Burnham Overy Staithe is a reflective place of lapping water and salty air. It’s peaceful here, just the cries of seabirds riding the wind and chinking masts, dinghies hauled up, sails cocooned, waiting for clear weather.
This is where naval heroes were forged and a small boy first heard the call of the sea. Admiral Lord Nelson’s eventual victory at the Battle of Trafalgar was launched here in the little North Norfolk village where it’s likely he first learned to sail. These creeks were his teachers, he studied the tides and weather, cutting through marshy streams to the mouth of the River Burn and out into the open sea.
Walk east along the coast path past the marsh, grazing grounds for pink foot geese, oyster catchers and redshank. If you’re lucky rare curlews fill the air with thrilling wild crescendos and red kite hover high above. To your left twisting creeks meander though sea purse where dunlin probe the rippling mudflats for shellfish. Eventually you reach the beach, lonely, windswept, and vast. At low tide vistas of sand and sky meet in a shining mirage of restless light.
But beware of time and tide. When the sea returns, its pace is swift, racing into dips and hollows, turning the sands into islands before covering them completely. Even the carpark can flood, so keep an eye on the sea. When the tide is high, unless you’re a seagull, head to a local pub or cosy up in a café for tea.
