In early July this year myself and a number of excellent chums will be attempting to walk around the Isle of Wight (106km) over two days. Preparation for this, combined with feeling the call of the wild at the start of glorious summer weather, led to a two day Old Way extravaganza, taking in the beauty of coastal England from Titchfield to the ancient city of Chichester. This completes what had originally been planned as my first quarterly excursion on the Old Way, leaving the Hampshire leg and entering West Sussex. Day 1 was a little over 37km, day 2 much shorter at a mere 16km.
I was accompanied by my most excellent and learned friend Morwenna; not only fabulous company, but an acknowledged expert in historic building conservation. So she knows, like, loads of interesting stuff I don’t have a clue about.
Day 1
We started on the main drag near Titchfield having got a bus from Fareham train station, a short journey. Almost immediately, within 500m, we had come to Titchfield Abbey, a spectacular ruin of a monastery that was subsequently redeveloped into a manor house after the reformation in the 16th century (by the deeply unpleasant Thomas Wriothesley, for fans of the Wolf Hall series). The ruins are spectacular and well worth a stroll around.
Heading away from the abbey, the path tracks upwards, heading north east towards Wickham through surprisingly peaceful woodland. It’s a well used path, passing round a school and houses on the outer reaches of Fareham, before descending sharply and passing under the roar of the M27. We didn’t go all the way up to Wickham (as per the ‘official’ Old Way route) but instead crossed the railway just below Knowle and yomped across open fields towards Crockerhill and Boarhunt.
This is mainly open farmland with occasional coppices and meadows, with well waymarked paths. Considering how close you are to build up areas (and a major motorway) its remarkable how peaceful it is. We parked ourselves under a tree for a spot of lunch and reflected on the bucolic beauty. And how hot it was. And that we needed more water already and there was more than 25km to go.
Thankfully, another 45 minutes or so brought us into the chocolate box village of Southwick. Famous for being home to the pub where the D-Day landings were planned (see, everything good starts over a pint), Southwick is a tiny village of thatched cottages and the best stocked post office-cum-corner shop two thirsty walkers could wish for. Ice cream may have been involved. From Southwick we headed round the old priory walls and headed east through woodland and field, appreciating the wide range of crops; this is the veg box of England with oats, peas, beans (add barley and you have a song!), corn, wheat and beetroot all in abundance.
Turning south, we headed down towards Purbrook, passing initially through fields and then, along what became coined as ‘Evil Path’, an overgrown, nettle and bramble fest, each triffid-like branch bent on our destruction. I say path, more of an alley, passing behind houses before spitting us out on the main road. Concrete is not the friend of walkers’ knees but we did get our first view of the sea, looking out between Portsea and Hayling Islands to the Solent.
We stuck to the road into Bedhampton before turning south; we witnessed our first cricket match of the day and then I got us lost and told off by a grumpy allotment holder. Put right by directions from a helpful local, we followed the urban path along the railway line, round the waterworks and eventually into Havant where we stopped for (yet more) water and a strategic change of socks before our last 10k before stopping for the day.
Passing along Havant’s old high street we picked up national cycle route 2 which drops down the shoreline opposite Hayling Island so quickly, its like stepping between two worlds. This was our first experience of the complex set of inlets and natural harbours between Portsmouth in the west and Pagham in the east. It is an area of exceptional, almost untouched beauty and haven for all manner of flora and fauna. Dependent on tides with very small permanent channels they aren’t suited to big boats, which makes for small and very beautiful villages and tiny boats bobbing around (or resting on mud!).
Crunching shingle underfoot, we tracked the shoreline initially before coming inland a little to pick up the Solent Way (remember that from Southampton to Lee-on-Solent?) which is also part of the Wayfarer’s Walk, the other end of which is up on the North Downs I walked a bit of in March. Passing through Warblington we headed into Emsworth, hugging the shoreline before crossing a causeway into the old village. From here we tracked across the top of Thorney Island, listening to the gulls cry in the early evening before heading north to Nutbourne where our lodgings awaited (I’ve popped the Air BnB listing at the bottom of the page just in case; highly recommended). Incidentally, also a decent pub with quite spectacular fish and chips.
Day 2
We started slowly, testing our hips and feet for continued functionality and me cursing myself for some careless sunburn. Factor 50 liberally applied everywhere this time we sallied forth on day 2, retracing some of our steps through another glorious morning back down to the shoreline of the inlets of Chichester Harbour.
Its hard to describe this landscape, at one level expansive with a sense of grandeur and wildness, but also intimate and intricate with tiny channels and gullies, hedgerows and wind blown trees providing a sense of land intermingling with the sea.
We walked around the first inlet before coming into Bosham, a beautiful little village with an ancient Saxon church. Tempting as it was to stop for coffee and indulge in the tantalising smells coming out of the local bakery, we pushed through, admiring the boats from Bosham’s sea wall before heading east through bean, oat and wheat fields to the inlet carved by the Fishbourne Channel. Our way from now on was marked by the clear vision of the spire of Chichester Cathedral, the destination to which we were headed.
Tracking the shoreline of the inlet for a while we then struck out eastwards towards the city, but not before noodling around in a wheat field trying to find an exit and taking our lives in our hands crossing the A27. We entered Chichester hot, tired, suspicious of emerging blisters, but triumphant and happy. The Cathedral and its grounds are very beautiful and full of surprising details (like the window ‘given by a wayfarer’ below). Like true pilgrims, we removed our boots in the cloisters (oh, the cooling stone of the cloisters) before donning ‘slippers’ (aka flip flops) to visit the Cathedral proper.
Then we went to the pub. Obvs.
A two day effort in the heat was well worth it; we were richly rewarded with open country and the natural beauty of the unspoilt natural harbours. Reaching Chichester feels like a significant landmark as the first large conurbation on the original Gough Map; it‘s not hard to imagine ancient pilgrims walking into Chichester in much the same way as we did, guided by its magnificent spire (and in dire need of refreshment!).
See below two maps, one for each day, and a link to the Air BnB where we stayed in Nutbourne. My ‘token’ from this stage is an ear of wheat, a long way from maturity, but reminiscent of the fields of plenty we walked through along the way.
Maps
Accommodation
The very lovely Derry put us up in his small but perfectly formed cabin which is suitable for two to pass a very comfortable evening in. The Barleycorn pub is a 2 minute walk away.
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