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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Saturday 30 June 2018

Saturday Walk: Chichester to West Wittering

12.8 miles/20.6 km - or take the #52/#53 bus to Chichester Marina to cut out the first 3 miles along the canal
2 out of 10

An easy walk to the beautiful sandy beach and dunes at West Wittering.  The route starts by following a canal to Chichester Marina, and then continues along the shoreline.

Return to Chichester is by a frequent bus service.

Trains: Take the 9:30 from London Victoria, arriving at Chichester at 11:06.  Return trains at xx09/xx39 until the final direct train at 21:39.

Buses: The 52/53 bus runs between Chichester, East and West Wittering four times an hour during the day, slightly less frequently late afternoon/early evening.  Times at West Wittering: 16:32, 16:56, 17:02, 17:26, 17:37, 18:16, 18:37, 19:16, 19:37, 20:46.  The bus stop is next to the Old House at Home pub (recently re-opened).

Lunch: The Ship Inn, West Itchenor, (01243 512284)

T=swc.167

5 comments:

Paul A said...

Train seems to be at 09.36 from Victoria (09.43 Clapham Junction).

Paul A said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Paul A said...

Just n=4 off the (late-arriving) Victoria train for a walk in w=very-hot-and-sunny weather. We stopped for ice cream (and a beer) at the Chichester Yacht Club, which seemed to welcome walkers. It would be a good option for an early lunch: there is a garden at the back with tables right by the water, the food looked quite reasonable, and the beer was fine. Then on to West Itchenor for a rather late lunch - 3 picnicking by the slipway and 1 eating at the Ship Inn (which was serving food after 2.30pm from a van in the front garden). As we discovered later, there are better picnic spots only a little bit further along the route (as mentioned in passing in the walk introduction), and then also the Quarterdeck Café at Itchenor Shipyard with some tables outside (where apparently excellent paninis are served all day).

The afternoon walk, surprisingly shaded for much of the way, did much to revive our spirits, and approaching the coast, near Snow Hill, sunlight glinting from hundreds of parked cars told of the delights ahead of us. An out-and-back along The Spit, in the heat and glare, did not appeal as much as it might have done on another day, so we headed straight down onto the beach. Here, some 3 hours after high tide was sufficient sand to entice the weekend hordes, but red flags were flying and occasional announcements warned of strong currents and not to enter the water. (The online beach map suggests that this section of the beach around "The Hinge" is permanently red-flagged.) Undaunted, however, 2 of our company braved some ankle-deep water for a paddle and returned to tell the tale.

The final walk along the crowded beach to West Wittering, whether on the sand, the shingle near the top, or along the service road, seemed an unattractive proposition, so we retraced our steps inland towards Snow Hill and followed footpaths towards the church . Very pretty it was too. From there a route along tarmac paths, surprisingly well signposted, led across the beach access road and through housing to the main road and thence to the bus stop at the end of the mapped route - where to our surprise there was no pub! This walker, at least, had not done his research properly. The pub is in fact some 400m north along the road from where the route is shown to end. (Honestly!) This we headed to, only to arrive just as the (20-minute-delayed-by-sunny-weekend-traffic) 17.37 bus pulled up, so we jumped on board and reached Chichester in good time for the 18.39 train. A handy coffee shop on the platform provided some non-alcholic refreshments for the journey home.

This walk could do with some proper (if brief) directions as the New Lipchis Way marking is sporadic in places and it is often unclear which path or turning to take. As it is, a map is really needed. Directions to the final pub would be useful as the location is not clear from the OS map; and the GPS route could helpfully be extended as far as the pub(!) where the bus also stops (and which is in fact the stop listed in the timetables and from where the return bus times were given in the current posting). In summer, the inland route from The Spit to West Wittering could be suggested as a pleasant alternative to the route along the beach.

Two of our group, who did the route in late December last year, thought it worked better as a winter walk.

Andrew said...

Thanks for the detailed feedback.

For me, the highlights were the canal (in spring), and the sand spit at the very end, which few (no?) club walks have had time to do.

I'll check the GPX file, and add an "inland route" as an option

Claire Morgan said...

I was one of the pair that had done the walk on a club winter outing, and on that occasion we did go all the way round the spit in lovely winter afternoon light, with relatively few other people around. The spit itself didn't look crowded at all.