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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Saturday 19 August 2017

Clacton to Walton-on-the-Naze - A breeze along the east coast

SWC Walk 52 - Clacton-on-sea to Walton-on-the-Naze
Length: 11.7km (7.3 miles) or 20.5km (12.7 miles)
Toughness: 1 out of 10: flat

10.18 train from Liverpool Street (10.25 Stratford) to Clacton, arriving 11.44

Buy a day return to Clacton-on-Sea - £19.60 with a Network Card. Since this is the same price as a day return to Walton-on-the-Naze, it should be accepted from that station too: if not you would only have to pay for the short hop to Thorpe-le-Soken,
where the two lines meet.

For walk directions click here.

This is a very simple walk along the Essex coast, following a seafront promenade for most of the way, though with a stretch of about 3km in the middle when you are walking along the edge of a nature reserve cum country park. That being said, it is surprisingly varied, with Clacton, Frinton and Walton each having a different character. There is a rather magnificent windfarm out to sea.

There are sea bathing possibilities throughout from gently shelving sandy beaches, though with somewhat brown sea water (this is sediment not pollution). The tide will be falling as you walk, with low tide at 16.35.

Lunch is most easily had at beach cafes in Holland by Sea, just beyond Clacton. But the walk directions contain inland diversions to a couple of pubs if you prefer.

In Walton there are two options for extending the walk. One is an interesting 5.7 mile walk around the Naze, a low-lying peninsula that juts out into the sea and which is a haven for wildlife.

The other - not mentioned in the walk directions but not to be sniffed at - is to walk the length of Walton pier, the second longest in England. It doesn't look particularly exciting from the land and to get onto to it you have to walk through a ghastly (and mysteriously popular) amusement arcade. But once you are out on the pier proper it is a magnificent parade far out into the water with nice views back on the coast (see photo).

Trains back from Walton are on the hour (00 past the hour) until 22.00. This is a shuttle to Thorpe-le-Soken, connecting there to the train from Clacton. Total journey time back to London is 1 hour 37 minutes. T=3.52

4 comments:

Andrew said...

If you carry on along the coast, to the Naze headland, you reach Stone Point (a sand spit), which was closed when we were last there (ground nesting bird breeding season).

It should be open now (from 1st Aug).

It would be great if someone could continue on to the point, and take some photos. It looks really interesting from the map.

Marc Ricketts said...

I would of liked to have done that Walk Today. But I had to go to work Today.

JuneT said...

N=11 or more and one canine companion, w=sunny on this hugely enjoyable easy coastal walk. Most of us had lunch and / or a drink at the Oakwood inn - standard pub grub but pleasant service and garden. Afternoon highlights included comfort stops in a thatched cottage converted to public toilets and (for me) Frinton's fine selection of Art Deco houses. Walton is more a "kiss me quick" kind of town. Four of us did the Naze peninsula extension, soon leaving the caravan park and beachcombers behind for an untamed wilderness of great beauty and isolation. I took some photos and will try to upload them onto the SWC Facebook page or some similar place , although I don't have an eye for birds I'm afraid. We were lucky enough to catch the Walton festival on our return and caught the 7pm train with one very tired dog and its loving walker

JuneT said...

PS I wasn't paying attention at the start and the group fragmented further after lunch so perhaps another walker could correct my figures if they're wrong. Thanks