Day 170 – Church Norton to West Wittering Beach: 15.7m: 5.7h

John again travels to Sussex by car with Helen. As happened last time, they park at a station which is on a line to our day 1 meeting point and which is also on the route of our day 2 walk. On this trip, the station is at Bosham where they have a bit of a chat with the station master (is that still the correct job title?) who clearly enjoys looking after both his station and his customers. A seven minute train journey gets them to Chichester where they have time to secure a cab before Mike, Ben and Gary arrive from Victoria/Clapham a few minutes later. In fashion news, Ben is sporting a support bandage around one of his knees which doesn’t prove to be a major hindrance. We’re back in the church yard at Church Norton shortly after 11 o’clock and, in bright and warm conditions, set off again along the west side of Pagham Harbour to Selsey and around Selsey Bill itself. The coastal path sticks pretty close to the shoreline – which is very welcome given that most of the beach continues to be shingle. We continue north west towards East Wittering but, after a couple of miles, have to move inland to get round a series of creeks and area of marshland. This takes 90 minutes or so. The path away from the coast can best be described as meandering, but the route back is far more direct and we regain the coast just to the east of Bracklesham beach at around 3 o’clock. The tide is out and so, having crossed a narrow strip of shingle, we’re able to spend the next hour walking next to the sea along hard sand, past East Wittering and on towards the beach car park outside West Wittering. There’s a short spit of land beyond the car park which it is unanimously agreed that we can – and therefore should – walk around, although Helen leaves us at this point to walk into West Wittering with a view to finding a pub where the rest of us can meet her and from where we can call for a cab to take us to our overnight stop, the Travelodge in Chichester. Unfortunately, all Helen’s efforts prove to be wasted. The only pub she can find is closed so she makes her way back to the car park entrance to meet the spit circumnavigation quartet who have, in the meantime, ordered a cab to pick us up from there. We only have to wait a few minutes for its arrival and we get to the Travelodge by 5:30. Before checking in, we walk the short distance to the end of the road to have a drink at the Dolphin & Anchor, a Wetherspoon establishment on West Street serving its customary range of competitively priced beers. It’s also very busy, and some of the clientele (or potential clientele) standing outside attract the attention of the local constabulary for reasons ostensibly concerned with illegal substances and possibly, in the case of one young lady, exhibitionism! Investigations are still in progress when we return to the Travelodge to check in, but appear to have concluded an hour later when we leave again to have supper at a Côte brasserie about a 5 minute walk away on South Street. Starters, mains and 4 bottles of wine later, we ease our way back to the Travelodge with John, Helen and Mike unable to resist the temptation of a return visit to the Dolphin & Anchor for stickies.