Vole Explosion

Sunday 3^rd March 2024

AROUND HAYLING ISLAND

   Last night was very cold and I didn’t sleep well, waking up numerous times in the night. However, I had gone to bed early and, in the long period of time I was in my sleeping bag, I managed to cobble together a full night’s sleep. This morning I get up to a frost-covered tent and frozen puddles. I don’t remember ever camping in such cold conditions before. I spot at least one other tent on the site, so I’m not the only crazy person camping in sub-zero temperatures. The few other people on site are in caravans or motor-homes. The campsite has only just opened for the season, so at least it’s nice and quiet.

   I leave early but the next bus isn’t for another 45 minutes. It’s too cold to stand around waiting so I walk back to the bridge, stopping at a Greggs in a petrol station for breakfast (I know, it’s an impossibly glamorous life I lead!). Being inside a warm building and sitting on an actual seat already feels like luxury after just one night of cold camping.

   I set off from the bridge with the intention of walking all around Hayling Island and arriving back at the bridge this evening. Most coast walkers miss out the islands and stick to the mainland, but I’ve decided to make life more difficult for myself for no good reason other than seeing a bit more of the British coast. The eastern coast of the island is mostly private land, so this morning I have to walk along quiet roads slightly inland. It’s another sunny day and the weather warms up considerably by the time I set off through the peaceful villages of Northney and North Hayling.

   I come out onto the main road for a short stretch and walk almost as far as the campsite before turning off and navigating through an area of suburbs and occasional public footpaths. It’s not exactly coast walking but it feels good to be out on this pleasant spring day, with the sun shining, birds singing, woodpeckers drumming, and an abundance of early spring flowers in bloom.

   At the south-eastern end of Hayling Island I finally get to walk on the coast again. This is still Chichester Harbour – the large inlet that has taken me the best part of four days to walk around. I can see across to Thorney Island, the Ministry of Defence area that I walked around last September, and just across the mouth of Chichester Harbour is East Head and the Witterings, which is where I camped last time. This is my last view of Chichester Harbour as I turn westwards and walk along the southern coast of Hayling Island. The island is roughly shaped like an anchor, with a broad south coast curling up at either end like two hooks.

   The south and west sides of the island are much more accessible, with some of the typical seaside amenities along the southern seafront. There are some shops here, a couple of pubs, and a fish and chip restaurant where I stop for lunch. Ahead I can now see the Isle of Wight, and Portsmouth in the distance. There is also a narrow gauge railway with tiny trains running along part of the seafront. It looks like it has been here for a century or so but, looking on the Hayling Light Railway website, it was only moved here from a different part of the island in 2001.

   Most of the seafront consists of a wide expanse of grass and shingle, with a network of foot/cycle paths threaded through it. As it’s a Sunday, there are a lot of people out, but it is spacious enough that it never feels crowded. It becomes quieter and wilder as I continue further west away from the main town. I stop for a drink at the Inn on the Beach, a pub built in an old lifeboat station with good sea views from their terrace, then beyond here there are hardly any people and no development apart from a golf course.

   The coast path runs through scrubby shingle until it eventually turns northwards up the western ‘hook’ of the ‘anchor’. Across a narrow stretch of water lies Portsea, the island on which Portsmouth stands, which can be reached by a small ferry boat, but that’s a voyage for another day.

   Today is drawing to a close and I have no chance of making it back to the bridge in the remaining daylight, so I continue on the footpath up the western side of the island until I reach a convenient cut-through near the campsite. It gets dark and I get lost on a suburban estate, but a local couple out walking their dog point me in the right direction for another night of cold camping.

15.8 miles; 25.4km; 9.5 hours

The Oven Campsite, Hayling Island (£20)