Walton-on-the-Naze Circular walk

This is a short and easy but varied costal walk is as much a day out as a walk. It starts in a faded grandeur Victorian Seaside resort with a long pier. But its real star is the Naze - a headland with fine views and red cliffs of London Clay subject to rapid erosion and a fossil hunters paridise after stormy weather.

After leaving the pier, arcades, beach huts, some nice Victorian architecture, and good swimming beaches behind, you quickly reaches the Naze - a wild headland with good sea views. There is a small tower with a tea room, which is visible for much of the walk as a landmark. Due to the erosion on the headland - by up to 2m a year - walking along the beach is quite interesting, and can be rich in fossils after storms.

After the Naze cliffs is a sand spit beach walk out to Stone point. Not at high tide. Walk below the high tide from May 1st to mid August to avoid ground nesting birds.

The Naze and spit protect the backwaters, shallow waters with salt flat islands, which inspired Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons books. The return route is either along the beach, or optionally around a nature reserve's sea wall overlooking the backwayers (good for birdwatching, but a bit hard going in summer as overgrown)

Depending upon tide times, walk out along the cliffs, and back along the beach or visa-versa

After returning to the town centre, head out to the end of the pier. For a longer walk, head south along the coast and beach huts to Frinton (station)

Your opinion of this walk will be in part how you see Walton-on-the-Naze - faded grandeur, or tacky amusments which may be busy and noisy during summer evenings. In winter, the town would be very quiet, the amusements closed, and beaches empty

The walk out to Stone Point would make an interesting night walk.

• If the tides are wrong, walk around the nature reserve sea wall - a circular walk back to town - a bit overgrown in summer, with views over the backwaters

7.6 miles / 12.2km (5.6 miles for the tide-safe seawall option)

1 out of 10 (3 in summer if you walk around the nature reserve)

Trains from London Liverpool Street, hourly, about 1hr 30, usually changing at Thorpe-le-Soken (where the line splits to Clacton-on-Sea) for a waiting train. Check the return trains times, as they aren't as regular in the evenings

Saturday Walkers Club: Take the train closest to 10:00

The walk out along the spit to Stone Point hasn't yet been walk checked.

The spit out to Stone Point is part of Hamford Water National Nature Reserve (NNR).

• The east (sea, beach) side has open access, except "... between 1 May and mid-August when we ask that people keep below high tide mark and keep dogs under control and on a short lead so that the birds and in particular the little tern are not disturbed .... [tern] colonies are often mobile flitting around year to year between different sites at Hamford [NNR]. When nesting, the sites are roped off by a warden."
• The west (inland, backwater) side has "a 'Section 25A' restriction applied on the salt marsh which means that there is no access west of the beach.

The relaxation of the former total ban on access during the spring/summer breeding season is an excellent and very welcome compromise. Thank you English Nature!. Access restictions updated: July '19.

The spit is managed by a local Sailing Club, who welcome visitors, but in order to keep "unfettered access", urges them to "take care not do anything that either disturbs the wildlife or destroys plants and vegetation." Its a popular mooring for small boats in the summer.

"In Arthur Ransome's ( 'Swallow and Amazons') book 'Secret Water', the children name [it] Flint Island... Stone Age flints have occasionally been found here... Stone Marsh is surrounded by gentle slopes of soft sand and mud, and small boats often use this as a temporary mooring" -- Essex Coastline: Then and Now By M.P.B. Fautley, J.H. Garon.

We still like the idea of a roped off path to guide visitors, and dogs on leads, along a specific route (with prickly plants either side where needed!) Birds would soon learn to avoid a 50 ft strip either side of the path, and everyone's happy. English Nature are against this idea, mabe its not appropriate for flitting about Terns :) However, the "below high water mark" access is great!

England Coast Path - Sensitive Features Report - The Naze / Stone Point (pdf - see section 5.1)

Strangely, the England Coast Path plan doesn't mention Stone Point other than to impose a year-round access restiction on the salt march on its inland side.

The a) walk out along the Naze headland, and b) the circular walk around the nature reserve sea wall back to town are now a formal part of the England Coast Path. Expect better signage!

• Walton-on-the-Naze - history and nature
• Naze Tower - £2.50 to climb, has a free tea room, open April to October
• The Nazeman - Geology and Nature - a fan site!
• Fossils, also see: [2] and [3]
• A similar walk on the BBC website around the John Weston Nature Reserve
• John Weston Reserve - wetlands, good for birdwatching
• Hamford Water NNR (the Naze backwaters, including Stone Point) - no web presence

After the walk, we would love to get your feedback

You can upload photos to the SWC Group on Flickr (upload your photos) and videos to Youtube. This walk's tags are:

Start CO14 8DH Map Directions

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National Rail: 03457 48 49 50 • Travelline (bus times): 0871 200 22 33 (12p/min) • TFL (London) : 0343 222 1234

Aug-19 Andrew