🦭 Hike to Atlantic Grey Seal Pups – Britain's Wildlife Safari

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Join us for the most exciting winter day trip from London – seals and their fluffy white pups in their natural habitat! We're heading to Horsey on the Norfolk coast, where one of Britain's largest grey seal colonies comes ashore each winter to breed. Last year over 6,000 gathered on the beaches here, and it's one of very few places in Britain where you can see them up close in such numbers. The best time to see the pups is between mid-November and early January, so don't miss this one!

We’ve created a list of [FAQs](https://drive.google.com/file/d/12gIZWTLfA3zQsx1fb0lpv1zOWP2vC5tq/view?usp=drive_link) to help answer your questions.

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We’re off to Norfolk! The seals in Norfolk are truly one of Britain's most special sights. Without any doubt, they're an incredible WOW factor and one that you must see!

On this day hike, we'll walk along the top of the sand dunes and enjoy stunning panoramic views across the North Sea. On our way, we'll pass the much-loved Atlantic grey seal colony at Horsey Beach, which draws thousands of visitors each year, particularly between November and March, when the seals come ashore to breed. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of seals and their pups stretching for as far as the eye can see!

The whole walk is in the Broads National Park – one of fifteen national parks in the UK. You'll discover its iconic windmills, navigable waterways and broads (man-made, shallow lakes). With over 125 miles of lock-free waterways, the Norfolk Broads have more miles of waterway than Venice or Amsterdam, and are an extremely popular boating holiday destination! Locals like to call the Broads “the Venice of the East”.

💪 This walk is suitable for all abilities – it is almost entirely flat and done at a very gentle pace to allow us enjoy the nature and take plenty of pictures.

HIKE HIGHLIGHTS

• Watch seals and their young from a close distance at Horsey Gap, home to one of the biggest colonies of grey seals in Britain. • Take a gentle stroll over the vast open expanse of the golden sand dunes of Winterton Beach – a Nature Reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest. The area is a veritable haven for birds and all kinds of wildlife and is widely regarded as having the best sand dunes in Norfolk. • See the spectacular Horsey Windpump – the youngest and largest windpump in the Norfolk Broads. It was built in 1912 to pump water out from the surrounding land so that it could be used for farming. • Discover Horsey Mere, often regarded as one of the most beautiful of the northern broads and famous for its internationally important wildlife. • Walk the newly opened stretch of the England Coast Path – a new National Trail around all of England's coast, which once completed will be the longest coastal walking route in the world (4,500 kilometres in length!).

DISTANCE & DIFFICULTY

Distance: 6 miles (10km). Ascent: 50m. Difficulty: [Easy](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BMjvqhAAdSeCdyzLPHs0z04_e2TiKdci/view).

ITINERARY

07:45 Meet outside ibis London City – Shoreditch Hotel, 5 Commercial St, E1 6BF (near Aldgate East Station) 08:00 Sharp departure 11:15 Horsey Windpump to Hemsby hike via Winterton-on-Sea for a lunch stop 16:30 Departure 19:30 London, next to Bow Road Underground Station

TRANSPORT

As on most of our trips, we'll travel in a comfortable 16-seater minibus.

SAFETY

This hike is led by an experienced, Outdoor First Aid qualified hike leader.

BOOKING

To keep ticket prices down and avoid PayPal/Meetup fees (£7 extra per ticket), we kindly ask for payment by bank transfer. Please include your Meetup name and the trip as the payment reference (e.g. John Seals). As places are limited, we can hold your place for 24 hours.

Business Account Name: London Social Hiking Limited Sort Code: 20-17-20 Account Number: 63116514

We'll let you know by changing your status to “Paid” as soon as the payment is cleared. You can check your status next to your name in the [attendees…