Bosham Hoe

The start of this walk is the little car park at the end of the delightfully named Smugglers Lane which traverses the Hoe. It can be as little as 1.7 miles long if you're in a hurry, as the trail on the map shows, or about double that if you extend it by taking Shore Road around the harbour into Bosham village for a cup of tea.

Follow the short but attractive path through the woodland glade down to the harbour. If you carry
straight on you'll end up on the bank where the Ichi-bosham ferry can be boarded and carry you over to sample the excitement of Ichinor which is clearly visible.

By turning to the right you'll stay in more tranquil parts following a path that winds round the edge of the harbour between the marsh and farmland. Don't try this at high tide unless you've got waders on, the high water mark is well above where you can walk.

The channel on the other side of the marsh is a haven for wildfowl and waders especially when the tide is reasonably high so you can see more from the path. The winter, naturally, is best with plenty of Brent Geese filling the air with their croaks. The mud usually attracts many Redshank and Oystercatchers together with a few Curlew; if you're fortunate there will be a trip of Dunlin flying around like starlings.

In winter the mud is quite sticky so boots are a sensible precaution especially where small streams flow out from the fields. The views to your left of the Chidham peninsular are particularly attractive if you like boats as you pass the sailing centre and so many moorings in the channel. This is the part of the walk to be savoured rather than rushed, there's plenty of wildlife to see if you take the time to
notice it.

After half a mile an old landing stage comes into view leading to Bosham Harbour itself to the north. Here you can expect to see Mallard and Teal with a few Shelduck to liven up the landscape. It's a picture postcard view of the harbour from this side with the church, houses and moorings conveying a classic, timeless feeling.

This is where you can carry on along Shore Road to the village or head back the other way along the road back to Smugglers Lane. Whatever you do don't park on this road if it's anywhere near high Tide. Many have, and found to their cost that the substantial looking road floods, quite deep enough to cause a lot of damage to a car!

Returning along the road is pleasant enough as there's little traffic and the fields are quite interesting. To the left there's a shoot so in the winter months you can clearly see many pheasants lurking in one of several patches of cover crops. To the right are fields where birds pick and poke at whatever food they can find; crows seem to like it here too.

Not one of the longest walks in the harbour but always a good vantage point to see what's happening on the water, whatever your interest.

Church Norton

This is a brief circular walk starting off at Church Norton where there's parking.  The highlight is the view of Pagham Harbour, the sea is also good, then it returns along an inland path. St Wilfred's chapel, a pretty little church that was built in the 13th century sits in the midst of an extensive graveyard. It's now redundant but apparently is on the site of an earlier monastery built by St Wilfreds and was the parish church for Seal Island or Selsey as it's more usually know now.

Adjacent to it is Church Norton Mound which is what remains of a Norman castle built at the end of the 11th Century. There's some impressive earthworks and a moat of sorts but not much else to comment on apart
from the occasional moorhen.

The path leads down to the harbour which is frequented by bird watchers,

usually seen lugging great telescopes and tripods with them. In the picture there's a group of them, they like being together, perhaps a rarity has been reported which is certain to attract a band of twitchers. The Harbour is managed by the RSPB and renowned for the Little Terns that breed on an island in the middle; however this is winter and they aren't there today, just lots of seagulls.

You can follow the edge of the harbour round to the spit which leads out to the harbour entrance. This adds a bit of interest to the walk as well as making it a bit longer; there's usually more opportunity to see wildfowl here.

Following the sea for a short while, there are excellent views of the coast past Bognor where the Butlins camp is prominent, and on to Worthing. It's always good to see the sea and if it's blowy there can be some quite impressive breakers on the banks offshore.

Heading south you pass some reed beds which look like they're being well maintained which is good to see as they're such an important habitat.

It's not far before you come to a signpost indicating the path inland through some trees and across a field to some farm buildings, welcome to Pigeon Farm. The path turns right in front, and is littered with the rusty wrecks of various old bits of machinery; all sorts from caterpillar dumpers to cranes. One day it's going to cost a fortune to remove them all.

Further on there's what seems to be the remains of a small factory with a several radar domes in the yard at the back. They're clearly maritime in nature, what went on here in the past? Maybe something dating back to the Second World War when there was so much activity here.



At the end of the path is the road leading back to the Church and the car park. It's only 1.9 miles to go round, another mile or so if you go out along the spit; a route to savour the moments rather than the miles.