Coastwalk

Aldeburgh → Sizewell

Distance: 3.94 miles
Ascent: 191 metres
Duration: 1 hour 17 minutes

Scallop
« Orford | Dunwich Heath »

I'd been saving up today's walk for a time I had some company. On the beach just north of Aldeburgh is a new sculpture that's been causing some controversy, and I wanted to experience it for the first time with someone I could bounce my thoughts off. However, with news that the sculpture may be moved, I headed out there today to see it in situ. (And as with my trip to Seahenge, I was successful.)

You won't see Scallop if you follow the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Path. That trail for some reason skirts round the north of Aldeburgh. (Perhaps the town's residents were as concerned about a footpath bringing in riffraff as much as they fear this sculpture will.)

The sculpture's a majestic piece. Solid in design but slender in construction, it provides a focus to an otherwise anonymous beach. Sitting underneath, the biting wind and the crashing waves were suddenly attenuated. Standing atop, the horizon stretches just that little further and your perspective on the beach changes.

It's sad to think it's not appreciated by townsfolk, but the interest generated on this cold Sunday indicates that others do admire the work.

The rest of the walk was uneventful. A favourite walk of mine is a circuit through the villages of Sizewell and Thorpeness: up along the coast, then back inland. Today I extended that route into a thoroughly enjoyable eight mile circuit, half of which was the coastwalk.