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

Suffolk: Aldeburgh to Snape Maltings 22/6/2009**

 
Dittander
 
Adder
 
Snape Maltings
The beach at Aldeburgh is all shingle, with most of the usual plants present, including sticky groundsel, sea campion, sea kale, sea pea, hound’s-tongue and yellow horned-poppy.  There was one limited patch of viper’s bugloss.  We walked south to the Martello Tower where the surrounding walls had lots of garden parsley.  No-one can walk much further, as you come to Orford Ness spit, once a military establishment in the war and now owned by the National Trust, but with very limited access.  We had to return to where the river Alde comes to the coast before turning south, prevented from entering the sea by the spit.  We could follow the embankment about 3 km before the path ran out.  There was much dittander along here, just coming out into flower, looking mauve from a distance because of the colour of the buds, but the opening petals are white.  There were also alexanders and a little bur-chervil.  Few saltmarsh birds were in evidence other than gulls, oystercatcher and lapwing, although a pair of curlews flew down into one of the arable fields.  There was some saltmarsh vegetation as well, thrift, sea lavender and so on.  Lots of meadow browns were flying, with some common blues and some very faded and torn painted ladies still remaining from the spring migration.  After the embankment path ended we had to cross fields to the edge of Aldeburgh, through some allotments, where there was small-flowered cranesbill, a plant that became more common later on.  A path skirted the town to end up on the main A1094, where we had a mile to walk, firstly on pavement and then on a narrow, and sometimes no, verge.  A path on the left then continued west parallel to the river, but a quarter of a kilometre back from it.  This passed through Black Heath Wood (lots of climbing corydalis, speckled woods), fenland (water horsetail and shore horsetail, its hybrid with field horsetail, tussock sedge, ragged robin) and some agricultural land obviously left to arable weeds, where we found bugloss, parsley-piert, wild pansy, scarlet pimpernel, and poppies.  For some of the way there were occasional rustic artworks meant to relate to the archaeology of the area, although most had been vandalised.  Eventually we came to the edge of Snape, but turned south through more heathy woodland (where we spotted an adder as it slunk away under dry leaves and undergrowth), and then west again close to the banks of the river through reeds where reed buntings were conspicuous, but reed warblers kept hidden while singing.  This brought us to the first bridge over the river and straight into Snape Maltings, an old industrial site now restored and used for concert halls, art galleries, and as a “tourist attraction”, with new-built houses for sale.  From here we could catch a bus back to Aldeburgh and drive up to our B&B, Dunan House on Park Road, where we had a 2nd storey room with great views towards the river and an easy walk into town in about 7 minutes down the steep Aldeburgh Steps.  There we ate fresh local fish in the spartan “152” restaurant on the High Street.  A group of professional musicians came in later, as one might expect in Aldeburgh at festival time, one couple living (when out of London) at the C18th Dart Cottage at the base of Town Steps, which we had used to come down to the High Street.
Leaving Aldeburgh
Orford Ness closed

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