Selsey Bill and Pagham Harbour

Sidlesham

The girls seem to have the bug for walking, which is encouraging.  Given the choice of activity on a bright sunny Saturday they voted for a picnic and a walk – good girls!  We had a good day of weather ahead of us but a rather breezy one.  It was tricky to come up with a choice of walk that would suit the conditions but I came up with an absolute cracker down by the sea in the southernmost part of Sussex.

Broom in Flower

We headed down to Pagham Harbour visitor centre and had our picnic first.  This meant that we didn’t have to carry the grub which was a blessing.  We then togged up and headed around the coast path towards the small town of Selsey.  Pagham Harbour is an inlet of the sea that has long since ceased to be a true harbour as it has silted up so much.  It is a great place for bird watching though and there were plenty of enthusiasts about.  From the small visitor centre we headed around the inlet and across the course of the old Selsey Tramway that had once limped down from Chichester.  As a railway it was pretty short-lived, being built on a shoestring budget by the famous light railway builder Colonel Stephens.  The tramway was powerless to compete with bus services as reliability and speed was never its strong point.  Very little remains of the line apart from a short section of embankment alongside the harbour in the reserve.

St Wilfrid's Windows

We actually saw very little birdlife ourselves, perhaps because of the windy conditions.  All we saw was a swan family mooching about in the reeds but far too camera shy for us to get a decent picture.  Although birdlife was a bit scant the path itself soon turned into a riot of colour courtesy of the swathes of pink thrift, bright yellow broom and darker pink foxgloves interspersing every now and again.  It made for a delightful first mile or so around to the hamlet of Church Norton.

St Wilfrid's Chapel

We all caught up with each other at St Wilfrid’s Chapel in Church Norton.  This is now a disused church that resembles a cemetery chapel but was originally the parish church for Selsey until all but the chancel was removed in 1866 to form the new parish church that is more central to the modern town.  What is left of the chapel was rededicated to St Wilfrid, a Saxon Priest who did much to promote early Christianity to the area around Selsey.  The remaining part of the Chapel is also a Grade 1 listed building.

Sea Cabbages

We took a look inside and it was delightful.  The stained glass windows looked particularly radiant and we particularly liked their theming, with scenes of wildlife and historical events as well as the usual religious ones.  

Sea Kale Flowers

The churchyard was still pretty active, with a number of people coming to tend graves, many of which looked new and suggesting that this is not a holy place that has been pickled in aspic but is still very much in use.  Just outside though is a rather older feature that is probably overlooked by all but the most observant of visitors; a large motte and ditch from an early fortification.  This apparently once housed a Norman Keep but all trace of that has long since disappeared, leaving only the earthworks and an interpretive board to show how it must once have looked.

Bladder Campion

After our little detour into the church we headed back to the shore and found ourselves walking along a beach of sorts around the edge of the harbour.  The children decided that they would begin filming themselves in a documentary as they walked along this stretch of the shore.  There manner seemed very much like that adopted by presenters on Blue Peter; maybe some of the techniques had rubbed off on them?  When I played the footage back later much of what I saw was blue sky as they had failed to point the camera in an interesting direction as they spoke! 

Railway Carriage Home

At the far end was the large shingle bank that forms the spit across Pagham Harbour mouth.  We climbed up on top to finally see the view of the open sea.  Our view at the coast was astonishing – the shingle was covered in flowering sea cabbages.  The white flowers were quite the sight!  While there appears to no footpath along the seafront into Selsey from here the reality is somewhat different.  The seafront road doubles up as a footpath and as we headed in towards town we enjoyed the wide variety of buildings that have been placed here over the years to enjoy the extensive sea views.  In particular the homes built out of vintage railway carriages were particularly enjoyable.  

Eric Coates

The kids were very happy with their conversations behind us but by the time we got into Selsey though it was clear they were flagging a bit so we got them an ice cream to perk them up a bit.  Some sit down time acted as a pick me up and we walked along the seafront of the southernmost part of our County enjoying the boats bobbing on the sea by the lifeboat station.  Unusually because of the flat terrain around here the lifeboat station is housed in a building at the end of a lengthy pier.  This always provides good photo opportunities and on a sunny day like this it looked particularly good.

Selsey Lifeboat Station

Just beyond the lifeboat station we came across a group of people all huddling around something on the beach.  As we got closer we saw that it was a seal and we were a little concerned that it was being bothered by unthinking people.  We gave it a wide berth but later I discovered that the seal is a regular visitor to the shore and seems to be quite tame around people.  I suppose this is quite fitting considering that the name Selsey means ‘island of the seal’.

Heading out of Town

We were cut short in our trek along the seafront as part of the front is actually privately owned and we didn’t much fancy walking along the pebbles.  We debated whether we should get the bus the last couple of miles back but elected to continue as the girls still seemed happy.

Medmerry Mill

We skirted around through the streets before getting back to the seafront about half a mile further on.  Just past the coastguard station we headed out onto what passes as cliffs in these parts, although to be honest they barely qualify as they are only about 10 metres high.  The view ahead was now dominated by Medmerry Mill and beyond the Spinnaker Tower could be seen in Portsmouth, the Isle of Wight and the Palmerstone Forts that guard the strait between the island and the mainland also known as Spithead.

