A 3½ mile walk that includes shoreline, fields and paths, and a few stiles. The directions are quite complex, a good map is required!
Start: at the shoreline by the Harbour Office (there is a carpark up the road near the Ship Inn).
The Walk: Turn right along the path eventually turning inland between a wall and a hedge to join Spinney Lane. Turn left, go to the end of the road, then take a footpath to your right through a gate.
Walk to the field edge then turn right, almost back on yourself, along the field boundary. Keep following the path between two fields and then pass between farm buildings. Go straight ahead then over a plank bridge to the road, turn right passing the village pond on your left and a church on your right.
Shortly after the church take the road on your left signposted to Itchenor Park House and Farm, then turn right following the sign ‘All Farm Traffic’. Continue along the path, over the stile and then turn left. Keep straight on along the concrete road/mud track passing a cricket field on your left to a stile on your right.
Go over the stile and continue to the shoreline where you turn right back to Itchenor. You will come to a section of metalled path which has been laid for wheelchair users to have access to a harbour viewpoint. There is a boatyard café just before the end.
Items of Interest en route:
Little Egrets – Often seen on the marshy area at the end of the walk. These bright white birds look like small herons. They only started coming here in the 1990s, previously they spent most of their time further south in Mediterranean countries. Chichester Harbour now has one of the largest colonies of Little Egrets in the UK.
Itchenor Park Farm – Look out for the red brick farm building. This was originally the carriage house to the country house called Itchenor Park. One of Charles II’s descendants, Charles Lennox, Duke of Richmond, bought Itchenor Park and established a farm here. Evidence of this can be seen by the royal coat of arms on two of the farm buildings.