to lay about and chill and with all the visitors taking photos they might even feel like celebrities?!
As close as I dare
I took the photo below to show just how many people were on the beach – with Tim posing in front. Look behind the rocks! The rocks are a fairly new addition to the beach and part of a sea defence project which I think, by the way they huddle around them, the seals seem to appreciate.
Tim, rocks, seals and crowds
These were taken just a little way down where a smaller group of seals were trying to get away from the madding crowd.
A different angle
A sign of a healthy seal
We sat and ate our lunch a bit further down. One thing about being up close and personal with seals is that you find out how smelly they are. It’s a bit like going to the zoo…minus the cages/enclosures…actually it’s nothing like a zoo.
Completely on now our own now, all except for this small plane which buzzed overhead – the Red Barron I called it. Apparently it’s a Tiger Moth and I jumped up to photograph it as it came over. I’m quite pleased with this shot.
The Red Baron approaches overhead!
The walk back from here now follows the green line on the map above.
It’s time to cross through the dune via one of the ‘gaps’. We used the Bramble Hill Gap which had some boarding to scramble over but there’s another, within a stones throw, called the Winterton Ness Gap which is an easy stroll. Either will lead to a junction of paths and here, at another information board, right next to the huge concrete world war tank traps you need to take the path heading inland. Initially through a gateway then onto a recently resurfaced broad stoney track. It’s a wide footpath, wide enough for vehicle access. On reaching a small animal enclosure the footpath sign points around a hedgerow then onto a concrete track.
It’s here that we’ve taken nephews and nieces to scooter as we can safely ‘let them go’ so to speak while we’ve trotted behind. Occasionally shouting “TRACTOR” and “GET ON THE SIDE” warnings. This is part of the Burnley Hall Estate and we are surrounded by marsh grazing land, small waterways and a bit of woodland.
Keep following footpath signs – turning right at a T-junction of paths then between houses to cross a small field to reach houses on the Horsey Road.
Before you know it, and just around the corner, there’s the Staithe and the parked car. Oh, I did take one last photo….
The car and Staithe at West Somerton
Blue sky days in winter can be as enjoyable as blue sky days at any other time of the year.
its lovely out 