Holkham Gap and the pinewoods to Wells beach

From the car park on Lady Anne's Drive the walk follows the boardwalk out to Holkham Gap, where the beach opens out into a vast expanse of sand. It turns east along the sandy path through the dunes behind the beach to the edge of Wells beach. The way back follows the track inside the pinewoods, Corsican pines planted in the 19th century to hold the dunes, back to Holkham Gap and the car park.

It is 6.0 km with 6 m of ascent; allow about 1½ hours. The grade is Easy. It is flat, on sand, boardwalk and woodland track.

The sandy paths are hard going in dry weather. Holkham is a National Nature Reserve: follow signs closing parts of the beach and dunes to protect nesting birds in spring and summer, and keep dogs on leads where asked. If you go down to the beach, the tide comes in fast across the flats.

The Lady Anne's Drive car park is run by the Holkham Estate and is pay and display. There is no station near; the nearest is Sheringham, about 27 km away.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.