Jane’s Walk 2023 – Day 12

It’s another sweltering day with no sea breeze today, and we are tempted to take off our shoes to paddle, but this means having to carry heavy walking shoes and then replacing them with our feet covered with sand. Along this stretch are great piles of boulders, some up against the sand cliffs, others placed at right angles to the shore, and others piled in lines out to sea, creating calmer pools inshore. This is an attempt to protect the land against erosion.

They were apparently brought over from Norway in huge barges some years ago. It must have been a vast undertaking, as there are tons and tons of them all along this coast. I spy a group of birds, new to me, standing among these stones. On enquiring with a lady filming them with a very sophisticated looking camera, I am told they are Turn Stone Birds, because of their habit of constantly turning over stones, I assume to find things to eat.

We stop at Sea Palling and are met by Jane, whom we had supper with last night and who has kindly brought us a picnic, which we eat sitting on the sea wall. Jane joins us for the rest of the day. We pass the tiny hamlet of Eccles, which we can see at the top of the cliff.

Apparently, this was originally a sizeable fishing village, but most of it fell into the sea after ferocious storms in the 17th Century. The story goes that St Mary’s church fell down, and the only thing left by the 19th Century was the rounded church tower, which eventually landed on the beach, the rest of the building having been swept away.

It remained there for a century and was used as a lighthouse until it was finally swept away by another storm in 1895. We come across a huge rusted bell on the beech and wonder if it comes from the church.

Our stopping point today has no access to the road for Richard, so we continue to Horsey Gap, where he can pick us up in the car.