Length: Up to 12 km (7.5 miles). Toughness: 1/10
10:41 Clacton-on-Sea train from Liverpool Street (Stratford 10:48), changing at Thorpe-le-Soken (arr 12:03, dep 12:06) for the shuttle service to Walton-on-the-Naze, arriving there at 12:18.
Trains back from Walton-on-the-Naze are hourly at xx:30 to 21:30, again changing at Thorpe-le-Soken. There's one final train at 22:25 requiring an extra change at Colchester, but you might need a night bus to get home after returning at midnight.
With a heatwave forecast for next weekend my original plan for a hilly walk in the High Weald didn't look too appealing, so I've substituted this rarely-posted beach walk where you should be able to cool off with a quick dip in the sea. As high tide is at 15:21 it seems sensible to walk out along the beach and return via the low cliffs (or along the sea wall behind a nature reserve), as suggested in the fairly sparse directions. Please read the walk notes carefully and follow any local signs as some optional parts of the route might be inaccessible.
Refreshments are available en route at The Naze Tower and of course there'll be a good choice back in Walton itself. You probably won't want a longer walk but the author recommends a stroll out along the pier (or carrying on along the seafront to Frinton) as possible extensions for anyone who hasn't wilted in the heat.
Please bring the walk notes from the L=swc.98 with you.
1 comment:
The walk poster only spotted one familiar face at Walton station, but a gaggle of new-or-newish walkers clustered around our rucksacks and soon n=9 set off on a w=warm-sunny-day-with-a-sea-breeze. The newcomers seemed particularly attracted by the idea of a leisurely beach stroll which some had calculated as just 2½ km out to The Naze Tower and back again, but we managed to do a bit more than that. However, my idea of walking out along the beach was scuppered when we discovered the sea lapping around the steps at the end of Crag Walk 2½ hours before high tide, so we climbed up the low cliffs for refreshments at the Tower and a rethink.
The walk poster used the time to scan the surroundings from the top of the Tower and declared that he would be risking the path around the sea wall despite it being described as "overgrown and hard going in summer", and all dutifully followed suit. In practice this description only applied to the path on top of the wall and there was a perfectly pleasant lower path all the way round, allowing us to pause and observe the waders in Walton Hall Marshes: lots of egrets, a few avocets and a redshank which sang for us from a nearby fence post. We reached Walton with about 20 minutes to spare before the 16:30 train, just time for a quick pint in the first pub we saw (though one or two with shorter journeys back to east London stayed on to explore the beach and/or town).
This 9½ km circuit around The Naze made a perfectly acceptable half-day walk and I would have made it the 'main walk', with suggested diversions to the beach or out to Stone Point mentioned as possible variations depending on the conditions. And as has been done a couple of times in the past, it can be preceded by the Clacton-Walton walk for a full-day outing of 20½ km.
PS. I'm not a swimmer but the sandy beaches and uncrowded trains (even on a hot summer weekend) would seem to make this area a good alternative to the popular spots on the south coast.
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