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This month's walk offering is a short walk along the coast at Sizewell, close to the nuclear power stations. Try to pick a fine bright day to enjoy the wonderful views from the cliff tops across the water and along the beaches. The walk starts from the free car park at Sizewell Gap, so called because of the channel through the offshore sandbank. This small fishing haven is still home to a number of fishing boats that can be seen winched up onto the shingle beach. The area was once well known for its bands of organised smugglers, in 1745 as many as 300 horses and 100 carts were seen on the beach at one time loading contraband goods for delivery throughout Suffolk. From the car park cross the dunes on the wooden boardwalks to the land behind the beach. Turn right to pass the public toilets, leaving Sizewell Nuclear Power station behind you. As you pass the fishing boats hauled up on the beach note the black and white Coastguard Lookout, now manned only in emergencies. On the higher ground is a row of former black boarded coastguard cottages, and near the beach the wooden signal rocket pole that was used for practising sea rescues. Continue south past the large white club house on the cliffs of Cliff House Caravan Site. Along this stretch of the coast there is a good variety of shingle plants including Sea Kale and the Yellow-Horned Poppies which flower in the summer. Just before you reach Sizewell Hall with its prominent chimneys, look for a waymark directing you up the steps through the bramble and bracken in the cliff. Do not use the concrete steps with the handrail a little further on which are private. Sizewell Hall is an impressive mock-tudor styled building rebuilt in 1922 after a fire, as the family home of the Ogilvie family, the local landowner. The Hall is now used as a Christian Conference Centre. At the cliff top turn left and walk between the walls of the grounds and the cliff and under the bridge where small compartments are thought to have been stores used by the hall's gardeners. Follow the flint wall past the raised Belvedere (roofed structure, especially a small pavilion on top of a building, commanding a wide panorama) that was used for admiring the fine coastal views. At the large concrete blocks, which were Second World War anti-tank defences, pause to appreciate the panoramic sea views of Sole Bay, Southwold Lighthouse can just be seen to the north. Turn right inland through the trees past a pair of small, round, thatched gatehouses of Sizewell Hall, before passing through a gap in a rail fence to the drive from Dower House. Turn right along the track and then the tarmac road, following the boundary wall of Sizewell Hall. Walk along the tree lined road with its chestnut trees, large pines and cypresses and pass the ornate iron gates, now disused and overgrown. Pass the main pillared Sizewell Hall gates, Home Farm, a traditional group of farm buildings with red pantile roofs and straight on to the main Sizewell-Leiston Road. Turn right on the roadside footway to the Vulcan Arms, named after the god of fire and metal, probably because of its association with the former iron industry in Leiston. Just after passing the Vulcan Arms cross the road to a stile on the left, over a small bridge and across the grass to return to the car park. Otherwise continue along the road past the houses and Sizewell T beach cafe for an alternative easy route to the start. To extend your walk continue north along the path through the sand dunes, passing in front of the imposing power station buildings and on as far as you care to walk. This is part of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Path, an easy 50 mile walk from Lowestoft to Felixstowe, ahead the white buildings of the National Trust's Coastguard Cottages complex at Dunwich can be seen, about 3 miles away. Alternatively, visit the Woodland Walks on the road back to Leiston. Known as the Sizewell Belts and Kenton and Goose Hills Walks, there is a map and often information leaflets available in the small car park. Fact FileLocation: Sizewell is 29 miles north east of Ipswich, 6 miles east of SaxmundhamWalk Start: Sizewell Gap car park, Ordnance Survey map reference TM 475629 Length: 2½ miles (can easily be extended) Conditions: Firm beach, well defined paths, tracks and road, 1 stile (avoidable) How to get there: - Public transport: For details telephone Suffolk County Council's Public Transport TraveLine - 08459 583358 By Road: From the A12 Follow signs to Leiston and then brown tourist signs to Sizewell Beach Car Parking: Free car park at Sizewell Gap Refreshments: The Vulcan Arms and Sizewell T Beach Cafe, otherwise wide range of facilities in Leiston Public Toilets: Sizewell Gap car park Map: Ordnance Survey Explorer sheet 212 Woodbridge and Saxmundham Walking on the web: http://www.anderton.btinternet.co.uk
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