Norfolk · Directions ↗
Today at East Runton
FairBig tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: A big 1.0 m low tide falls towards evening.
Safe window: 3:04pm – 6:04pm
Leave the beach by 6:04pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Big tide today (spring tide) — more beach exposed, but it comes back in fast.
Why: A big 1.0 m low tide falls towards evening.
20° · overcast · Low tide: 5:04pm (1.0 m) · Wind up to 23 km/h · Waves 0.6 m
Safe window: 3:44pm – 6:44pm
Leave the beach by 6:44pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls towards evening, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
23° · overcast · Low tide: 5:15am (1.3 m), 5:44pm (1.3 m) · Wind up to 26 km/h · Waves 0.8 m
Safe window: 5:35am – 7:02am
Leave the beach by 7:02am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls first thing, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
21° · overcast · 2mm rain · Low tide: 6:02am (1.6 m), 6:36pm (1.7 m) · Wind up to 34 km/h · Waves 0.8 m
Safe window: 5:37am – 8:05am
Leave the beach by 8:05am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls first thing, though it is not an especially big one.
19° · clear · Low tide: 7:05am (1.8 m), 7:48pm (2.0 m) · Wind up to 23 km/h · Waves 0.8 m
Safe window: 6:45am – 9:45am
Leave the beach by 9:45am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls first thing, though it is not an especially big one.
23° · clear · Low tide: 8:45am (1.9 m), 9:38pm (2.1 m) · Wind up to 26 km/h · Waves 0.6 m
Safe window: 8:41am – 11:41am
Leave the beach by 11:41am — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls mid-morning, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
19° · overcast · Low tide: 10:41am (1.7 m), 11:10pm (1.9 m) · Wind up to 26 km/h · Waves 0.8 m
Safe window: 9:52am – 12:52pm
Leave the beach by 12:52pm — the tide will cut off your route back.
Why: Low tide falls at lunchtime, though it is not an especially big one. No recent storms, so expect a picked-over beach.
18° · overcast · 3mm rain · Low tide: 11:52am (1.3 m) · Wind up to 25 km/h · Waves 0.8 m
Work the flint gravel and the chalk reef at low water — star-marked urchin flints and belemnites are regular finds, with Ice Age bone appearing after scouring tides.
Ice Age bone from the 'forest bed' is dark brown to black, heavy, with a honeycomb texture at broken ends. Sea-urchin fossils show as five-pointed stars on rounded flint pebbles. Free identification: Cromer Museum (photo enquiries via Norfolk Museums Service).
This coast is a protected site (SSSI). What does that mean?
Allowed: Loose fossils and bones from the beach may be kept for personal collections.
Never allowed: No digging into the cliffs — the fossil-bearing beds are protected (SSSI) and the cliffs are dangerously unstable anyway.
Important finds: Large bones may be part of a bigger skeleton — report them to Norfolk Museums Service before removing anything substantial.
Rules can change — check locally before you collect.
Detailed location guide at UK Fossils →
Clifftop car park off the A149 at East Runton gap.
Toilets in season; pubs and shop in the village.
Ramp down the gap onto sand and chalk reef.
Soft, actively slumping cliffs — stay off the slumps, especially after wet weather. High tide reaches the cliff base along much of this stretch.
Fossil Forecast