Day 165: Emsworth to West Wittering

Best bits: animal encounters

Worst bits: stuck in traffic

Distance: 23.4 miles

Our original plan was to move Priscilla this morning but looking at the traffic report there was a some sort of road closure on the A27. Plan B leave Priscilla where she was and drive back to Emsworth, which was about 5 miles away. Fuelled by two egg McMuffins we set off. Unfortunately, this short journey took us about 40 minutes as the traffic was backed up everywhere!

The village of Emsworth is beautiful this is a view from across the Mill Pond. The swans were chasing off a goose as I passed by. I was just taking this photograph when I bumped into Tim from yesterday. He wished me well on my walk today.

The path took me through the marina which was full of heavy machinery for lifting yachts in and out of the water.

I took a short detour to cut off a dog leg on the path as today is going to be a long day. I was catching up on a few miles I should’ve done yesterday.

A path took me alongside some fields of crops which makes a change from the coastline for a while. However, the narrow path had swarms of small flies of some nature which I ended up inhaling! Oh well extra protein!

I was fascinated by some horses that were laying down and looked all snuggled in. One was even letting a crow sit on it

An excitable dog charged towards me and then jumped up at me and as it did so it hit me smack bang in the face! Luckily I wasn’t harmed but it did nearly knock me off my feet.

Then a rabbit shot out in front of me and made me jump and I think I scared the rabbit too.

Just after this the decaying skeleton of a large bird , possibly a goose, was laying on the path. It still had flesh on it and looked like a rack of ribs but with a head and neck attached!

As I took the path round Chidham I bumped into Jo and Baxter. Jo had lost her sister to breast cancer 18 months ago and her grief was still raw. We chatted for a while. Her daughter is doing lots of interesting fundraising activities for Coppafeel! What a star.

All morning the tide had been out and the boats were stranded in the mud flats in the harbour. I called into a cafe in Bosham for a cup of tea and a scone and when I came out the tide was completely in and the road was underwater.

I had to go the long way round and even then I came across more flooded roads and I had to retrace my steps. The tide comes right up to peoples houses. A kind man let me through his garden onto the back path.

A van had made the same mistake as me and was having to reverse back as the road was completely submerged.

These small villages and country roads are full of gorgeous houses. I love cherry blossom and it always reminds me of the cherry tree in the park at home.

I was fascinated by this large rabbit on the sun terrace and its reflection in the window.

The gorgeous houses just keep coming today. I love the thatched roofs.

As I walked past the many fields of crops I heard the occasional loud explosion. I worked out that this must be in the fields to keep the birds off the crops. Some fields however reminded me of football strips.

I met more locals and when I showed Alistair the hearts he invited me into his house to show me some bobbins of yarn and he offered to send me some.

Dave met me at Appledram and we had a cuppa in the Crown and Anchor. Unfortunately they had stopped serving food! So just a packet of crips for us.

Back on the road this lovely horse came over to say hello to me.

I even saw an elephant and its calf today in someone’s garden.

The last three hours of walking was a long slog.

Fortunately for me the sun came out and the tide also went out otherwise I could have had wet feet. I also managed to find appropriately placed toilets that were open when I needed one.

Phew, after 9 hours I finally limped to my destination and Dave was waiting for me in the car. We decided an Indian was in order and went to Chichester where we had a lovely meal.