Quay to Town
Off the ship and into Casemates, along the moles the Navy built the harbour out of.
- On foot
- 30 min
- Distance
- 1.53 km
- Effort
- Easy · step free
- Stops
- 3
Works with no signal
1 MBabout a minute on 4G
Before you set off
Two litres each in summer. The only water inside the reserve is at St Michael's Cabin, and it is not on every walk.
The gates shut at 19:00 in summer and 18:00 in winter, and no path is lit. Work backwards from closing time.
Feeding a macaque is illegal and carries fines up to £4,000. Keep food out of sight and bags closed.
The shape of it
0 m up, 0 m down
The walk
Your ship is tied up against a mole that was begun in 1618. Walk it rather than crossing it: 1.5 km of flat quay and pavement from the cruise terminal on the North Mole, past the marina at Ocean Village, through Waterport and into Grand Casemates Square. Half an hour if you stop where we ask you to, and it is the same ground everybody else covers in twenty-four minutes with their head down. No climbing, no ticket, no closing time, and it explains the harbour you have just sailed into: the two old moles, the three dry docks, the two thousand workmen who had to be housed in old ships, and the ground under Ocean Village that was open water until 2009. It ends in the square where the walk up the Rock begins, so if you have the day, keep going.
What you will actually see
three stops. The two with drawings are worth stopping properly for. The rest are a minute of narration and a reason to look up.
1Cruise Ship Terminal
3 m approx.
A berth on a mole begun in 1618, at the edge of a harbour built by hand.
- 2
Waterport / Ocean Village
3 m approx.
A boatyard became a marina, and the bay beside it became ground, in 2009.
3Grand Casemates Square
10 m approx.
A galley house, then a barracks, then a parade ground with a gallows on it. Now: lunch.
Where it leaves you
This walk finishes at Grand Casemates Square.
You can carry straight on from there:
