Coastwalk

Sizewell → Dunwich Heath

Distance: 3.5 miles
Ascent: 66 metres
Duration: 1 hour 3 minutes

Suffolk's golf ball
« Aldeburgh | Dunwich »

My re-walking of the southern Suffolk coast continues with a walk that's not the most beautiful. Two reasons: A and B. It's full of memories for me though; for five Easters in the late 70s, Mum and Dad took the youth group ("Ichthyans") from Chorleywood to Sizewell Hall, and the shape of the power station a mile to the north is permanently etched onto my brain.

Parking in Sizewell village, the walk to Dunwich Heath is easy and obvious, the white coastguards cottages on the heath an immediately obvious landmark. From the heath I walked inland, then south to Eastbridge in a reversal of the second loop of last week's walk. Half a mile south of Eastbridge I took the green lane past the derelict Round House (which turned out to be square), Upper Abbey and Kenton Hills. Then after crossing Leiston Common I headed towards Sizewell Hall, taking the path to the coast that runs through the caravan park. From there it's a pleasant ten minutes' walk back to the village.

I have mixed feelings about the power stations. Sizewell A will always be a noisey, ugly lump of concrete but next to it, Sizewell B's clean lines and geometric shapes are beautiful, especially when the sun's glinting off the reactor dome. (Except for the scar where the dome has been repainted to cover the message Greenpeace left in their most recent stunt.)

But as to whether Greenpeace have a point I'm not sure. I certainly prefer so-called renewable power, but I think we sometimes forget about places like Drax - is it worse to create small quantities of radioactive waste or large quantities of greenhouse gases? Someday I should read up on this stuff.