I’m back at the Inn On The Beach on a surprisingly warm November day and the view ahead looks like this…
Ahead lies Gunner Point which is the south-western corner of Hayling Island. I set off along the shingle until I near the Point which is a bird reserve…
There is a fence sort of blocking the beach here. I say ‘sort of’ because you can just walk around the seaward end of it, but as regular readers will know, I’m not keen on walking on pebbles for long stretches so I opt for the path at the back of the beach!
This is the official coast path and is less pebbly and more grassy. To the landward side is a fenced-off golf course.
As I round Gunner Point, Portsea Island seems very close just over the water! Portsea, of course, is almost entirely covered by the city of Portsmouth, making it the most densely populated island in England.
From here on I will be heading mostly north, up the western side of Hayling Island. A few minutes from Gunner Point is a small pedestrian ferry to Portsea Island. I can’t take it of course - that would be cheating!
It goes from here…
…to just over there…
I turn away from the ferry and walk down the road…
This passes a small inlet called The Kench. At high tide you need wellies to get out your front door, apparently…
Past The Kench the roads leaves the waterside to skirt a holiday village. There is no public right of way as far as I can see, so I continue along the road.
After about a mile I arrive at the Station Theatre. This building used to be the terminus of a railway line that came from the mainland, popularly known as the Billy Line. The service closed in 1963 and today the route has been turned into a foot and cycle path that runs for nearly three miles up the western side of Hayling Island, finishing at the bridge.
This is very handy! The trail starts through some trees…
…but soon runs beside the water…
Along the way I pass an old pill box…
…and a random car in a field…
Near the northern end a path veers off the Billy Trail and runs round some old oyster beds that are now a nature reserve. It is slightly closer to the coast so I go this way!
The ‘oyster path’ rejoins the Billy Trail for the last couple of hundred yards before the northern end.
The railway used to run across a bridge and causeway from the mainland. Today you can walk along the causeway and see the old bridge supports in the water two or three hundred yards from the modern road bridge.
I walk back down the causeway and round to the bridge. Here is my finish point for today.
It has to be said that, for the walker, the south and west of Hayling Island are so much better than the east!
Next time - back on the mainland!
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