Peddars Way & Norfolk Coast Path

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Peddars Way / Norfolk Coast Path
On the coast
On the coast
Data
length 150 kmdep1
location eastern England
Norfolk
Markers stylized upright white acorn on a brown background
Acorn Britain National Trails Symbol.svg
Starting point Knettishall Heath
52 ° 23 ′ 26 ″  N , 0 ° 51 ′ 18 ″  E
Target point Cromer
52 ° 55 ′ 57 ″  N , 1 ° 18 ′ 2 ″  E
Type Long-distance hiking trail
Lowest point Holme-next-the-Sea , sea level
Level of difficulty light
season all year round
particularities In the first part follows the course of a Roman road and in the second part the North Sea coast of Norfolk

The Peddars Way & Norfolk Coast Path National Trail with a total length of 156 km (97 miles) is one of 15 official long-distance hiking trails in England and Wales, the National Trails , which is completely in Norfolk except for the first kilometers . It consists of two parts with quite different histories, which are now managed and marketed as a single hiking trail.

Peddars Way

The section of the long distance hiking trail known as Peddars Way is 74 km (46 miles) long and follows the course of a Roman road .

It is believed by various authors that the Peddars Way was not laid out by the Romans but was an even older path, possibly a fork or an extension of the Celtic Icknield Way , which was used and rebuilt by the Romans. The name can be derived from the Latin pedester - to walk . It is first mentioned on a map from 1587.

Norfolk Coast Path

The portion of the long distance walking path known as the Norfolk Coast Path is 72 km (45 miles) and follows the coastline from Hunstanton to Cromer . It opened in 1986 and is entirely within the North Norfolk Coast AONB Nature Reserve .

Route

The trail begins at the end of the Icknield Way at Knettishall Heath in Suffolk , approximately 7 km (4 miles) east of Thetford near the Norfolk-Suffolk border. It is usually divided into 8 daily stages.

  1. Knettishall Heath to Little Cressingham : The stage is 24 km long and leads through various types of landscape such as forest, river valleys and fields, but avoids large roads and places, so that it is quite lonely. At this stage there are the best preserved and recognizable parts of the embankment of the old Roman road.
  2. Little Cressingham to Castle Acre : the stage is 19 km long and hardly differs in character and landscape from the previous one. At Houghton-on-the-Hill and Castle Acre there is a church worth seeing and a ruined monastery in the immediate vicinity of the path.
  3. Castle Acre to Sedgeford : The 22 km long stage only has a noticeable gradient in the first part immediately after Castle Acre. The rest of the way is again on quiet but good paths, very straightforward on the Roman route. Some Bronze Age barrows can be found along the stage .
  4. Sedgeford to Holme-next-the-Sea : At 14 km, this stage is quite short. In its course the landscape changes to the coast of the North Sea.
  5. Holme-next-the-Sea to Burnham Overy Staithe : The stage leads 26 km along the North Sea coast through different coastal forms such as dunes, beaches and grassland. From here the trail runs through the North Norfolk Coast AONB .
  6. Burnham Overy Staithe to Stiffkey : A 16 km long section directly along the coast and in large parts directly on the beach, therefore not easy to walk in all weather. The salt marshes behind Burnham Overy shape the character of this stage.
  7. Stiffkey to Weybourne : These 20 km are again characterized by salt marshes and beaches, which are stony for long stretches. The route passes Blakeney Point, a stretch of coast that is considered one of the best places in England to see seals .
  8. Weybourne to Cromer : After a short rest on stony beaches, the 14 km long stage leads to a steep coast, then turns more inland and follows an old railway line and dirt roads to the end of the path at the port of Cromer. The landscape here is part of one of the largest terminal moraines in England.

Attractions

Wall paintings in the church of Houghton-on-the-Hill , the monastery of Castle Acre , Burnham Thorpe (birthplace of Horatio Nelson ), seal colonies at Blakeney Point, the North Norfolk Railway with the steam locomotives used there.

Connection with other hiking trails

At the beginning of the path at Knettishall Heath there is a junction with the Icknield Way and The Angles Way . At the end of the road at Cromer there is a transition to the Weavers Way . The four hiking trails Weavers Way, The Angles Way, Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast Path allow a complete circular walk through Norfolk.

The Peddars Way is one of four long-distance hiking trails that run from Lyme Regis to Hunstanton and are collectively referred to as the Greater Ridgeway .

Picture gallery

  • at Little Cressingham

  • Ruined monastery at Castle Acre

  • Massingham Heath

  • at Sedgeford

  • Signpost on Peddars Way

  • Coast at Burnham Overy

  • Seals at Blakeney Point

  • Cley-next-the-sea

  • Museum railway at Weybourne

literature

  • National Trails (Eds.): Pocket Companion Peddars Way & Norfolk Coast Way . 2011 ( nationaltrail.co.uk [PDF; 7.2 MB ; accessed on April 10, 2012]).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Donald Maxwell: Unknown Norfolk. Being a series of unmethodical explorations of the country . The Bodley Head, London 1925.

Web links

Commons : Peddars Way  - collection of images, videos and audio files