A walk along Chichester Harbour, South England

Country: England
Place: Chichester Harbour
Visited in: 2007

It was sheer luck that we should choose to go walking on one of the few days in January that we actually saw the sun here in South England. But the warm sun made our walk along Chichester Harbour one of my best memories of January 2007.

We headed out from the harbour village of Dell Quay, which is the port of Chichester. When we arrived the tide was out, so we were greeted by the sight of boats resting on mud and a varity of birds sifting through the mud for food.

Dell Quay was once the 7th most important port in England, but saw its last shipments in the 1930s. It is now popular with yachtsmen, walkers and bird watchers, but would also be an ideal place for artists and photographers.

We couldn’t get close enough to the birds to fully appreciate the variety of species, so I’m definitely going back there armed with my new pair of binoculars, which I purchased at the Destinations travel show.

As we reached the tip of the harbour channel, we turned into a “forest” of reed. Reeds always remind me of my late grandfather, who for many years worked as a self-employed thatcher. I was occasionally allowed to go with him to harvest the reed and have fond memories of eating our packed lunch amongst bundles of reed. The reeds in the Chichester Harbour area are there for nature conservation purposes.

Coming out of the reeds I saw a glimpse of a deer as it jumped into the safety of a line of trees. Now on the other side of the harbour channel, we stopped briefly to find the right path to Bosham, when a lone walker with his dog asked, if we needed some help. He lived only a stone’s throw away from where we were, and showed us the spot for getting the best view of Chichester Cathedral. From there you could also just make out the grandstand at Goodwood racecourse.

We reached Bosham truely ready for a spot of lunch. Bosham is popular amongst locals and tourists alike for its harbour views, quaint cottages and tea shops, but we went straight for The Anchor Bleu pub. The pub sits in a fantastic location along the quay, but beware the quayside walkway floods when the tide comes in.

Bosham is a pretty village with quite an interesting background. It was invaded by Danes around 1000, and legend has it, that it was on Bosham shore that King Canute sat on his throne and commanded the sea to go back, to no avail of course, other than ridicule.

Fully tanked on pub food and half a pint, we walked out of Bosham in the direction of Fishbourne. This part of the walk was mainly along bleak winter fields, but we did pass a huge nursery with many colourfull plants inside a massive glasshouse all just waiting for spring to come around.

We didn’t stop in Fishbourne except for a brief moment at Fishbourne Mill Pond. We had passed the pond earlier in the day as we headed out, but we took a moment to watch the ducks and swans there, before we headed back towards Dell Quay.

We made it to Dell Quay just before it grew dark, and ended a perfect day with a pint in The Crown and Anchor.

Perfect daytrip from London

Chichester and Chichester Harbour make a perfect option for a daytrip from London. You can reach Chichester (with its many pubs and shops) from London by train and can easily get to many of the harbour villages by bus.

Chichester harbour offers many short walks, which take you through amazing nature to quaint English villages. You can purchase a pack of 10 self-guided walks from The Harbour Office in Itchenor, or download details of 13 walks suggested on the Chichester Harbour web site.

Technorati Tags: travel, South England, Chichester, Bosham, London daytrip

2 Responses to “A walk along Chichester Harbour, South England”

1. Ali Beckett:

   Hi Anni

   So glad you enjoyed your visit to Chichester Harbour - and many thanks for the website link at the end!

   Ali Becket
   Publicity & Info Officer, Chichester Harbour Conservancy

   9 February, 2007 at 13:53
2. Anni Poulsen:

   My pleasure, Ali!

   I plan to go on some of your suggested walks, so a link was the least I could do.

   9 February, 2007 at 14:07

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