Blakeney Quay put-in

Blakeney Harbour runs roughly three miles east to west, from the Blakeney and Cley entrances to Stiffkey Freshes, where the River Stiffkey enters; Blakeney Pit, at the western end, holds the deepest water at high tide. Most of the harbour, including most of the Pit, dries to sand, mud and saltmarsh at low water, leaving only limited channels holding water. From the quay a paddler can head north down the Cut to the main channel, west through the creeks towards Morston, or east towards Cley via the River Glaven.

The harbour lies within the North Norfolk Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest, additionally protected as a Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area and Ramsar wetland, within the Norfolk Coast National Landscape. It is sheltered by Blakeney Point, a shingle-and-dune spit about 6.4 kilometres long that the National Trust acquired in 1912 after a public appeal, with a research station established by University College London at the Old Lifeboat House the following year. The Point holds England's largest grey seal colony; the National Trust, citing the University of St Andrews' Sea Mammal Research Unit, records pup numbers rising from 5,036 in 2018 to 8,946 in 2023.