Suffocated by the indoors, Philip embarked on a multi-day stroll along the Norfolk Coastal Path. With no mountains to climb or valleys to cross, he expected an easy, uneventful journey. Instead, he encountered a challenge of a different kind – one that redefined his perception of adventure, and self.
It was several summers ago in 2021 – around the time that Lockdown finally lifted in the UK, that I decided to walk the Norfolk Coastal Path.
Like most of us, I’d been stuck inside for so long, watching TV and worrying about the news, that I’d almost forgotten what the outside world looked like. To say that I was feeling cloistered would be an insult to well-meaning cloisters everywhere.
The truth was, I was feeling near-permanently anxious. What I wanted – what I needed – was a walk; a long, wild walk with no walls and no screens.
The Norfolk Coastal Path was the obvious answer. Not only was it close enough to my home in Cambridge that I could reach it via a single train, therefore reducing the risk of travel in those post-pandemic days; it also offered stunning vistas, copious fish and chips, and an opportunity to swim in the sea every day for a week. What’s not to love?
I grabbed my trusty hat, boots, and my walking stick and jumped on the next train without a second thought, not knowing I was about to embark on one of the most challenging and transformational hikes of my life.
Norfolk Coastal Path Key Stats:
- Length: 135 km / 84 miles
- Duration: 5 – 7 days
- Difficulty level: moderate – walking on sand is hard!
- Type: point-to-point
- Start/end location: Hunstanton in the west to Hopton-on-Sea in the east
- Elevation gain: highest point reaches 30 metres above sea level
- Terrain: a combination of marshland, fen, beach and clifftop
- Accessibility: while the full walk is quite challenging, short stretches could be enjoyed by those of limited mobility. Not wheelchair friendly due to the sand.
A Moving Meditation
If you’re thinking about walking the Norfolk Coastal Path, I would ask you to seriously consider – along with the above stats – the meaning of flatness.
Personally, flatness is not something I’d really encountered before on any of my previous hikes, in the UK or elsewhere. Almost all my adventures prior to this had involved a certain amount of elevation. To the extent that in my mind I may have naively associated the word ‘hike’ with the topography of valleys, waterfalls, mountains, etc. And Norfolk, beautiful though it may be, has none of those things. Norfolk has forests, marshes, fens and rivers. But they are all, invariably, flat.
But wait! Before you snap your laptop closed and run for the hills, allow me to make a defence of flatness. Because flatness can be an adventure all in itself. In fact, flatness provides something far more interesting and unique than any number of sweeping views and rugged climbs can offer.
It gives you yourself.
Any walk, I think, is a form of moving meditation. A way to be both still and active at the same time. But that awareness is intensified tenfold when you remove the stimulus of a changing landscape.
You can’t help it: you go within yourself and travel through whatever you find there. Of course, this experience may be exactly what you need in that time of your life, or it might be a living nightmare. Or, as happened to me, it may even be both.
Alright, enough of the flatness manifesto. Let’s get to the walk itself.
The Norfolk Coastal Path: The Ups
The first thing to mention is the difference between the Norfolk Coastal Path (NCP) and the Peddars Way, which is a 46-mile trail that follows an old Roman road almost straight up from the forest of Thetford to the coast, where it then joins up with the NCP. I only mention it because a lot of people seem to do both at once, and the two walks are often lumped together.
So, assuming you’re not doing the Peddars Way, the NCP begins in the seaside town of Hunstanton.
‘Sunny Hunny’, as Hunstanton is affectionately known, is a very charming town. Think stone cottages and traditional sweet shops selling ‘sticks of rock’.
If you’re not from the UK, or born later than the 70’s, you might have never encountered this particular English delight (I hadn’t). It’s basically a lollipop made with fewer chemicals and a lot more style. I tried some on my way to the beach and, while it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t amazing either. It struck me as one of those things that is more celebrated for its symbolism and nostalgia rather than its actual flavour.
