P2003A209848 The track heading north to Castle Acre.		PB100114 Looking east over the cliffs to the coastguard lookout above Sheringham.

Background

The Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast Path comprises two seperate paths that join at Holme-next-the-Sea on the north Norfolk Coast; these paths are the Peddars Way, which follows the Romanised route of the Icknield Way from Knettishall Heath near Thetford to the North Norfolk Coast, and the North Norfolk Coast Path, which runs from Holme-next-the-Sea to Cromer. There is an option to walk the couple of miles west from Holme-next-the-Sea into Hunstanton, and this makes a good point to start or end the seperate halves of the walk.

I have not walked this route in one go; I first walked the Norfolk Coast stretch in 2001; I also did a more coastal variation in late 2002 as part of my walk around the coastline of Britain. I did the Peddars Way north from Thetford in late 2003 as a wind-down walk after the coastal walk, and I camped out along the way.

Of the two halves of the path I must admit that I much preferred the coastal stretch; there was must to see and public transport and accomodation was easy to sort out. The views were also magnificent, and there was not a single boring stretch of path. The Peddars Way is very different; it runs straight for a long distance along tracks and roads, and seems to avoid settlement as much as possible, meaning that getting refreshments and accommodation is difficult without diverting off the path.

The walk statistics:

 

Total duration of walk	1 days, 10 hours and 28 minutes
Stopped time	2 hours and 15 minutes
Shortest completed leg	Dovehill Wood to Hunstanton bus station at 8.3 miles
Longest completed leg	North Pickenham to Dovehill Wood at 20.8 miles
Average distance per leg	15.61 miles

P2003A199809 The first stretch of the Peddars Way.		P2003A199823 Heading north along the Peddars Way.

The route below does not include the stretch of path inland of Titchwell, as I walked along the coast road instead of doing the long and seemingly boring inland diversion. This alters the mileage of the path somewhat. Also note that my route involves visiting Hunstanton, which is an option on the trail and which increases the route.

The walk in full:

	No.	From	To	Distance	Status
	1	Knettishall Heath	North Pickenham	19.7	Completed
	2	North Pickenham	Dovehill Wood	20.8	Completed
	3	Dovehill Wood	Hunstanton bus station	8.3	Completed
	4	Hunstanton bus station	Wells-next-the-Sea campsite	20.1	Completed
	5	Wells-next-the-Sea campsite	Cley-next-the-Sea bus stop	11.3	Completed
	6	Cley-next-the-Sea bus stop	Cromer bus station	13.5	Completed

Further information

If you want more details of the path, then have a look at the following book. I used this book throught my walk, and it proved to be invaluable.

More Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast Path photos

P2003A199832 The path to the south of North Pickenham.		P2003A209851 The cluniac Priory at Castle Acre.

P2003A209861 The path heading north beside the road from Castle Acre.		P2003A209878 Heading north along the Peddars Way.

P2003A219899 Ringstead.		P2003A219908 Descending down to the sea.

P2003A219917 Heading along the beach towards Hunstanton.		P2003A219920 Nearing the cliffs at Hunstanton.

P2002B020048 The striped cliffs of Hunstanton.		P2002B020062 Thornham Church.

P2002B020079 The creek behind Burnham Deepdale.		P2002B020085 The windmill in Burnham Overy Staithe.

P2002B020091 A boat at Burnham Overy Staithe.		P2002B020013 The path running through the trees from Holkham Gap to Wells.

AN17 The waterfront in Blakeney.		PB100103 Looking west along the shingle beach from Cley Eye.

PB100109 Looking west along the shingle beach near Weybourne Hope, with a wartime lookout post on the beach.		PB100112 Boats on the beach at Weybourne Hope.

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