Shoreham to Flinders Walk - October 2021

Flinders Ocean Lookout.

I did this walk on Melbourne's second day of relaxed Covid restrictions, which meant that I was legally allowed to make the thirty minute down the Mornington Peninsula to Shoreham. It was a pretty shitty day as far as weather went although after being locked up for so long I was pretty keen to head out no matter what. Heading down the Peninsula Link Freeway I even had time time to make a pit stop at Maccas for a coffee and a couple of toasties - yes, it was just like the old days... we'll except for the fact that I arrived at the trail head before I'd finished my coffee. Yes, the days of long road trips will have to wait a little longer.

I started / finished the walk at the Shoreham Boat Ramp - there is no shortage of parking here.

It was a very grey and overcast morning when I arrived at the Shoreham boat ramp this morning, although at least the rain that I'd awoken to this morning had stopped for awhile. After re-setting the GPS I grabbed my pack and set off on my journey down the coast to Flinders. I've walked this stretch of coast before and my hazy memories are of a couple of sections that got a little skinny at high tide so I'd consulted the tide chart before heading off this morning to make sure that I'd have plenty of dry real estate to walk on, and walking onto the sand I was happy to see that my cunning plan had paid off. 

I was going for atmosphere this morning. Looking across Flinders Bight towards Phillip Island.

Shoreham Beach.

My walk now consisted of me shuffling south across rock shelves and sandy bays broken up by the occasional pebbly headlands. With the grey skies giving everything a bit of a flat dimension to it I didn't linger too long this this morning taking photos. The walk wasn't without it's moments though as I arrived at Manton Creek to find it in minor flood, now the good news was that I had my boots on and not my trail runners, the bad news was that I didn't have gaiters on and it looked as though this water was going to get over boot height. Anyway, after a bit of scouting around (check out my map and you'll see what I mean) I did successfully manage to get across the creek with out filling my boots up with water and was able to make it to Flinders with dry feet.

Looking along the coast towards Flinders from the first headland after leaving Shoreham.

Manton Creek.

I climbed up onto the cliff tops just after passing beneath the pier.

Flinders Pier.

Look out for this path which leads to the Cable Station Staircase.

Arriving at Flinders I decided to climb the old Cable Station Staircase up to the Flinders Ocean Lookout where I enjoyed my socially distanced morning smoko whist taking in the expansive view. For my return walk I decided to walk The Esplanade until it swung away from the coast at which point I dropped down a beach access track to resume my coastal journey back up to Shoreham. With the walk pretty well a retrace from here on and with the tide still being pretty low there wasn't a lot of variety on offer now, although I changed things up a little by going for the deeper but more direct ford option when I got back to Manton Creek, a thereby ensured that I finished off my mornings stroll with damp socks!

Cable Station Staircase. 

Flinders Pier and West Head.

The view back up the coast past Shoreham towards Point Leo.

I walked The Esplanade for awhile...

... before dropping down this beach access track as The Esplanade swung away from the coast.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS I walked around 11 kilometres this morning and climbed about 142 metres on this easy stroll. There are no real navigational conundrums on this stroll, it's just matter of hitting the beach and keep on walking. This walk is best done at a low to middling tide I think (I normally use WillyWeather) and the ford of Manton Creek will generally mean wet feet after some substantial rain. Flinders has a good choice of shops and cafés and the lookout has a picnic table if anyone wanted to make a day of it. As far as I know this walk hasn't been written up either online or in print however Google Maps will get most people through, I used my GPS topos this morning.

Relevant Posts.

Shoreham to Point Leo Walk, 2019.

Flinders to West Head Walk, 2016.

Back on the coast and heading up to Shoreham - there are some nice rock shelves to walk at low tide.

Heading towards Shoreham - this walk s best done on a low to middling tide in my (limited) experience.

Rounding my last headland as I approach Shoreham. 

Looking across towards Cowes on Phillip Island.

It's a pretty sleepy kind of spot here - this was day 2 after we'd just come out of 4 month Covid Lockdown... I wasn't exactly over run with punters.