Harwich and Felixstowe
26th July 2025
Fully refreshed after a week or two at home, Jen and I set off to investigate Harwich fully then cross to Felixstowe on the harbour ferry to begin our exploration of the coast of Suffolk. As so often with our planned days, it didn’t quite happen as we had hoped but we had a good day anyway.
We left Peterborough on the 07.50 Ipswich train, barely awake but determined to get an early start to what promised to be a long day. We went all the way to Ipswich this time to change onto a London train for the ten minute ride south to Manningtree. There we had about five minutes to catch the branch line train to Harwich with just time to buy a very fast coffee!
We arrived in Harwich just after ten and began our walk by looking at the area around the station. The station in this location is very different from the original building which burnt down in 1865. In the past it had the capacity to handle traffic and people heading for ships in the harbour, had several platforms and lines which ran beyond the station to the pier. Now it just has one platform and an hourly service to and from Manningtree. There are a few displays and information boards around the station especially about the children who were evacuated from Harwich during WW2. Twelve hundred children were sent from this part of Essex to safety in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire and the event is well commemorated in the town. From the station we crossed the road to the museum which showcases a fascinating history of all that has happened in Harwich over many centuries.
After a long visit there we began to follow the heritage trail beginning with the High Lighthouse which was today open to visitors. We had a quick look but the access was via a ladder which neither of us felt capable of tackling so we just admired the outside. Further along the sea wall was the Low Lighthouse. Neither are used for navigation today but when they were active they performed as leading lights which meant that when they could be seen from the sea one above the other, the vessel was on a safe course to enter the harbour.
From there the trail leads along the back of the beach and round beside the old lifeboat station. The lifeboat here, which came from Cromer, is not in use but is the centrepiece of an interesting looking museum sadly closed today. There is an operational lifeboat in the harbour – a B class Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat.
Next is a fairly new addition to Harwich; a memorial garden to the victims of the 1953 floods. It was opened to mark the seventieth anniversary of the dreadful night of January 31st and February 1st when eight people died in the town and thousands were made homeless in the town that night and the garden is a fitting memorial to them.
Round the corner is a modern mural depicting local landmarks and vessels painted in 1982 and again in 1995. One of the roads near the mural has a convenience store where we stopped for drinks before working our way through the maze of narrow streets with their terraced houses fronting right onto the pavement to emerge by the sea.
The harbour here is small but very busy and there are various sculptures, plaques and information boards to enjoy. At the heart of the harbour is the Ha’penny Pier and Visitor Centre. The ferry to Felixstowe, onto which we had booked for the 12.30 crossing, leaves from here. We had time to explore the pier and have a look at the visitor centre before taking our places in the queue. There did not seem to be any system for prioritizing booked customers and we just squeezed on as there was a coach party which had come from Felixstowe and were staying on to go back again. (When we got home, I contacted the ferry company, who said that we should have been boarded first and promised to remind staff that this was the case.)
Anyway, we were on, found seats inside and enjoyed the crossing, waving goodbye to Essex as we left. We realised at this point that we had arrived in Essex by ferry and were leaving by ferry. The Tilbury ferry had brought us from Kent and the Harwich Ferry was taking us to Suffolk.
Fifteen minutes later we disembarked via a few steps up then a few steps down straight onto a shingle beach. It was a bit tricky but I managed to haul myself up to the top onto a flat grassy area. From there we watched the boat fill up and head back to Harwich and looked across at the huge container ships which were very close by.
Our first stop was Felixstowe Museum which was right on the quayside with a planned break for lunch here. Unfortunately the food on offer was all snacky but we managed with a packet of crisps and some biscuits with tea and coffee. The museum itself was very well laid out with rooms dedicated to all aspects of the history of the town and the port.
Very knowledgeable volunteers were on hand to explain everything and we would have loved to linger longer. However, the constraints of the two hourly train service from Ipswich home meant that the day’s timings had been planned meticulously so we had to miss some sections and abandon the visit to Landguard Fort altogether.
The next planned step was to catch a bus to the seafront, have an hour by the beach then catch the next bus to the station and begin the journey home. The bus arrived and then it all went wrong. We were completely unaware that this was carnival day in Felixstowe, all of the roads in the town centre and along the seafront were closed and the buses on diversion. The bus driver was less than helpful and would only say that the nearest he could take us to the town centre was ‘Cornwall Road’. As we had no idea of the location of Cornwall Road, it was of no help whatsoever but as going to Cornwall Road seemed to be the only option we went with him. The bus took a route around the edge of Felixstowe along the A14, which had signposts to Peterborough! We dropped into the top of the town and got off, with everyone else, at the now famous Cornwall Road then sat down to work out what to do next.
We studied the maps and it appeared we were not very far from the town centre and crucially very close to the station. To walk downhill to the seafront and then back up again seemed too daunting so we decided that we would head home. We would come back another day, go back to the museum and see all the bits we missed, visit the fort and the beach and the shops without rushing.
So at this point we abandoned the day. The train to Ipswich was due and we enjoyed the train ride back, had time to buy food at Ipswich station before catching our train back to Peterborough and home.
Coast Walk 