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Southbourne to Emsworth via Thorney Island walk

Easy coastal walk around Thorney Island in Chichester's tidal harbour.

Easy Hampshire

History

This is a list of previous times this walk has been done by the club (since Jan 2010). For more recent events (since April 2015), full details are shown.

Date Option Post # Weather
Sun, 12-Jan-20 Sunday Walk: A Sunday [Seal Watch] (hopefully) Walk on Thorney Island 15 bright sunshine
Sun, 22-Jul-18 Sunday Walk - Thorney Island: Southbourne to Emsworth or Havant or Rowlands Castle [Map-Led] [Swimming Walk] 12 hot with a strong breeze
Wed, 01-Nov-17 Wednesday Walk - Southbourne to Emsworth or Rowlands Castle (via Thorney Island) [First Posting] 8 sunny and warm
Stargazer
SWC 180: Southbourne to Emsworth via Thorney Island t=swc.180

Distance: 9.8 miles or 15.8 km for those more metrically minded (with an option to extend by finishing in Havant which adds 2.4 miles/3.8 km)

Difficulty: 1 out of 10

Transport: Take the 9:33 AM Southern train bound for Havant from London Victoria (Clapham 9:40; East Croydon 9:51), arriving in Southbourne at 11:29. Return trains from Emsworth are at 16:21, 16:36, 16:54, 17:21,17:36, 17:45, 18:21, 18:36 and 18:54. By a day return to Emsworth or Havant (if you would like extra flexibility for the return).

So, I recently learned that Chichester Harbor is home to a reasonable-sized colony of harbor seals who are often seen on the mud flats between Thorney Island and Hayling Island around mid-tide. As most of the stars are aligning for this outing today…thought it would be good to give it a go – especially as the path around Thorney Island should be largely mud-free (a special treat in mid-January). The route is an easy to follow map-led one that basically circumnavigates Thorney Island (starting on the East side). For those interested in a longer walk, after some refreshies in charming Emsworth, it is possible to follow the Solent Way along a pretty stretch of coast and then the Shipwrights Way up to Havant Station (see map for details).

More information about the walk can be found here. Please either print out the map from the "Map" tab or download the GPX file from the "GPS" tab.

Lunch/Brunch: The recommended lunch/brunch stop is the Travellers Joy less than a kilometer from Southbourne Station, so would suggest planning an early lunch/brunch before setting off for the Island – this will also allow for the tide to reach the optimum viewing time of mid-tide (about 3:00pm give or take)….

Tea: There are various refreshment options available in Emsworth, see the walk notes for details….

Enjoy the walk and don't forget to bring binoculars!
  • Anonymous
    11-Jan-20

    Hi,

    I'd like to join the walk tomorrow to Thorney Island and I am wondering if some of you is leaving from Victoria station to buy a group saving ticket? Thanks. Cinzia

  • Anonymous
    12-Jan-20

    Can anyone advise please whether this walk sometimes suffers from NO access via the 2 gates? Sadly I can't make today but would like to use the route another time. Thanks for any advice on this.

  • 12-Jan-20

    access is always allowed. you might be asked to show id. i wasn't, but its best to take it.

  • David Colver
    12-Jan-20

    About 15 on a day of bright sunshine . Around half of the group had lunch at the Traveller's Joy just 1km into the walk, the food good in quality and quantity and served with a warm welcome. Four pulled ahead and made the 1621 train, cutting out the final twiddle around Emsworth.

    That quartet included an Italian speaker from whom we learned that the word for seal in her language is foca. On this occasion, the focas chose not to make an appearance. What was evident was rather more mud than advertised; not particularly deep, but along long stretches of narrow paths from which there was no escape. As a result the walk felt heavier going than the rated 1/10.

    Also seen were some spectacular skies, a sea bream freshly caught and a very appealing Shetland pony, just one year old and not much bigger than a large dog, being led by two young girls through the Emsworth marina.

  • 12-Jan-20

    To answer the earlier query about access to the army base: you come to a gate, watched over by CCTV cameras. There is a buzzer on an intercom that you have to press. But when you do, the gate opens. Same procedure on the way out.

    It is a bit weird being in the army base, with stern injunctions every now and again not to leave the sea wall. There is otherwise no fence between you and it, but at one or two points there were other people - families, children - walking about inland, sometimes just twenty or thirty metres away. Since they were obviously not keeping to the sea wall, I can only assume these are the families of base personnel. The slippy mud apart, this was a pleasant and varied walk, with a very "away from it all" feel. Though we did not see seals, we saw lots of Brent geese, and the whole way were entertained by the piping of oystercatchers and the haunting cries of curlew. On the beach where the seals weren't, some 500 dunlin (tiny white water's edge waders) assembled as the tide went down, ready to dash out and have dinner, occasionally erupting into the air in hypnotic patterns.

