I feel it is time to get back into my walking routine after a few weeks off, with Christmas and generally not very good weather. That said, I did contemplate getting out last week in the snow, but it was probably a wise decision not to travel too much. Anyway, I headed off to Burgess Hill station my shortest train journey of the whole coast path, just to Southwick – but I did have to change trains at Hove. It was a misty morning, with a bit of dampness in the air. I passed the very sad remains of a snowman, which reminded me it was snowing last week.

The first section of the coast path, from Southwick to Shoreham was all along the busy A259 coast road, between lots of commercial buildings, and a few blocks of new flats springing up in the redundant sites. The most interesting sight was a big warehouse and carpark, which I initally thought was a car boot sale. In fact, it was (I guess) lots of independent delivery people trying to shoehorn a variety of packages and parcels into an assortment of cars and vans. You could see that some of them were trying to work out which package to put in first, and therefore to be delivered last. En-mass it all looked like a complete disaster, but explains the amount of complaints I read about miss-delivered parcels.

After over 3km along the busy road, with the occasional brief diversion to a lighthouse, or lifeboat station, I got to Shoreham. It would have been only one stop more on the train, which would have been much more pleasant, but wouldn’t be “walking the coast” – I suppose. I felt suprisingly tired, so I grabbed a nice baguette before crossing the bridge over the River Adur.

At this point, I turned east and proceeded to retrace my steps, through a housing estate, along the other side of the river.

This gave an alternate view to the run down area on the other bank, athough I could see the countryside beyond reavealing that I’d only walked through a narrow strip of development. As Shoreham Power Station got closer and closer, It was beginning to feel I wasn’t getting anywhere today. Eventually I reached Shoreham Fort. This is a fine looking restored defence that was built as a defence against Napoleon, magnificantly located guarding the mouth of the river. It was closed (for renovation?), but it looks like it would be worth a visit.

It was a relief when the path turned west, and started following the coast. These are two of the main elements to walking the south coast path! In fact, I reached a point which was just 10 minutes walk from Shoreham railway station, after seven km and nearly one and half hours of plodding through urban areas. The coast path now followed a nice board walk, and I was able to ramp up to full speed, leaving ambling dog walkers in my dust.

The weather was getting worse, not in an extreme way but visibility was reducing and the level of dampness in the air was increasing. That said, I was overheating and needed to take my jacket off, which was nice. It must be said that this section of the coast path is not the best. It is nearly all paved and shared with large numbers of dog walkers (even during mid week). I took an approach of putting my head down and powering on until Worthing. The only sights to see were how extravagant each newly renovated beach front property could be, and the occasionally the contrast to a small uutouched bungalow or cabin, showing what was there before. This is slightly unfair as the views swans (and extravagant properties) on the Lancing Widewater Lagoons are nice.

Another thing that kept my attention was the Rampion offshore wind farm. I have had views of this for most days of my walk, and today, the turbines were only just visible (I accept that they probably aren’t visible in the photographs) . I had heard that the turbines were 1 km apart, which looking at them is hard to believe. Therefore, a scientific test was needed. I noted when one line of turbines was perfectly in a line and then walked until the next row was the same. I can report that they are exactly* 810 metres apart. (* this doesn’t include calculations for the curvature of the earth, any inaccuracies in the optical equipment- my eyes. But there can be no doubt about the distance pacing!).

The early baguette had worn off by the time I reached Worthing, I was in need for some food. I was also in need of water, as while I had brought a flask of coffee with me, I’d completely forgotten to bring water. (I have an air of complacency with these more local urban walks!). With this winter walking, I always feel that time is against me, despite in todays case of walking 15 km in around 2.5 hours. However, I still had 15 to go and only about 3 or 4 hours of daylight. As such, I declined most shops as having a too long checkout queue. I paid heavily for this (in quality terms) by getting a very quick,  Poundland lunch deal (for £2.75!!!). Luckily, there was a Greggs further along the High Street that could provide greater sustainence. After a quick diversion off the coast path, I went back to the seafront and found a nice shelter, with a dry seat, to eat my lunch. There was plenty to see, runners, dog walkers, and an un-marked police car pulling over a couple of young guys in a pretty new Porsche Cayenne, quickly backed up by uniformed patrol cars. Unfortunately, the pressure of time meant I didn’t wait to see the outcome.

It was a long old drag out of Worthing to Goring on a shared sea front promenade. I tried to stick to the right to let bikes past, but it was just a mess of walkers and cyclists , and no one was happy. It was starting to get chilly, so I put my coat back on and a pair of gloves! The views of the wind farm had completely disappeared into the mist. Goring is a nice place, with just modest residential streets set back from the seafront. I can recall coming to the beach here with the parents of a school friend (back in the day). I doubt anything has changed. It also gave me about 200 metres of the closest to a natural walk, it really has been very urban.

I’ve cycled much of today’s route in the past, as it has largely followed NCN2 (the national cycle network route from Dover to Penzance). However, at this point the cycle route diverts many miles inland. This is because of loads of private housing estates where there is no access. Luckily, the footpaths are able to continue on the coast, often on wide, muddy, green open areas, but occasionally on the shingle beach, which was exhausting at this stage of the walk. The huge “piles” on display. These put to shame the previous examples of up-scaling. The real money is here!

After a good distance of trudging along muddy paths and squidgy lawns, I made it to the Welcome to Littlehampton sign. There was no actual sign of Littlehampton, so there was another long walk alongside a road. There were two good things to see, which were the magnificent Convalescent Home (with a horse trough right outside the door, marking a different age), and the more modern Marine Treatment works. Sorry, I had to include just one sewage works today.

Eventually, I reached Littlehampton, as marked by a silent Funland, shrouded in both mist and the approaching darkness. I’m sure it must be bustling in the summer, but I just gave it a quick glance and headed along the River Arun to the railway station. It was my first (and, I think, only) direct train home, which gave me time to ponder the walk. Looking back, (which is the main purpose of this blog!) I’m was a bit surprised as I didn’t think I’d find anything to write about, and while it wasn’t a bad walk, it wasn’t a good one either! But it had to be done. I expect there are far worse sections on the coast path.

Apologies for the terrible photos, my point and shoot camera is taking very dull pictures, which makes a dull day even duller than it is in reality :) Maybe it’s a setting – I’ll have a look!