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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

12

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?

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

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

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

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

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.

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