Regardless, the town itself was lovely. And it set the tone for all the towns ahead. Not that they were all a copy-paste of each other. Far from it! But if you’re a fan of cobbled lanes, salt-bitten shopfronts and cosy pubs selling copious cider and fish and chips, then you’ll enjoy this walk, as every day begins and ends in a town just like this one. And between the towns – you have beaches. Endless hours of seagulls calling and waves licking at the sand.
I took a moment on that first day to snap a photo of my hat and walking stick while I inhaled the scent of sea and salt. Then I ceremoniously turned my phone off and stored it away. Freedom at last.
After more than a year of walking no further than the end of the garden, going slowly mad about the state of the world, here was 80 miles of peace, wildness and adventure.
To top it all, the clouds parted and the sun poured down like molten gold. A good day to run away, I said to myself.
Little did I know, it was all (metaphorically) downhill from there.
The Norfolk Coastal Path: The Downs
By the end of my first day, I was exhausted, sunburnt, and blistered beyond belief. Who knew you could get blisters from walking on sand? Worst of all, I was bored. Dreadfully and surprisingly bored.
Looking back, what happened seems obvious now. I was leaping from one extreme to the next.
The Lockdown days – not that we care to remember them – were filled with virtual stimulation. An endless barrage of news and movies, games and music, available from any screen, at all hours of the day and night. And I had gone from that, to this – switching off my phone and purposefully leaving myself no distractions. It all meant that, for the next six days, I was stuck with myself and only myself.
The NCP isn’t a particularly hard walk in terms of obstacles or endurance, though walking on sand and shingle is no joke. And even if you’re not very well prepared (like me), you can stop along the way at any number of towns, campsites and supermarkets, which are almost always right on the path to eat, shower and have a coffee.
But if you’re doing this walk alone, you’ll have plenty of time to yourself. Other than the occasional dog walker, it’s just you and the sea and the cliffs. And the sea and the cliffs. And the sea and the cliffs. Etc. Etc.
As the days passed, thoughts and anxieties swirled in and out of my mind for hour after hour as I stomped along the path.
As well as the aforementioned beach and cliff, there were occasional sections of pine woods and swampy marshland. And while these variations did bring a much needed change of scene, the pace was always the same. One step in front of the other. One thought after the next.
You may be thinking this sounds utterly hellish, and in some ways, it was. But it was also deeply therapeutic, and very necessary.
The Lockdown years had been hard, and had pushed me into an unhealthy headspace where I sought constant escapism from worrying about the state of the world, without ever really seeing what was right in front of me. It took a walk like this to make me realise that what really matters is the here and now: the sea and the cliffs. Boring as they may be.
The Norfolk Coastal Path wasn’t a perfect or even a particularly enjoyable adventure, but it taught me a lot of things about myself. By the time I reached the endpoint of Hopton-on-Sea, I was a changed man.
If that’s not the purpose of an adventure, then I don’t know what is.
Final Thoughts from the Path
Those who get their kicks scrambling over mountain tops to gasp at majestic vistas may wish to look elsewhere. The Norfolk Coastal Path is not a walk for the thrill-seeker. It’s for the meditative, for those who like to ponder endlessly without worrying where the path will lead.
The route includes many moments of great natural beauty, from meeting seals on the beach to admiring the majestic North Sea, as well as the chance to see many idyllic English villages, full of pubs and more fish and chips than you could eat in a lifetime.
If you have something on your mind, this walk will either help you to find an answer or make peace with having no answer at all.
For the overthinkers among us – it’s either the best, or the worst hike in the world!
Tips for Walking the Norfolk Coastal Path
- Pencil in a stay at Wells – my favourite patch of the NCP was relatively early on, around the tiny town of Wells-next-the-Sea. Why not break up the trip and spend a few days enjoying the forest and the dunes?
- As I’ve mentioned above, this trek may bring you into close proximity with your psychological baggage. If you want to lighten the load, you can hire HikeHelp to carry your actual baggage for you.
- The CoachHopper is a cool bus service that runs all along the route, if you need it.
- Look out for seals! The best place to find them is Horsey Gap.
- Finally, embrace the flatness!