A Special Guest

It was a wild night, but I woke up feeling excited.  Wild because it was blowing half a gale, wind roaring in the trees.  My washing had blown off the line twice before I went to sleep.  Also wild in the campsite bar, but I was too busy writing the blog for you, dear reader, to join in.

Excited, because I'm meeting someone special today, to join me on a bit of the trip.  My dear brother is joining me for some of today's ride.  I decided to roll out the sticky blue carpet for him, and treat him (and me) to breakfast in Wetherspoons. 

First, I had to battle the wind to pack up my tent, take down my washing (surprisingly, still there, AND dry).  Ride a few miles along the naval coast of Gosport, and get the Gosport ferry to Portsmouth.

HMS Warrior

HMS Queen Elizabeth? (left)

Spot the submarine
(Haslar submarine museum)

It's a funny old route today. We'll be meandering around several appendages between here and Bognor. Hayling Island, Bosham, and (especially) Selsey. Not much forward progress in a straight line.

Ready to ride

We had a lovely day.  Pete led me round the coast of Portsmouth and Southsea.  We hopped on the Hayling Island Ferry (which would have been ferry number 5 in my unlikely plan for yesterday).

Portsmouth 

Hayling island ferry

Then I led us on a tour of the south and west side of Hayling Island.  Unimpressive at first, but we found a nice waterside path and a great cafe for 11s, so I redeemed myself.

Hayling Island

Off the island on the Hayling Billy line, bounced off Havant, and headed east to our next peninsula, Emsworth, small but pretty, with an interesting causeway across the river/sea to Emsworth itself.

Emsworth 

We did a short u-shaped ride on Thornham Island, most of which is off limits to the public, and a bigger U-shape in Chidham, on pretty lanes.  Lunch at another nice cafe near Broadbridge.  Then Pete led me on a longer excursion tound the Bosham peninsula.  A big part of this was on a coastal road which is under water at high tide, but with impeccable timing (?) the tide was not just out but out out.  Very pretty area, just like being in the middle of the countryside, with the odd extra-pretty seaside bit.

Bosham

It was great to have company on the ride, but different.   There was more chatting, although I do chat to myself or nearby animals when I'm on my own.  Probably a bit less stopping for photos.  And zero blog-writing during the coffee & lunch stops.  It would have been rude.  But it means I've probably missed some of the finer points of the day.  Also we had to be careful riding two abreast when there are quite a few cars zipping around the lanes.

Pete had to get back so left me as we neared Chichester.  I headed south on the large Selsey peninsula, where I was expecting to camp somewhere.  Much of the route was on the Salterns Way, a nice off-road track which leads around the west and to the south of the island.

Salterns Way

I stopped for tea at Chichester Harbour, a giant marina with hundreds, if not thousands, of expensive boats.  There was just one problem:  the tide was still out out, so no sailing.  Instead some of them were having a rowdy party on the shore, something that the marina was only too happy to help with.

 

Chichester Harbour 

I also had a teeny problem booking a campsite at 4.30 pm on Bank Holiday Sunday.  Nearly all fully booked, except one - it was one of those "how much?" conversations.

Another ten miles to the campsite site.  I visited gorgeous Itchenor, and West Wittering,  with miles of silver sandy beaches and not much else, and got mildly sand-blasted in the strong wind.  Then East Wittering, where the sand is replaced with pebbles, and there are pubs, cafes and shops.

West Wittering 

East Wittering

The campsite was very welcoming, and I got set up, had a hot pie and a beer from their catering van, showered, and was very pleased with a good day.