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Route Blythburgh - Eastbridge County Suffolk Difficulty Moderate Distance 16km (10 miles) Typical time Five to six hours OS grid reference TM452754, Explorer 231 & 212 Starting point The White Hart at Blythburgh

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Blister rating: 2/5 View rating: 3/5

Why I love this walk

This is a walk away from certainties. In most places, you know what’s land and what’s sea. On the Suffolk coast, you’re not so sure. There is a strange, curiously lit interim area that is not really land, yet certainly not sea.

This is the soft coast, the volatile coast, a place that would be different every year if it wasn’t so carefully managed, and which may yet be drowned as the sea levels rise and the managed retreat begins. Enjoy it while it’s still there.

This half-and-half area takes you past the drowned village of Dunwich and across the Dingle Marshes that have been breached and breached again by the impatient sea. As you walk the fragile shingle banks with water on either side, you can see you are in a land of strange impermanences.

Your walk takes in estuary and the rich mud that feeds the wading birds; sandling heath, drowned land that has dried and acquired a covering of heather; an immense spooky acreage of reedbed; coastal lagoons.

I’ve seen otter and almost always the great birds of prey, especially marsh harrier. In May the walk is sizzling with birdsong, nightingale, whitethroat and skylarks. In winter you encounter waders and geese. It’s a day’s walk without going at it terribly hard: just hard enough to give savour to your drink at the finish.

The route

1 Set off from the path on the river side of the White Hart, admiring the estuary and its birds. Pass a hide in a bit less than a mile, then through woodland to a road. Turn left until you see Walberswick church tower. 2 Take the path on the right across the heathland, watching for Dartford warbler and woodlark.

3 Hit the road and turn left to Walberswick, perhaps for coffee at The Parish Lantern

4 At the lavatories, turn right towards the sea. Follow the path right again through the caravan site. At the far end, enter the marshes. Turn right at the river. Do not cross it. Head for the ruined windpump, and then follow the path to the sea.

5 At the sea, climb the seawall and walk on with the sea on your left — hard going but great views over the marshes and the sea. Chance of marsh harriers. The path takes you past Dingle Marshes (egret, nesting waders, sand martins) to Dunwich car park. Fish and chips at the car park or walk into the village to The Ship.

6 Take the path alongside the ruined abbey and on through the light woodland. Eventually you reach a paved road. Turn left and walk through heathland to the coastguards’ cottages overlooking the sea. Look down over the sea and the RSPB Minsmere Nature reserve.

7 Descend, walk the dunes, still with the sea on your left, looking for terns in season. You can use the public viewing hide to scan the Scrape at Minsmere reserve and look for avocets.

8 At the sluice turn right and take the footpath that leads at right angles, initially alongside the Minsmere New Cut. Chance of more marsh harriers. The path continues straight, with a signposted kink, to Eastbridge village; turn right for the Eel’s Foot.

Things to see: Salt marsh, heath, reedbed and some of Britain’s rarest and most impressive birds of prey.

Pub rating: 4/5

Pub: The Eel's Foot Inn, Eastbridge
B&B, good food, real ales and recommended for its folk music evenings.

Where to stay

The Swan Hotel
A traditional, elegant hotel with 42 rooms in a 17th century coaching inn. The restaurant serves local produce.

The Crown Hotel
A small hotel and pub restaurant, the Crown offers bed and breakfast in Southwold.

The Ship Inn
Out-of-the-way location in Saxmundham with unpretentious, cheerful staff and a nautical theme.

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