Sea of Yellow

We only walked as far as Medmerry Mill, a fine looking place that is not one of the more heralded windmills in Sussex yet deserves to be for it is well preserved. Perhaps the reason why this is the case is the surroundings it finds itself in.  This part of the Sussex Coast seems to be overwhelmed with caravans and the mill sits right in the heart of it.

Pagham Hide View

The onward walk from the Mill back to the nature reserve was a lot less pleasant than we had hoped for.  Initially the route took us around a few back roads before we finally managed to get back on a footpath that followed the course of the old Selsey Tramway for a bit (not that you would have known – it looked just like any other path!).  After some more road walking the path crossed several fields of very little note before we reached the car once again.  In hindsight we should have spared us all the last couple of miles of the walk back to the nature reserve.  It was far less interesting and rather further than the girls could comfortably manage.  Being the troopers they are though they managed to complete the walk though.  Next time I think we’ll use the bus for the less interesting part of the walk!

Chalk Balls and Other Discoveries

First Chalky Ball at Duncton

Following our successful foray along the Kennet and Avon Canal we were keen to keep the momentum going with our walks.  With another fine day of weather and summer seemingly finally arrived we were anxious to make the most of it and so picked out a Downland walk to occupy our Sunday afternoon.  Back in 2002 the natural environment artist Andy Goldsworthy placed 13 chalk balls along a walk to the north of Chichester as an art installation.  At the time he expected them to last 3-5 years before natural processes broke them apart.  The balls were quarried from nearby Duncton Quarry and putting them out must have been quite an undertaking for they are in fairly secluded positions well away from roads.

Last of the Bluebells

Anyhow, we took a picnic and headed out on the bus from our parking spot.  After a lively bus journey in which we seemed to feel every bump in the road we headed up on to the Downs along the South Downs Way at Duncton.  Having a very heavy rucsac I was keen to unload our picnic as soon as was practically possible and we stopped only half a mile or so in.  I was pretty relieved as the weight in the rucsac was substantial!  

Deer Skull

We had to wait until we got to the top of the hill to find the first of the chalk balls.  The funny thing is that I feel fairly sure I have walked past this a number of times without giving it a second look! Although weathered it was quite clearly mostly intact.  A more recent estimate has suggested that the balls will last anything up to 200 years – a rather different proposition to the original estimate!  The girls immediately wanted to climb aboard, something that they did for every single ball that we found.

Ruined House

Our route took us away from the crest of the Downs and down through the woods back towards West Dean.  Despite the modest length of the walk (5 miles) the balls were surprisingly not that close together.  The second was quite weathered and was significantly cracked, I imagine by the frost.  Away from the crest of the Downs and we headed into the woods and it’s fair to say that most of the route is through woodland.  On the fringes of the woods bluebells were still clinging on, almost unheard of in any other June!

Finding the Long Barrow

At the next crossroads the next chalk ball was almost hidden in the undergrowth but the kids found it with their eagle eyes.  We found a deer’s skull, which may have come home with us if it weren’t found so early on!  The woods now seemed to become deeper and darker and through the next stretch of the woods we found the remains of a ruined house, maybe a shepherd’s cottage?  It was now overgrown with trees but proved an interesting place to wander around.  Most of what was left were a few mossy covered walls but we found some pottery and discarded machinery nearby – it was almost like an archaeological hunt!  Stories were exchanged between the kids as to who would have lived there and how life must have been.  I suspect the woods weren’t quite so thick back then for it would have been a tough place to access in the depths of winter.

Fields Near West Dean

Evidence of human habitation of a different kind was found further on in the shape of a long barrow.  It was rather a strange shape, almost like a disused dewpond.  Apparently though it is a burial ground, dating from the Bronze Age.  We speculated that it might have been excavated and left in that state.  The rest of our walk was downhill, which was rather a relief.  All along the way we delighted in the early summer flora and fauna now looking at its most lush.   While I delighted in finding new wildflower species along the way the kids were content to tell stories to each other and find the next ball!

Early Purple Orchid

As we descended the Downs the woodland gave way to fields and for awhile the path followed a road, which wasn’t so much fun.  At this point the girls started to tire too which wasn’t a good mixture.  We were relieved to finally leave the road behind and cross through some woods to the final destination of West Dean, where the path comes out opposite the Gardens.  The last chalk ball was placed by the bridge of the former railway line and proved to be the unlucky thirteenth – it was the only one that the kids didn’t manage to climb on to!  The bridge was almost overgrown too – a far cry from the line that was massively over-engineered to bring the crowds to nearby Goodwood races.  It never really fulfilled its purpose, being too far away from the course to be really useful.  The line closed in 1935 long before Dr Beeching or even nationalisation!

Old Railway at West Dean

This was rather a fun walk and exceeded our expectations.  The Long Barrow and ruined cottage were a bonus and the children liked finding the balls even if they were less interesting than hunting for Olympic Mascots!