Introduction


When we started walking the coast of England we had no intention that this would become a major lifetime project. Having to make a last-minute arrangement for our summer holiday in 1987, we said "Let's go to the nearest piece of coast and see how far we can walk along it." It turned out well and we started adding further stretches of coast, initially once every two years, but soon annually, or even twice a year.

We had always enjoyed the coast - there is something refreshingly "edgy" about having the sea always at our side, and one of us was into marine molluscs. We also enjoyed long-distance walking and had long been involved in general natural history recording. This project enabled us to combine all three interests.

You soon discover when embarking on a project like this that you need a few rules, which evolve from the first experiences. Our main rule was that we should walk as close to the coast as possible, which meant beach-walking whenever we could (unlike the official coast paths that largely remain above shore, recognising that at high tides the beach may be inaccessible). The route should also be capable of being a continuous walk, so that when we came to an unfordable river we walked inland along its banks to the first place at which we could cross, whether a bridge or a ferry.

We only carried light packs, so that at the end of each day's walk we had the problem of getting back to our car where we started. Initially we walked back, but soon realised we would be walking the coast twice this way! We used public transport whenever this was available - buses or trains, sometimes adjusting our start and finish points to make this easier. Failing this - and it was often not possible - we would phone for a taxi (an increasingly costly option over the years). Having our car with us gave us more freedom as to where we could stay at night - and after a day walking and only light food we were usually ready for being spoiled by a good meal and a comfortable bed! Even so, we stayed on the coast itself whenever there was a decent option.

Each walk was made for enjoyment, it was not a route-march to see how quickly we could get it finished. We therefore took it gently at times when passing through pleasant scenery or where there were many plants or creatures to record.

In terms of biological recording, we systematically noted every bird, butterfly, creature or sea-shell that we came across, sometimes spending time searching for the shells. We could not record every plant in the same way - there are too many common ones - so we were more selective, noting all coastal plants and any others that were not run-of-the-mill.

In our daily posts, edited from our original diaries, we include a star-rating from no star to **** according to our subjective estimate as to how special that day was from the point of view of natural history. This score (and our daily records) will, however, have been affected by the weather - it is difficult to appreciate the environment fully, for instance, in torrential rain, and there are many more butterflies and other insects to be seen in warm sunshine!

A summary of all our natural history records on the walk can be found using this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1LLGD55lKRHYXd1SGU1QndrcUU/edit?usp=sharing





Friday, 31 January 2014

Essex: Felixstowe Ferry to Harwich 26/6/2009*

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Slipper limpets
 
 
 
 
Annual beard grass
At the north end of Felixstowe, where the Bawdsey ferry arrives, we parked by the Ferry Boat Inn.  Here sea pea was still common enough to appear as a weed by the fishermen’s huts and the path had such East Anglian specialities as toothed, spotted and bur medicks, lucerne, sickle medick and sand lucerne (the hybrid between the previous two), rough and knotted clovers, many small, prostrate and in seed.  Yellow-horned poppy was common on the shingle bank by the golf course between two Martello towers.  As we entered “Old Felixstowe” we were walking a much barer concrete embankment in front of rows of wooden beach-huts, and a sea mist was coming over the groynes and narrow beach.  Many people had come dressed in overalls with pots of paints and were doing up their huts.  Eventually the shore became too narrow and housing development blocked the higher ground.  We had to climb up the cliff and walk a few streets before we could regain the shore and promenade.  We continued along an uninteresting front, past pier, amusement arcades and cartoon octopus, until the housing started to run out and we found ourselves in a grassy wasteland above the shingle beach, designated a nature reserve, although we found little of interest here except for an area fenced off for nesting shore-birds, where there were ringed plovers.  A linnet sang from the top of a bush.  The whole area was devastated by rabbit grazing.  At Languard Point we had to walk on shingle back up to Harwich Harbour, past large colonies of sea spurge, as inland development and the Port of Felixstowe were fenced off.  We did, however, see a plant of henbane.  When we got to the passenger ferry point we followed footpaths beside roads which took us back to the nature reserve.  We hoped to find a bus, but there were no facilities at all.  Eventually the path reached a caravan park and at the corner was a large patch of annual beard-grass, a fortuitous find, even though we had been aware of its presence in this region and were on the look-out for it.  We had to walk almost to the centre of Felixstowe before finding a pub where we could ask for a taxi number and we were then soon whisked off back to Ferry Boat Inn.  It is a pity there is no vehicle ferry between Felixstowe and Harwich, as it was another very long drive via Ipswich to get from one to the other and hence from Suffolk to Essex.  We checked in at the Pier Hotel, which is just by where the passenger ferry from Felixstowe arrives.  Our room had good views over the harbour and the large ships passing close by.  We had time to continue our walk south along the east side of Harwich, through a few streets and then along a coastal promenade.  There was little of interest until we passed a long jetty and turned a corner to a little beach constituting another nature reserve.  Here were sea holly, saltwort and a few plants of Ray’s knotgrass.  The shore was littered by slipper limpet shells.  We continued along the concrete promenade to the boating lakes (mute swans) before the holiday camp.  With no bus available we had to walk all the way back up the Harwich peninsula.  We passed Cliff Hotel where large crowds were blocking the road in an attempt to see some celebrity or other, all with cameras in their hands, various stretch limos in attendance.  From here to The Pier Hotel where we were staying, we followed various streets by St. Nicholas’s Church, but were struck by how featureless Harwich was, just a place for joining or leaving intercontinental ferries.  With the doubled-up walking what was meant to be a short day turned out to be 12 miles!  Dinner at the Pier was well-cooked but huge, and all the girls were identikit Essex ones, slim with long blonde-dyed hair and eye-shadow.
 
 
 
 
Floral octopus
 
 
 
 
Henbane
 
 




 
Bawdsey Ferry arriving at Felixstowe
 
Felixstowe port and wasteland
Harwich ferry
 
Harwich Pier
 
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