Sizewell Circular Walk 1 of 5
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Saturday 5 March 2022
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Sizewell Circular Walk 1 of 5
Sizewell, Goose Hill, Kenton Hills and Sizewell Belts
NOTE
This is a walk summary intended to provide the user with just the essential information in order to navigate the walk route. Fully detailed information notes, refreshment stops and walk features are not included in this. A full write up will be included in the near future.
Sizewell Circular Walk 1 of 5 - Essential Information
Walk Statistics (calculated from GPX):
- Start location: Sizewell
- Distance: miles ( km)
- Total Gain: ft ( metre)
- Total Descent: ft ( metre)
- Min Height: ft ( metre)
- Max Height: ft ( metre)
- Walk Time:
- Walk Grade: Easy
- Terrain: Footpath
Maps:
The following maps and services can assist in navigating this route. There are links to printed maps and links to downloadable GPX route data for importing into navigational software and apps.
- Ordnance Survey Explorer Map
- OS Explorer 212 - Woodbridge & Saxmundham
- GPX Route File
Route Verification Details
- Date of Walk: 04/03/2022
- Walk Time: 10:00:00 to 12:30:00
- Walkers: Griff, Kat
- Weather Conditions: Clear blue skies
Walk Notes
Route: From The Vulcan Arms, go over the stile opposite the pub car park and cut across the field towards the power station and the sea front car park. From here steps lead you down onto the coastal footpath. Proceed northwards past the power station where information boards detail the conservation and wildlife aspects of the coastal area. Carry on all the way past Sizewell A, (The square shaped building) and Sizewell B (the huge golf ball building) until the perimeter fence turns inland. Follow perimeter fence round and head towards the woodland. After 100 metres a footpath sign will direct you across a small bridge and onto the Goose Hills woodland footpath. This broad footpath takes you all the way around Goose Hill and then through Kenton Hills.
Follow the distinctive Sandlings waymarkers keeping until it comes to the last track on the left before going onto the edge of the woodland. Take this track and follow this to where it bears around to the left where a footpath leads off to the right. This is easy to miss, the landmark is an old sprawling tree on the right with the path immediately after.
The path leads through to the area known as Sizewell Belts. There is a small pond on the left and further ahead is a stile from which the path leads across open pasture. At the far end the path crosses a footbridge and leads up a steep bank and onto Leiston Common. Looking directly across the common you will see a small marker post which is the path needed to take. The path then leads into some scrub and trees emerging onto Sandy Lane. Follow the track opposite from where the path emerges, this leads up to a gate and then across open heath. This is the old medieval route between Leiston and Sizewell and the route that the 18th century smugglers would have used to take their booty from Sizewell to be hidden inland.
The track is well defined and leads through to another gate at the far end of the heath where a path continues along the edge of some woodland. At the end turn right onto another track and this leads down to the Sizewell road, some 200 yards from the pub.
Pub: The Vulcan Arms Sizewell: A curious name for a pub with an award wining sign to match. The history of this establishment goes back many years. It was recorded as being an alehouse in the census of 1540 but then changed to a blacksmith under Cromwell's reforms. Eventually it returned to being a pub in the early 1700's when it took the name of The Vulcan Inn, Vulcan being the Greek god of fire and smithery. It also has a history of smuggling, Sizewell Gap being the haunt of many smuggling operations, including the infamous Hadleigh Gang during the 1700's. Local folklore suggests that there was a tunnel linking the Vulcan cellar to the beach. Unfortunately the original cellar was filled in during WWII. The pub offers a caravan site, food each lunchtime and evening with Saturday evening carveries and Sunday Roast dinners. Ales on offer are Greene King IPA and Abbott and Woodfordes Bure Gold.
Walk Feature: Kenton and Goose Hill woodlands: was planted by the Forestry Commission in 1958. Today it is managed for a number of objectives including wildlife conservation, landscape, recreation and timber production. The long term aim is to convert the woodland into a mixed native woodland and over 9000 broadleaved trees have been planted within the conifer mixture since 1990.
Walk Feature: Sizewell Belts: was an unmanaged reed marsh until it was drained in the 18th Century. It is now a complex system of freshwater grazing marshes interspersed with dykes and narrow tree belts and rich in wildlife. Information boards along the waymarked route describe the flora and fauna to be seen through the seasons
This walk and the associated leaflet were both created back in the late 90s when Griffmonster Walks first discovered this area. As part of the publicity for the Vulcan Arms, together with a guide to other walkers a series of walks were produced based on our regular wanders, walks that we here at Griffmonster walks still undertake on a regular basis.
Summary of Document Changes
Last Updated: 2022-03-05
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