May, June and September. May and June give sixteen to seventeen hours of light, around 42 to 53 mm of rain and the calmest wind of the year at 10 to 11 knots, which on ground this flat means a long day is a choice rather than a fight. September is the pick of the three: nights are still 11.7 C because the sea is warm, the crowds go after the first week, and the autumn wader movement on The Wash and the first pink-footed geese are both under way.
This is a low, treeless coast where wind, light and birds decide the trip rather than gradient, 344 m of ascent in 181 km against a mean wind of 13 to 14 knots at Weybourne from November to March and nothing to shelter behind. May, June and September are the best walking, and the thing worth knowing is that late autumn and winter are the wildlife peak here rather than the dead season, with pink-footed geese building to a December peak on the Holkham and Snettisham roosts and up to 9,000 grey seal pups on Blakeney Point between late October and mid January. Tides matter daily rather than seasonally: across the north coast the trail runs on boardwalk and raised bank and can be used at any state of the tide, and it is the beach lines walkers choose instead, under the Hunstanton cliffs and out across the Holkham and Wells sands, that go impassable. The seasonal edge is that the largest spring tides fall around the March and September equinoxes, and North Sea surges, which the Met Office attributes to low pressure and strong winds arriving on a high tide, are a winter event on this coast.
Month-by-month guide
January
Mixed
Eight hours of light caps a comfortable day at around 25 km, which on a route with no gradient is the real constraint. Set against that, January is the wildlife peak: pink-footed geese in tens of thousands off the Holkham and Snettisham roosts, and grey seal pups on Blakeney Point until mid January.
7.4°C high · 2.7°C low · 8.2Watch for: The 17.4 km between Snettisham and King's Lynn has nothing on it, which is most of a January day. Surge tides are a winter matter here: the Met Office puts the east coast at greatest risk when low pressure and strong winds arrive on a high tide.
February
Mixed
The driest month on this coast at 42 mm, and light is back to ten hours. The geese thin through February as they start north, so the winter spectacle fades while the walking improves.
7.8°C high · 2.6°C low · 10.0Watch for: Wind chill on the sea banks, where there is nowhere to get out of it between villages.
March
Good
Nearly twelve hours of light, low rainfall and firm ground, with the seasonal campsites taking bookings again from the last week of the month.
9.8°C high · 3.9°C low · 11.9Watch for: The equinox brings the year's largest spring tides. Local guidance is that the staithe harbours at Brancaster Staithe and Burnham Overy Staithe flood at high tide, and the same tides are what produce the wader spectacle on The Wash at Snettisham.
April
Good
Fourteen hours of light and the driest month at Weybourne, 40 mm. The catch is temperature: the sea is barely off its winter minimum and Weybourne runs about 1.4 C cooler by day than Marham inland, which is most obvious in an April north-easterly.
12.5°C high · 5.8°C low · 14.0Watch for: Blakeney Point is restricted beyond the marked boundaries from 1 April to 15 August for ground-nesting terns. That affects the walk out along the shingle spit, not the trail itself.
May
Excellent
Almost sixteen hours of light, 42 mm of rain, the coast at its least windy and the full season running. On ground this flat that is when a 35 km day is comfortable rather than a push.
15.3°C high · 8.4°C low · 15.9Watch for: There is no shade anywhere on this route, and the longest stretch without a reliable water point is 45.8 km.
June
Excellent
Seventeen hours of light mid-month, common seals pupping at Blakeney Point from June, and the coast busy but not yet full while the schools are still in.
18.4°C high · 11.2°C low · 17.0Watch for: Rainfall steps up from May's 42 mm to 53 mm, mostly as showers, and there is still no shade on the sea banks.
July
Good
Warm, long and dependable for walking, but the schools break up mid to late month and north Norfolk fills. The walking is unchanged; what a bed costs and whether you can get one are not.
20.8°C high · 13.4°C low · 16.5Watch for: Heat with no shade and a long water gap; the water is the planning problem here, not the temperature.
August
Mixed
The warmest month and the wettest of the summer at 58 mm, and the hardest month to place a bed at a sensible price on a coast running at capacity. Wader numbers on The Wash start building from late summer, which is the first sign of the autumn.
21.0°C high · 13.6°C low · 14.8Watch for: Booking rather than weather. This is a second-home coast at its fullest.
September
Excellent
The best month here. Nights average 11.7 C against May's 8.4 because the sea is warm by now, the crowds fall away from the first week, pink-footed geese begin arriving, and the autumn wader spectacle on The Wash is under way.
18.4°C high · 11.7°C low · 12.8Watch for: The autumn equinox brings the year's other set of very large spring tides, which is both the Snettisham draw and the reason the staithe harbours take water.
October
Good
Rainfall steps up to 67 mm and light drops under eleven hours, but the geese build through the month and grey seals begin pupping on Blakeney Point from late October.
