Norfolk · Directions ↗
Today at West 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 25 km/h · Waves 0.7 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
At low tide, search the gravel over and around the dark peaty Freshwater Bed at the cliff base end of the beach — bone, teeth and shell wash out of it constantly. The chalk reef's rock pools also trap echinoids and belemnites.
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 →
Beach car park at the end of Water Lane.
Café and toilets by the car park in season.
Concrete ramp onto the beach; the dark Freshwater Bed shows at the cliff base at low tide.
These soft cliffs are actively slumping — never climb on or dig into them, and keep clear after rain. Groynes and chalk reef are slippery; the sea reaches the cliff base at high water.
Fossil Forecast