Chidham is small.  It is small to the extent that we did not really see any of it.  Our coastal path diverted inland for a brief few yards, to the very northern tip of the village, passed some pleasant looking cottages, and then headed back out again to the banks of Bosham Channel via a private road through a modern, expensive looking, housing estate.  Once we got back to the Channel we could see across to Bosham on the opposite side.

South of Chidham we walked along a grassy embankment, separating the Channel from some fields.  The day warmed up.  By the time we stopped for lunch I had a severe case of Backpacker’s Back.

After lunch we plodded on south.  Here, just before the shoreline rounded to the west, we hit an obstacle:

The footpath was closed; we would have to divert around the southeastern corner of Chidham, known as Cobnor Point.  Last time we came across a “CLOSED” sign, we ignored it.  This time we decided that taking in the detour would, perhaps, not be such a bad thing.  Workmen scurried around like ants, waiting to swat errant walkers with a swing of their far-reaching digger’s arm!

The diversion was well signposted – indeed, we were hemmed in with new looking barbed wire fences and orange tape which had been strung between fence posts.  It was pleasingly short, and soon we were back on the shoreline.

Points on this part of the walk (copy and paste the co-ordinates into Google Earth):

• Chidham:  N 50° 49.800 W 000° 52.400
• Start of the Diversion:  N 50° 48.924 W 000° 52.520
• End of the Diversion:  N 50° 48.736  W 000° 52.784

Walk #60 Statistics (of which this post forms the third part):

• Date of Walk: 29 September 2013
• Walk #60 total distance covered: 9.04 miles
• Coast of Britain Walk Total Distance Covered: 500.65 miles
• CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO INTERACTIVE MAP!!!