Birdham, Itchenor and Bosham, Ferry and Fete

Much of outward leg will be along Chichester Canal. Formerly industrial, it is now a leisure waterway linking Chichester to the sea. It runs for four miles from the Canal Basin near the railway station to Chichester Harbour at Birdham. Coot and moorhen skulk in the reeds and irises, mallard and pochard paddle among the waterlilies, and heron stalk the banks. I even saw a kingfisher there once.

From Birdham where the canal meets the sea we will continue to the jaunty maritime village of West Itchenor. Our route will take in a diverse landscape and seascape of swish houses and tidy farms, fields and copses, salt marshes and mudflats, wildfowl and boats.

We will have lunch at West Itchenor and stagger doing so while we wait for the ferry. The ferry is small and doesn't sail according to a timetable but rather when people hail it. It is also a water taxi taking yachtspeople to their craft. Therefore it could take a long time to get all of us across the water, but it'll be great just to sit and wait and take it all in. The ferry costs £2.50 which you will need to pay in cash.

When we have all made it across, we will walk a short way along a quiet lane to Bosham. There will be time to explore the village (there's an impressive church, craft shops, a quayside and lots of fine houses) and go to the fete. For an entrance fee of £2, you can listen to the band, quaff a glass of Pimm's, eye-up the firemen and rummage through the bric-a-brac. Have cash on you before we set off to pay for for things.

The fete closes at 16:30, but we'll be gone long before then, crossing fields to Fishbourne (which has a nice pub) and crossing suburbs to Chichester Railway Station (which doesn't). 

Then we'll part and depart, somewhat weary and woozy but aglow with the warmth of the weather and the fellowship of one another.