Walcott put-in (North Norfolk)
This slipway serves Walcott's main beach, on the one stretch of the North Norfolk coast road that runs directly alongside the sea. A concrete sea wall and wooden groynes protect the village, rebuilt after the 1953 North Sea flood destroyed much of Walcott, and a 2019 sandscaping scheme has since built up the beach here.
A sand bar lies a few kilometres offshore, running roughly parallel to the coast, and is a recognised danger to shipping. Close in, the tidal stream runs parallel to the beach rather than on and off it: the flood sets to the south-east and the ebb to the north-west, with peak flood about an hour after high water and peak ebb about an hour after low water. Referenced to the standard port of Cromer, the mean spring range here is about 4.4 metres.
That 2019 sandscaping scheme was a joint project between North Norfolk District Council, Shell UK, Perenco UK and the Environment Agency, placing around 1.8 million cubic metres of sand along this frontage to protect the village and the Bacton Gas Terminal a little further along the coast, which processes up to a third of the UK's gas demand and had lost up to 10 metres of cliff in the 2013 storm surge. The sand keeps moving along the shore afterwards: council monitoring recorded the village frontage gaining around 112,000 cubic metres of sediment while the terminal frontage lost around 56,000 cubic metres between September 2019 and February 2020, so the beach profile here can shift from one season to the next.
To the south-east along the coast stands Happisburgh Lighthouse, built in 1790 and the oldest working light in East Anglia and the only independently run lighthouse in Great Britain; its lantern sits 134 feet above sea level, showing three white flashes every 30 seconds.
Nearby
A cafe and ice-cream parlour on the Coast Road at Walcott seafront, beside the slipway.
WebsiteConditions to check
The flood tide sets to the south-east and the ebb to the north-west, running roughly parallel to the shore rather than on and off it, with peak flood about an hour after high water and peak ebb about an hour after low water.
SourceAn offshore sand bar lies a few kilometres out and runs roughly parallel to the coast, a recognised danger to shipping.
SourceWooden groynes cross the beach, and metal steps and groyne ironwork buried by the 2019 sandscaping have at times re-emerged from the sand as it redistributes along the shore.
SourceThis stretch sits within the Environment Agency's standing flood alert area for the Norfolk coast from Bacton to Ostend, including Walcott; the Coast Road here has flooded and been closed during severe storm surges, including in 2007 and 2013.
SourceQuestions
No questions yet
Ask about parking, access or conditions. Anyone who knows this water can answer.
Comments
No comments yet.
Save your own spots
Keep the places you launch, check the wind and shelter before you go, and log every paddle. Add a spot to the directory too, and other paddlers will find it. Free to start.