Thomas G
Length: 13.7 km/8.5 mi or 19.4 km/12.0 mi or 21.2 km/13.2 mi [add up to 3.8 km for three small extensions en route]
Ascent/Descent: negligible or negligible or 140m
Net Walking Time: ca. 3 hours or 4 hours or 4 ½ hours
Toughness: 1 out of 10 or 2 out of 10 or 3 out of 10
Take the 09.33 Portsmouth Harbour train from London Victoria (CJ 09.40, EC 09.49), arrives Southbourne 11.29. Or take the 09.30 Portsmouth Harbour train from London Waterloo (CJ 09.39, Woking 10.04), change Havant (10.56/11.18), arrives Southbourne 11.24.
Finishing in Emsworth: returns are xx.21 to Victoria and xx.32 and xx.44/54 to Waterloo via Havant. Buy a return to the station furthest away from your start point (Emsworth from Victoria, Southbourne from Waterloo) or a Havant return (via any permitted route), meaning you can take any return to Victoria or Waterloo.
Finishing in Havant or Rowlands Castle: returns from Havant are xx.07 and xx.50 to Waterloo and xx.18 to Victoria, from Rowlands Castle they are hourly on xx.13. Buy a Havant return (via any permitted route).

This is a (map-led) coastal walk along a peaceful and remote sea wall around Thorney Island, a peninsular in tidal Chichester Harbour, with an option to visit the sand dunes and beach of Pilsey Island. This is a very short and flat walk, the only ascent being provided on an extension to Rowlands Castle along the Sussex Border Path, initially through suburbia then commons and woods.
The coastal path is part of the Sussex Border Path, and this section of it is maintained by the army - the lower half of Thorney Island is an army base. The coastal path is always open. Access is easy, but strictly regulated, at 2 remote controlled gates with CCTV (one on the east, one on the west of the island). You may have to give your name or show ID on the way in, on the path, or on the way out, on the other side of the island. In practise this isn't a problem.
The 2 highlights of the walk are both excellent picnic spots:
· the well-tended West Thorney church, in a picturesque coastal position
· Pilsey Island, an RSPB reserve, and despite the name, a peninsular, connected to Thorney Island. It’s at the south east tip of Thorney Island, the mid-point of the walk. Its eastern side is salt marsh which is closed to the public (except for a landing stage for boats). The western side, with public access, has a sandy beach, backed by sand dunes, with a very large expanse of sand at low tide. You can walk out to the southern tip of the island, along the beach, or inland through the sand dunes along a car-wide path that leaves the main Thorney Island coast path.
The walk is mostly open, but along the southern 'coast', there are a couple of short sections when the path is away from the coast or enclosed by tall vegetation.

Extensions:
Add 1.5 km for an out-and-back to Pilsey Island.
Add 1.2 km for the 'Pretty Option' in Emsworth along a picturesque tidal lake.
Add up to 1.1 km near the end for a meander through Brook Meadow Local Nature Reserve.
An Alternative Finish in Havant, following the shoreline along the Solent Way, adds 5.7 km/3.5 mi.
An Alternative Finish in Rowlands Castle, mostly through woods, adds 7.3 km/4.5 mi.
Lunch/Tea: Picnic or The Traveller's Joy in Southbourne (a Fuller’s pub near the start, a little off route on the A 259, food 12.00-20.00), or numerous options in Emsworth and in Rowlands Castle
For map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.180
  • 22-Jul-18

    7 off the Victoria train, 3 off the Waterloo one, who had definitely pulled the short straw: late incoming train plus subsequent delays plus cow on the line at Liss/Liphook = on course for being an hour behind the pace. Undaunted, we took a taxi from Havant and spent the time regained at the Traveller's Joy in Southbourne on a round of starters. We met the Victorians at Pilsey Island, where - due to the very low tide - they claimed it was beautiful but 'impossible to swim'. Lack of enthusiasm methinks: nice shallow wide sandy beach, just needed to be walked out along and waded into the channel...

    Anyway, plenty of birdflife, bright blue skies, a persistent breeze and lots of sailing boats, everything a day out walking along the coast can offer.

    Most of the group went to the Lord Raglan, the first pub en route in Emsworth, and then to the station, 1 went on to Havant, 2 left straighaway. The 3 Waterlooians walked the extension around the tidal lake and stopped at the Blue Bell for a refreshment. 17.32 train via Havant for those.

    10 hot with a strong breeze

  • Heidi
    23-Jul-18

    9 on the Victoria train. 2 did not do the Pilsey extension and walked on never to be seen again.

