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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2884 |
29th April 2017 Mt. Biking: Around Selsey Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny periods Max Speed: Distance Covered: 13.34 (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Saturday 29th April – Bike 13.34 miles ***** Around Selsey – sunny periods Good night despite there being about ten cars in the carpark but the occupants where quiet so no youngsters having a party but probably fisherman making the most of the high tide and they made little noise when they left at 4.30! Woke to cloud but even milder, 8 degrees today and the carpark was filling up with birdwatchers. Mag went for a short walk around the chapel and back along the harbour meeting loads of excited Twitchers. One old boy told her that the excitement was due to a Wood Warbler being spotted 100m from the car park and also that the Curlews we had seen were Whimbrels! After breakfast, it was bikes off, bike gear on and set off for Selsey at 10.15 with no picnic today. We headed down past the Norman castle mound to Pagham Harbour turning right to the beach following a short distance to the footpath inland. This came out by a new housing estate in Selsey a short distance from the prom on a raised sea wall which reminded us of a posh Jaywick or Point Clear. The prom gave great views along to the fishing sheds and RLNI lifeboat shed on stilts out to sea, we were expecting to see no cycling signs everywhere but there were none and the locals seemed friendly as we biked slowly along East Beach. The prom continued around a corner past a huge Great Dane being walked which made Mag a little nervous but lucky for us he was friendly too! Then at Selsey Bill we stopped by another group of birdwatchers sitting under the sea wall looking out to sea having already seen Skuas. We didn’t see any but enjoyed our time on this lovely beach watching the tide whizz past roughing up the se. We thought there were some seals but it turned out to be weed. Families and dog walkers were also enjoying the strip of sand before the tide covered it as most of the beach was shingle. Yet another friendly local lady told us to head to the large caravan site via the town as it was nice there as they had breached the beach to allow a large area to flood to turn into wildlife habitat:) We soon found the centre in a town of mainly bungalows. I spotted a bakery so we stopped. We were going to have hot pasties and cake but although carrying two wallets we only had a 10 Euro note and some loose change. This made another friendly local the lady behind the counter laugh but all was not lost as we had enough money for a hot pasty and one cake. We soon found the huge caravan site on West Beach where yet another friendly face, the girl in the campsite gatehouse let us in telling us we could bike anywhere. It was a big site with amusements, rides and a large clubhouse including a pool, just what we like! (Not) but then we found a small new section of brand new large caravans right at the end near the sea. We liked the one at the end with great views, a big balcony and fitted out to an amazing standard for a cool £99,995, we could have this and put a nice amount in the bank! We carried onto the area which has been flooded and fenced off for safety reasons but found a good seat in a raised position offering good views down to The Witterings where we had our top pasty and cake:) The footpath then carried on past the flood, turning inland over farmland, past the solar farm coming out by the RSPB centre we visited yesterday. Then it was a narrow path with gorse both sides to a section of beach around the harbour before another section of narrow path past yet more twitchers to the Wilfred Chapel and back to the van. We were out 3hrs. 30 mins covering 13.34 miles mostly bumpy paths but had a great time. With hardly a cloud in the sky now we enjoyed a cuppa in the sunshine, we took our books to read on the beach but it was too breezy and chilly there so returned to the sheltered van. We will stop here again tonight as I am trying to arrange to pick up another Xantos 310 to replace the one of the infamous shark attack!!! Then we witnessed another first, a young girl walked past talking to her family about a man with an owl on his shoulder which sounded odd but then a man with a Barn Owl on his shoulder did walk by with his elderly neighbour and his new tiny white puppy. They were admiring our van as his surfer son has one and we got chatting. He used to fly Falcons and has had the Owl from 2 weeks after it hatched. He is not sure of its sex so called it Charlie. It was on a two-metre length of string but he had another 98 metres in his pocket so he could fly it but he said he let it fly free by the church and he got it back most times although he did have to wait sometimes for it to return as it was keen to catch some prey! He had been known to go home and come back later to find her (him) waiting! The Owl was stunning, it’s markings incredible and it’s feathers super soft. It didn’t mind a quick stroke from both of us and we were surprised at how tiny its head really was, most of the head is soft feathers. He did let the owl go free just by the van! It did a very quick turn around the graveyard before settling in a tree and it took ages for him to get it back, eventually he had to climb in the Chapel gate roof to retrieve it! I went for another walk before tea and saw three kitesurfers and a windsurfer out at Pagham. So, another great day, hopefully I can pick the board up on Monday so we will move on tomorrow in search of yet more adventures:) For the second night there is a strange bloke who appears to be living in his car parked just up the car park from us! Photo Gallery Here |
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