OUR COASTAL PATH

BY KIM LESLIE

Girdling the country like some gigantic necklace, England’s newly-designated coastal path lies right on our doorstep. We’ve just a tiny fraction of this astonishing pathway along our own local coastline. At some two thousand seven hundred miles long, locally we enjoy some nine miles of its route between the waters of Arun at Littlehampton and the westernmost reaches of Bognor at Pagham Lagoon. Over the last few months, new signposting has been fixed, the culmination of a long period of surveying, mapping, and negotiation which ended in March 2021 when the Secretary of State approved the route of this 43-mile section running between East Head at West Wittering to Shoreham. Its legal status, defined as a right of way by West Sussex County Council, now backed with enhanced authority from government, is vital in ensuring its successful implementation.

Section by section, the entire route is still being put together by Natural England on behalf of the UK government. The first piece of the jigsaw opened in 2012 at Weymouth Bay, Dorset for the Olympic Games’ sailing events. Ten years later, by August 2022, there were just less than three hundred miles waiting approval with the aim that it will be fully walkable by the end of 2024. On completion it will be in two continuous sections. From the Scottish border at Berwick-on-Tweed to Aust on the Severn Estuary overlooking the southern Welsh border – via Bognor and Lands End; and in the north from the English/ Welsh border near Chester to Gretna on the Scottish border. As with our own section through and around Bognor, many parts aren’t new at all, but made up of existing footpaths incorporated into the official coastal path, for example, the long stretch of the South West Coast Path from Dorset to Somerset via Devon and Cornwall. Similarly, the Lancashire Coastal Way has been incorporated into the national route. Thus certain sections now boast two names.

The coastal path is the latest, and by far the longest, longdistance route in the country designated as a National Trail. Whilst we can rejoice in this wonderfully imaginative plan to open up the entire coastline round our shores, it’s a shame about its official name: ‘England Coast Path’. ‘English Coastal Path’ trips off the tongue much more smoothly. Scotland’s got it right with its planned ‘Scottish Coastal Way’. More recently, in recognition of Charles’ environmental work, the path has been rebranded as the ‘King Charles III England Coast Path’; perhaps a trifle wordy. All the newly-installed signs need replacing.

Much of our own local route follows the concrete and tarmac promenade along the Bognor seafront and into Felpham before its transformation into wilder, more natural paths fronting the Summerley and Middleton-on-Sea Estates. Here’s an abundance of coastal-loving tamarisk; of special note are the vegetated-shingle plants representing a unique and very fragile habitat, defined by plants that have adapted to survive in harsh coastal conditions where there is little fresh water, minimal nutrients, salt-water spray, fierce strong winds and battering waves. Despite these adverse conditions, shingle-loving plants thrive. Importantly, they represent an internationally rare habitat: ‘one of the rarest coastal habitats in the world’ according to the notice board along Middleton’s greensward.

Here we find sea kale, sea beet (or sea spinach), the flowering tree mallow and sea radish anchored into the shingle by long tap-roots searching for nourishment far below ground level. From the top of the beach, these remarkable seaside plants have migrated onto the greensward and even into neighbouring gardens. Local residents in Felpham recently set up Friends of Summerley Seashore to protect these rare plants and increase the biodiversity in their policy of ‘managed wilderness’. It’s a precious environment; the eastern end of Summerley Estate’s shoreline representing the only wild section along the entire length of Felpham parish’s southern boundary.

There’s so much to see around our glorious coastline, its history and highlights described in Stephen Neale’s recent guide: The England Coast Path: 1,100 mini adventures around the world’s longest coastal path (Conway/Bloomsbury). West Sussex features in the second edition of 2022; home to marsh harriers, common seals and a colony of ground-nesting terns; beaches teeming with fossils from their prehistoric past; Elmer and its Norwegian-rock islands to tame the tides. Felpham is noted for beachside refreshment at The Lobster Pot. Wildlife, waves, coffee and cake – there’s something for everyone along this favoured coastline. Read the book, plan your adventure, dip into some of its two thousand seven hundred miles, starting right here …

If you would like to attend a Felpham Greensward guided walk in July, organised by FOSS, please email fosseashore@yahoo.com