So, eight years and forty-nine Chesters later(!), we finally found ourselves on the train to a destination that has always felt somehow rather exotic to me.
I think the thing that intrigues me about this little corner of England, is that it's a bit off the beaten track and overshadowed by more glamorous neighbours such as Brighton and Portsmouth.
When you look at the area on a map, with the inlets around Chichester harbour and Hayling Island, it looks like an English equivalent of the Mekong Delta more so than other parts of south-east England’s calm and unbroken coastline.
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| Map of Chichester harbour |
Anyway, Chichester isn’t exactly Saigon and we managed to get there from London in a respectable one hour and forty-five minute train ride.
Lodging and victuals
The weather forecast wasn’t great for the weekend we did this walk (end of January), so we were quite happy to get in out of the dark and rain, as we made our way into Trent’s pub, a convivial spot, where we’d pre-booked a table.
It was a nice place to spend a couple of hours and we were impressed to see so many young people out enjoying a meal with friends, not just getting hideously drunk, as is more usual behaviour on a Friday night.
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| Stained-glass window in Chichester cathedral |
Of late, we’ve become quite attached to our Premier Inn experiences, so no other option seemed viable when we realised there was a Premier Inn in Chichester’s retail park and, as usual, we had a comfortable, cheap-and-cheerful stay.
Quite randomly, we ended up watching a programme about Mughal and Islamic gardens and I was transported briefly to Humayun’s Tomb, one of my favourite places to visit when I go to India.
West Wittering to West Itchenor (3.3 miles/5.3 kilometres)
As usual, we decided to start the walk outside our Chester, so we could have Chichester as our destination rather than our starting-point. With this in mind, we caught the 53 bus from Chichester to West Wittering (via East Wittering), a 20 minute journey and, surprisingly frequent service, given the cut-backs we’ve seen on local bus services elsewhere in the country.
The Witterings are delightful villages and make me think of retirement homes and old people dithering and wittering away to their hearts' content. It was interesting being there in winter, as it’s more of a summer destination and, whilst the coastline in this part of England is no doubt stunningly beautiful anytime of the year, it was also quite bleak and a little bit forlorn, as the rain came on and we made our way along Roman Landing to the shoreline.
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| Shoreline near West Wittering |
One thing that’s guaranteed at this time of the year is mud and the path from West Wittering to West Itchenor was pretty muddy. We had it mostly to ourselves and were able to lose ourselves in the abstract rumination of the landscape, with birds diving in the distance and the mist carrying our thoughts away, across to Bosham and West Thorney.
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| BAM walking on muddy path |
Actually, the open physical space gave us a good chance to catch up and share our thoughts about the things that are happening in our world, namely the #metoo scandal and the exposure of Harvey Weinstein’s abuse of power, amongst other things.
We also ended up talking about gender, the next great revolution that’s changing the way we organise our societies and BAM filled me in on a radio programme she’d heard about Intersectionality and multidimensional oppression.
In exchange for this information, I updated BAM on some reading that I’ve been doing recently on Maths and how multidimensional abstract calculations can have a very practical use for areas like Economic forecasting, regardless of whether the 7th or 77th dimensions actually exist!
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| Concrete blocks |
We agreed that Maths hadn’t been our favourite subject at school, as we both had negative experiences with our Maths classes and, perhaps, Maths wasn’t taught in a way that made sense or engaged us. As an adult it’s much easier to see the point of abstract thinking.
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| Cottages at West Itchenor |
Before long we reached a pretty harbour at West Itchenor, a part of England BAM is fairly familiar with, as it’s a place she’s been to on a kayaking trip.
West Itchenor to Salterns Lock (2.3 miles/3.7 kilometres)
From West Itchenor it was another couple of miles following the Chichester channel to Salterns Lock, where the path we were following The New Lipchis Way takes a sudden turn inland, to follow the Chichester Ship canal all the way back to Chichester.
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| Waymarker for the New Lipchis Way |
The name Lipchis made me think of the song, Cellblock Tango from the musical, Chicago and I couldn't help humming, Lipchis, pop, six, squish, uh-oh, Cicero, as we trundled along!
Actually, this path was named after the two main towns that it links, Liphook and Chichester - somehow they put these two names together and came up with Lipchis.
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| Tide times at Itchenor |
There are some very expensive-looking properties at Westlands and some very pretty boats in Chichester marina. The rain starting coming on more heavily, as we followed the canal and made our way back inland.
Salterns Lock to Poyntz Bridge (2.5 miles/4 kilometres)
It was another quiet, but muddy walk along the Chichester Ship canal, a well-looked after path with lots of information boards telling us about the history of the canal and the various historical features along the way.
We passed a miserable-looking Swan near Crosbie bridge and a few coots doing their best to find some shelter from the rain.
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| Muddy path along the Chichester Ship Canal |
Poyntz Bridge made me think of the village Poyntzpass in Northern Ireland, where that horrible shooting occurred in 1998, when two best friends, a Catholic and a Protestant, were murdered by Loyalist paramilitaries.
The Poyntz family have their origins in Gloucestershire, where we’ve recently been walking and they seem to have a long history with Ireland, although I’m not quite sure why there is a Poyntz Bridge on the canal near Chichester.
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| Walking into Chichester |
There is a lovely view of the spire of Chichester cathedral from Poyntz Bridge, as it rises above the trees in the distance, almost as though there were no town bustling around underneath it.
Poyntz Bridge to Chichester (1.4 miles/2.25 kilometres)
It’s a short walk from Poyntz Bridge into Chichester and we were lucky enough to get into the train station toilets, so we could change out of our muddy boots and trousers.
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| Chichester cathedral |
Chichester was known as Noviomagus Reginorum in Roman times and, before we left for West Wittering in the morning, we’d had a chance to walk around the Cathedral and the town centre. It seemed like a very pleasant place and somewhere I’d definitely like to return to. Hopefully it won’t take another 8 years to get there next time!
Access for Wheelchair Users
I'm afraid not much of this walk would be accessible to wheelchair users, however, Chichester is a pleasant place to visit and part of the canal walk there seemed accessible - also the road between East and West Wittering was pretty quiet and I'm sure you can gain access to the shoreline just beyond the Roman Landing. The route was pretty accessible between West Itchenor and Salterns Lock, so I think you could do that part of this walk without too many problems.
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