  • 23-Jul-18

    12

Thomas G
Length: 13.7 km/8.5 mi or 21.2 km/13.2 mi
Ascent/Descent: negligible or 140m
Net Walking Time: ca. 3 hours or 4 ½ hours
Toughness: 1 out of 10 or 3 out of 10
Take the 10.36 Southampton Central & Bognor Regis train from London Victoria (CJ 10.42, EC 10.53), arrives Southbourne 12.12.
Finishing in Emsworth: returns are 3 each per hour to Victoria and Waterloo. Buy an Emsworth return (you have to go back to Victoria, it is £29,60 at full price) or a Havant return (via any permitted route), this covers you for both options, and it is £33,90 at full price.
Finishing in Rowlands Castle: returns are hourly on xx.46. Buy a Havant return (via any permitted route).
This is a coastal walk along a peaceful and remote sea wall around Thorney Island, a peninsular in tidal Chichester Harbour, with an option to visit the sand dunes and beach of Pilsey Island. As this is a very short and flat walk, I am planning an extension to Rowlands Castle along the Sussex Border Path, initially through suburbia then commons and woods (see the route map here for more detail).
The coastal path is part of the Sussex Border Path, and this section of it is maintained by the army - the lower half of Thorney Island is an army base. The coastal path is always open. Access is easy, but strictly regulated, at 2 remote controlled gates with CCTV (one on the east, one on the west of the island). You may have to give your name or show ID on the way in, on the path, or on the way out, on the other side of the island. In practise this isn't a problem.
The 2 highlights of the walk are both excellent picnic spots:
· the well tended West Thorney church, in a picturesque coastal position
· Pilsey Island, an RSPB reserve, and despite the name, a peninsular, connected to Thorney Island. It’s at the south east tip of Thorney Island, the mid-point of the walk. Its eastern side is salt marsh which is closed to the public (except for a landing stage for boats). The western side, with public access, has a sandy beach, backed by sand dunes, with a very large expanse of sand at low tide. You can walk out to the southern tip of the island, along the beach, or inland through the sand dunes along a car-wide path that leaves the main Thorney Island coast path.
The walk is mostly open, but along the southern 'coast', there are a couple of short sections when the path is away from the coast, or enclosed by tall vegetation.
Lunch: Picnic or The Traveller's Joy in Emsworth (a Fuller’s pub near the start, 250m off route on the A 259, food 12.00-15.00).
Tea: A couple of pubs in Emsworth, a couple of pubs and cafes in Rowlands Castle.
For map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.180
  • Mike
    23-Oct-17

    This is one of the few bits of South coast which is new to me. The only pub is said to be near the start, though it is in Emsworth not Southbourne. Either way it is very close to the start or finish so I think I’ll opt for a picnic, to be consumed later on. The alternative might be to start an hour earlier and have a late pub lunch at the end. What do others think?

  • 25-Oct-17

    The pub comes after 0.7 km of walking (250m off route at point 460m)

  • 31-Oct-17

    Thinking of doing this walk. Are there any directions? I cannot find any on the walk page.

  • 31-Oct-17

    A map might help at the start to get to/from the seafront. But once there, just follow the obvious coast path.

  • David Colver
    31-Oct-17

    If this new walk is a success, please think of posting it at a weekend.

  • 01-Nov-17

    Six walkers off the train, one other had taken the route via Havant and another had driven down from London, so 8 in unseasonally sunny and warm weather. Two peeled off to the earliest lunch pub ever, after only 500m, the rest went their ways, some bird-watching (later overtaken by the two lunchers), others racing it. The tide was low and the mudbanks exposed, with birds aplenty. We had the sun and a nice breeze from the front, all was in good order.

    Pitsey Island in now off-limits for humans as an RSPB Reserve, but your correspondent wouldn't have had time for that anyway, as he tried to beat darkness on his way to Rowlands Castle.

    "Historic" Emsworth looks a very nice place, what with waterways, plenty old houses, six pubs and a decent looking cafe. So, with an earlier start this would make a good lunch stop. And there is another small Local Nature Reserve near the station, which might make a nice addition to this v short walk.

    The route to Rowlands starts inauspiciously through a pasture, then along some residential streets, but then comes alive through diverse woods and along farm tracks along more woods, before finishing along The Avenue into Rowlands C. Thanks to a glorious long sunset and then the moon, the headtorch was needed only for the last few minutes through the small wood by Rowlands Castle.

  • 05-Nov-17

    Did this walk, with directions SWC180 back in June and enjoyed its remoteness, apart from the main road walk back to Emsworth station - I didn't have the time or directions at that date to go on for Rowlands Castle

    I think I should have taken a different route at the end through Emsworth High Street. Bit overgrown after the church with shoulder -high vegetation but guess this depends on the time of year. Very much enjoyed this new-to-me coastal walk and hope it will be posted for others will enjoy it in the year to come