On Saltfleet's Dunes

About trip

Distance: 4.75 miles, Minnimum Time: 2hrs 30mins, Difficulty: Easy, Description: A west–east cross-section of Lincolnshire reveals a highly contrasting county – from the agricultural flatlands around Lincoln and Gainsborough to the pleasantly undulating Wolds. However, it’s the long North Sea coastline that perhaps holds the most surprises, for if you thought that there wasn’t much more to it than funfairs and holiday camps, try this walk for size. It’s centred on the Saltfleetby–Theddlethorpe Dunes National Nature Reserve (and try saying that with a mouthful of crisps), an extensive strip of unspoilt beach and marshland that is also a valuable natural habitat for wildlife. To get a flavour of this peculiar landscape, set aside a few minutes either before or after your walk to explore the short (930yds/850m) Easy Access Trail just to the south of the car park. Information panels explain such fascinating phenomena as 13th-century sand dunes and identify plants such as wild asparagus and bee orchids. Several different habitats make up this nature reserve. The early summer highlight of the bog and freshwater marshes landward of the dunes are carpets of deep pink and purple marsh orchids, and when the temperature rises sufficiently dragonflies and damselflies will take to the wing. The vast rolling dunes are partly covered by clumps of wiry grass and bushes of spiky sea buckthorn, which in autumn are covered by bright orange berries. Meanwhile plants, such as sea lavender and sea purslane, thrive on the salty fringes of the beach, while oystercatchers, with their distinctive black and white plumage and long orange beaks, probe the mud for worms or prise open shellfish. Poor Man’s Asparagus. The marshes off Saltfleet are famous, in particular, for vast beds of samphire. Also known as glasswort, this small herbaceous annual with thick green stems was once burnt to provide ash for use in the glass-making industry. It used to be called Poor Man’s Asparagus, and is still eaten as a starter for a meal. First, you wash and soak it in cold water to remove the saltiness, then boil it for a few minutes in a small amount of water and serve it with lemon juice and a generous knob of butter. Alternatively, a Lincolnshire variation has it pickled and eaten with chine or boiled bacon. Off the Target. It’s also worth pointing out that this part of the coast is sometimes used by the RAF for pilot training, and in particular the practice bombing of offshore targets. When this is happening a large red flag will be flying at the end of Sea Lane at Saltfleet, and there will also be red beacons and buoys to cordon off the precise area. It doesn’t affect the walk at all, and in fact the event often becomes something of an attraction in its own right, but don’t expect to see many birds on those days. While you're there: All Saints Church at Theddlethorpe is sometimes referred to locally as the ‘Cathedral of the Marsh’, although it now stands high and dry and entirely isolated as both the water and the local congregation have gradually disappeared over the years. It’s partly maintained by the Churches Conservation Trust who look after scores of similar buildings across the country, affectionately known as ‘churches in retirement’ (find out more at www.visitchurches.org.uk). What to lookout for: Saltfleet was once an important Roman port, and marked the northern end of the Fosse Way, which ran from the North Sea via Lincoln and Newark to Exeter. Repeated incursions by the sea were responsible for eroding the town and swallowing up Saltfleet’s church, until eventually, in 1854, the mouth of the river was straightened and the sea defences strengthened. Where to eat and drink: The Crown Inn, on the corner of Pump Lane, serves food at lunchtimes and evenings, while the nearby New Inn, on the main street of the village, serves drinks. Also, several snack bars by the caravan sites on Sea Lane offer a variety of refreshments. Directions: Walk out of the seaward end of the car park and immediately turn left through a gate, then climb the steps to walk along the top of the dunes with the sea away to your right. Go past Sea View farm and a small parking area and continue beyond a white barred gate, forking right to reach the marshes. Go left and follow the clear track along the edge of the marshes. At the far end of the dunes, join a rough lane across two successive bridges, then turn right on to the pavement of the coast road. After 100yds (91m) cross another small bridge and turn right on to a wide, bumpy lane indicated ‘Saltfleet Haven’. Walk along this all the way to the small car park among the dunes – and a bit further if you want to view the sandy bay and river mouth (tide permitting) where seabirds and sometimes seals can be spotted. At the back of the small car park, and with your back to the Haven, go up the steps and take one of several faint paths through the dunes in order to pick up the wide track that runs just seawards of the vegetation-topped dunes (not along the actual water’s edge). The strip of marshes is spread out to your right. In just under 0.5 mile (800m), turn left up a concrete ramp by some evergreen trees and walk down Sea Lane past the caravan parks. Turn left at the end, then right after the Crown Inn into Pump Lane. At the far end follow the unmade track as it curves left between houses and, at the gap in the hedge, take the footbridge on the right for a path across fields. Crossing another footbridge to emerge on the bend of Louth Road, turn left and, just after Hilltop Farm, turn right, across another footbridge, for a long field-edge public footpath. At the junction of tracks at the far side go straight on, over a small stone bridge across a ditch near a house. Go over the first of three wooden footbridges and continue alongside Mar Dike until you switch banks nearing the far end to reach the road. Turn left and walk down to the crossroads. Go straight over and along the drive opposite as far as Sea View farm. Turn right on the waymarked public footpath through the farmyard and field beyond, and continue on the clear path along the landward edge of the dunes to return to the car park.