Walking and Biking Routes around the Parishes
We will remember the lockdown, staying at home and only allowed to exercise once a day from home. How fortunate we are to live in our Parishes. We have such a variety of walking and biking routes which spread out in northerly, southerly and westerly directions on roads, tracks and public footpaths, though routes in an easterly direction are more limited. Footpaths link these routes that result in multiple options for your exercise. You decide how far you want to go and there is of course out and back to consider, but it is more interesting if you can devise a circular route. A good reference is the Ordnance Survey Map Explorer OL8 (Chichester South Harting and Selsey). Having jogged around this area for many years and thinking I knew all the routes, I was surprised to discover footpaths a mile or two from home that I had never explored.
At first, I will just look at routes southwards from North Mundham, so get your walking shoes or bike out and now that the rules on exercise have eased do try out some of these routes that start on the 3 lanes of Fisher, Honer and Bowley.
Fisher
Beyond Fisher Farm, the tarmac continues half a mile (cattle grid half way) to a junction. Turn right on a track, walk or ride through pleasant farmland which is also designated as the South Coast Bike Route No 88 with options through Chalder Farm to Sidlesham and to Sidlesham Quay. As cycle routes these are really good in that they are largely traffic free and most suitable for family bike outings.
If walking, an alternative would be to turn left at the junction previously mentioned, walk past Bramber Farm and take the footpath to Honer Lane and back to South Mundham.
Honer
There is a good tarmac road one and a quarter miles from South Mundham as far as Honer Farm. About half way just after North Honer Farm, there is a footpath of about 1 mile in an easterly direction leading to Nyetimber and Pagham. If carrying on along the tarmac road to Honer Farm, you then have footpaths east and west or south. The southern route takes you to Pagham Wall, also known as North Wall. Here you reach the sea (overall distance 3 and a half miles from St Stephen’s Church), where you have panoramic views over Pagham Harbour and have accessed the perimeter footpath round the nature reserve. The field this last footpath crosses is very low lying and can be challenging in wetter weather with streams and boggy areas to traverse.
Bowley
There is a winding road from the signpost on the South Mundham loop for half a mile as far as Banwell where a bridleway lasting half a mile crosses the Pagham Rife at a footbridge then up a slope to the Pagham Road . This busy road has no footpaths at this stage, so it is not recommended you walk along it but a footpath continues across the road onto other routes passing Copyhold Farm and beyond with routes looping back to North Mundham across Lower Bognor Road.