So this is actually walk, drive, walk a bit, drive a bit, pub – there are pubs nearer the beach but we plumped for one that was highly recommended and within stumbling distance of where we were staying. We were lucky to have sunshine but the chill wind meant this was pretty much the only outdoor activity in a winter getaway that mainly involved sitting by the fire, playing games and sipping whisky. This is less a walking guide and more of a verbal ramble about a really very beautiful part of West Sussex.
Parking up at the main beach carpark at West Wittering, big enough to make you imagine heaving crowds in the summer holiday, we tumbled out the car and onto the beach shod in wellies and clad in just about every item of clothing we owned. It’s a very dog friendly beach and there was much scampering in and out of the waves from us all, cooing over the beach huts and mentally refurbishing a few (although they become a lot less attractive after finding out the going rate is about £50,000 plus roughly £500 a year in licence fees, and even then you can’t stay overnight). At this point you could walk all the way to East Wittering, but we turned up a bridle way and took Berry Barn Lane back to the village, window shopping on the way for dream homes (there’s a fantastic range of classic thatched cottages through to striking modern architecture), stopped in the butchers for tomorrow’s breakfast and picked up some food for the fire too. Wandering back to the carpark via the church was a fun detour and we then headed up to West Itchenor for a quick stroll down through picture postcard cottages to the harbour, spent the allotted 15 minutes boat watching and admiring the view before dropping the car off and stomping across the fields to The Lamb. This is a really lovely mix of country pub feel with a light modern finish and food that makes you seriously consider making a 5 hour round trip to go back for more! The staff were lovely and friendly, the food (all locally sourced) for a large group of us came out fairly quickly and we absolutely devoured everything in front of us! Portions were so generous that we skipped desert (shock horror) and practically rolled home, completely incapable of anything other than dozing in an armchair for the next few hours.
Muggins Here 