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Stiffkey Marshes To Wells Harbour Walk

The Stiffkey marshes are what make this walk so wonderful.  This is a fabulous 6 ½ mile walk and can be a 3 hour return walk with fish and chips in the middle, dogs included!    This walk heads towards Wells, but you could decide to go in the opposite direction and head east towards Morston and Blakeney - either walk just has amazing views.

If you don't want to turn around and re-trace your steps, you can jump on the Coastliner CH4 or CH5 bus in Wells and get taken back to Stiffkey!

Stiffkey Marshes

Strolling along the Norfolk Coast Path with the Stiffkey  marshes  and vast open landscape to one side of you, and the beautiful Norfolk countryside on the other, this walk is suitable for all abilities. 

It’s very easy walking as it’s almost flat (not sure where you’ll find a hill in Norfolk anyway!).

For dog walkers, our dogs loved it, with wide open grassland, as well as single file track in some places.  Depending on the breed of dog, for most of the way they can be off the lead, which gives them perfect freedom.

The Walk


Length:  6 miles return journey.
Ease of Walk:  easy walking.
What you’ll see:  mud flats, salt marshes, Wells working fishing harbour and Wells town, fishing boats and sailing boats, creeks and bird watching
OS Explorer Map:  251
PDF booklet:  You can print this walk off in pdf format here.

Stiffkey Marshes

Stiffkey Salt Marshes
An owl flying over the marshes between Wells and Stiffkey

Don't forget your binoculars, you never know what you might see.  I was lucky enough to see this owl (picture above).

To get to the car park at Stiffkey, turn off the A149 into Green Way at the west end of the village.  Take this lane to the end and you arrive at a free small car park facing the wide expanse of Stiffkey marshes.

Stiffkey Marshes waymarker

Just in the left corner of the car park is a signed footpath heading west towards Wells-next-the-Sea (not the open pathway that leads out to the sea).  All you need to do for this simple walk is follow the well-trodden path along the edge of the marshes and about 1 ½ hours later you’ll arrive in Wells Harbour. 

Wells Harbour

As you amble along, you do come across a few paths heading right, out towards the marshes with various bridges over the creeks.   Don’t take these (unless you have a local guide as these can be extremely dangerous), just continue in a westerly direction.  Watching the boats gradually come into view as you begin to approach Wells Harbour is a really wonderful site. 

The scenery is spectacular overlooking the salt marshes and it's a really lovely walk.  All of this walk is on part of the Norfolk Coast Path which is one of 12 National Trails in the UK.  If you would like to find out more about walking either the Norfolk Coast Path or the Peddars Way, we can show you how you can have a hassle free walking holiday with us!

Once in Wells, I suggest you grab some delicious fresh fish and chips, or if you’re feeling a bit healthier, pop into the Wells deli, or even have a pub lunch, and then retrace your steps back to Stiffkey, or grab the Coastliner CH4 or CH5 and let it drop you back off at Stiffkey, saving you the 3 ¼ mile walk back. 

On a lucky day you may even catch some alpacas being taken for a walk – no joke!

Walking from Wells to Stiffkey along the salt marshes

Another very attractive walk along a stretch of the Norfolk Coast Path is the Holme Dunes walk.  With this walk, you could park at Holme beach car park, walk all the way to Thornham, have lunch and jump on the coasthopper bus back to Thornham, or, as it's so beautiful, walk all the way back again!  Here is more detail on the Holme Dunes walk, again suitable for all ages and abilities.