Hambrook And Thornham Figure Of Eight

The northern end of Thorney Channel is attractive for short walks with plenty of wildfowl, a fine sea wall to walk along and plenty of boats nearby. This short walk starting from Farm Lane is just under four miles which can be easily shortened if need be. The reed beds at Hambrook are being restored by the Friends of Chichester Harbour and extend along the right hand side of the footpath leading down to the sea wall where there is usually plenty of wildfowl in winter, especially wigeon.

The path leads round the sluice to a small point which is a favourite spot for Brent geese. The flow of fresh water attracts many duck as well as waders where they can sit in relative safety to roost and freshen up. In cold snaps during the winter this is the first to freeze which looks attractive although the duck probably are less impressed.
Huge rocks form the seawall here that extends westward, a formidable barrier protecting the fields to the north that are a favourite haunt of curlew; it's good to see so many about when they are threatened elsewhere.

There's a line of quite dramatic sandbanks at low tide leading from the western end of the sea wall to a point just south of the marina almost forming a bay with a narrow entrance. Certainly a well protected spot  for yachts and boats but not the easiest to get into if you have any sort of keel or draft. Unfortunately much of the harbour to the south is not so well protected and if any craft break free of their moorings in a storm they often end up on the rocks of the seawall with disastrous results. Unless they're towed away quickly they get quickly smashed to pieces by the prevailing winds.

Prinstead is a busy spot as it's so popular with walkers as well as being the centre for the sea scouts. When the tide is in it's the ideal place to mess around in small boats, if it's out it's one of the few good places in the harbour for children to poke around in rock pools. With good parking this is also an alternative place to start the walk from or make it shorter. To make it a circular route we like to leave the seawall here and walk along the lane to the end then turn left to the back of the marina. Over to the west there are fine views over the Deeps and it's possible to see what wildfowl are roosting there if you've got some good binoculars. If the Geese are in, the mark one eyeball is quite enough!

Leaving the marina behind there's a pleasant relatively wild area before coming up to the Thornham wall which stretches before you towards Thorney Island. It's a popular spot for wildfowlers as the birds often fly over the wall in and out of the Deeps when they move out to feed in the harbour. Once over the little bridge the marina comes into view once more; it's rather ramshackle with wooden pontoons leading out on the drying mud and an old worldy feel. Far away from the sterile and rather smart marinas at Northney or Chichester and attracting mud crawling boat owners rather than posh deep water yachts.

After successfully negotiating the bridges leading over the entrances to mooring pools there's a pleasant walk alongside a field back to Prinstead; we've chosen to go through the attractive street to make it a circular walk and take the footpath that runs parallel with the coast. This is varied, bordering on fields then through an attractive tree lined section before negotiating the final few houses at the end of Farm Lane.