14.6°C high · 9.1°C low · 10.7
November
Mixed
The wettest month at 71 mm over twelve rain days, with light under nine hours. What redeems it is the wildlife: geese close to their peak, and grey seal pups arriving on Blakeney Point.
10.6°C high · 5.6°C low · 8.7Watch for: Surge tides. The two worst on record on this coast, 1953 and December 2013, were both winter events, and both combined low pressure and strong wind with a high spring tide.
December
Mixed
Seven and three quarter hours of light is the binding constraint on stage length. It is also when pink-footed geese peak at Holkham, and on a full moon they switch to feeding at night and roosting by day, which puts the most birds on the marshes.
8.0°C high · 3.2°C low · 7.7Watch for: The dusk goose flight is worth being in position for rather than still walking through, and with 7.7 hours of light there is no margin in a long stage.
Sources and research notes · 24 sources
metoffice.gov.ukAll monthly climate figures: 1991-2020 normals for Weybourne, which sits directly on the route between Cley and Sheringham. Mean daily max and min, rainfall, days of rain over 1 mm, and mean wind speed in knots.Checked 30 Jul 2026
metoffice.gov.ukThe coast-to-inland gradient used in April, in shoulder months and in winter appeal. Marham, about 20 km inland at the King's Lynn end, 1991-2020: April max 13.89 C against Weybourne's 12.45, December min 1.37 C against Weybourne's 3.20, January mean wind 10.18 knots against Weybourne's 14.04.Checked 30 Jul 2026
api.sunrise-sunset.orgdaylight hours. Sunrise to sunset day length for 52.9333 N, 1.30 E (Cromer, mid-route), queried for the 15th of each month. January 29,567 s = 8.2 h.Checked 30 Jul 2026
api.sunrise-sunset.orgdaylight hours for June, 61,076 s = 17.0 h, the year's maximum on this route.Checked 30 Jul 2026
api.sunrise-sunset.orgdaylight hours for December, 27,685 s = 7.7 h, the year's minimum and the constraint named in avoid months.Checked 30 Jul 2026
nationaltrail.co.ukThe official trail's own position on timing, used in season summary and winter appeal, and the Cley to Weybourne shingle in March's ground field.Checked 30 Jul 2026
gov.ukThe tidal statement in season summary, and the erosion note behind the route handoff.Checked 30 Jul 2026
norfolkcoastpath.co.ukSecond source for the tidal picture in season summary: the Hunstanton to Holme stretch can be walked under the cliffs or over the top depending on the tide, so the tide-free line exists.Checked 30 Jul 2026
explorenorfolkuk.co.ukThe staithe flooding note in March and September watch for.Checked 30 Jul 2026
weather.metoffice.gov.ukThe surge mechanism and its winter character in January and November watch for and in season summary. Names the east coast as the vulnerable one and gives 31 January 1953 and 5 December 2013 as the examples.Checked 30 Jul 2026
norfolkwildlifetrust.org.ukCley Marshes opening in the winter services fields and winter appeal, and the gorse in April's flora. Reserve open dawn to dusk daily; visitor centre and cafe 10am to 5pm March to late October and 10am to 4pm late October to February.Checked 30 Jul 2026
rspb.org.ukTitchwell in the winter services fields: nature reserve and car park open 24 hours, visitor centre, shop and cafe on daytime hours.Checked 30 Jul 2026
rspb.org.ukThat Snettisham is unstaffed with no visitor centre or cafe (January services, and the 17.4 km gap), and up to 40,000 pink-footed geese in late autumn and early winter.Checked 30 Jul 2026
rspb.org.ukThat the wader spectacle needs extremely high spring tides and runs mainly in autumn and winter, used in March, August, September and January.Checked 30 Jul 2026
nationaltrust.org.ukGrey seal pupping late October to mid January and around 9,000 pups; the ground-nesting bird restriction from 1 April to 15 August in April and August; and that the seal boats do not land on the Point.Checked 30 Jul 2026
visitnorthnorfolk.comCommon seals pupping June to August, used in June. Second source for grey seal pupping November to January.Checked 30 Jul 2026
holkham.co.ukPink-footed geese arriving from September to a December peak, the roosts at Holkham, Wells East Hills, Snettisham and Scolt Head, and the full-moon night-feeding behaviour in December.Checked 30 Jul 2026
beansboattrips.co.ukThat Morston seal trips are booked in advance by phone direct with the operator, used in June services.Checked 30 Jul 2026
bishopsboats.co.ukSecond Morston operator, confirming more than one boat operator works the Point and that sailings follow the tide rather than a fixed daily pattern.Checked 30 Jul 2026
deepdalecamping.co.ukThe year-round campsite in January, October, December services and winter appeal, and that walkers arriving on foot are catered for.Checked 30 Jul 2026