Going back to my roots
Barge Beagle – sniffing out good finds for crews with canines
IN THIS Barge Beagle feature, we’re zipping up our boots and going back to our roots where, down in West Sussex, the little-known Chichester Ship Canal makes up part of London’s lost route to the sea.
This is our favourite section to walk and was built to wider dimensions allowing seagoing vessels to access the city’s basin. Today about half of the route to Chichester Harbour has been restored and is plied by the trip boats of the Chichester Ship Canal Trust.
There is car parking available at Southgate Basin, adjacent to the canal trust’s cafe where dogs are welcome at the outside seating area and bowls of fresh drinking water are provided. The volunteers manning the shop are very welcoming and just the sight of the cakes on offer are enough to add inches to the waistband without even indulging!
The towpath is tarmacadam and bordered by the backs of houses and their gardens. One of the original iron swing bridges (Poyntz Bridge) can be seen just before the towpath dips slightly to pass below the busy A27 road bridge.
As more pastoral habitat is revealed the towpath changes from tarmacadam to compacted gravel. There is plenty of birdlife including grey heron, coot, mute swan and mallard duck. In places, the water is clear enough to see fish darting about in the shallow edges where yellow iris and bulrushes attract many insects. Information boards and benches inviting a rest are dotted along the route.
At Hunston there is a bridge from where, in 1828, JMW Turner famously painted the view of Chichester Cathedral – using artist’s licence, he added a sunset to the north! Immediately after the bridge, the canal rounds a sharp bend to the west, heading for Chichester Harbour.
This is very noticeable and indicates where the narrower barge canal section headed east to join the River Arun. Known as Hunston Corner, here you will find a car park and nearby The Spotted Cow, a good place to relax with a pint of locally brewed Sussex Ale and a ploughman’s lunch before retracing your steps to the city.
Whichever direction you choose to walk, I’m sure your pooch will be ready for a nap by the time you reach the car and that the walk may have inspired you to explore more of this secretive route.
Useful information:
Chichester Ship Canal Trust:
The charity responsible for the upkeep and future restoration, boat trips, row boat hire, refreshments in the canal cafe, the museum and much more: www.chichestercanal.org.uk
Chichester Canal Centre Canal Wharf
Chichester
West Sussex
PO19 8DT
Tel: 01243 771363
The route from the Southgate Basin to Hunston Corner and back is about four miles.