With the holidays just around the corner and no exotic getaway booked, it’s time to start thinking about how I can make the most of my precious weeks of freedom. Well, two weeks will be spent taking my mum to her house in France and a couple of days are ear-marked for catching the Olympic cycling and triathlon – if we can get anywhere near it. That leaves just under 4 weeks.
Not going abroad during the summer is more than just a reaction to the outrageous way the holiday companies inflate the prices during the school holidays, it is also because… I like my town and I like lots of different parts of my country. Especially if the sun shines.
And who knows when that might happen. Last year it was during the October break when we decided to chuck mountain bikes and sleeping bags into the back of the car and go. We didn’t go far and we didn’t go for long. But what a fantastic weekend we had.
We headed off to Bosham: a tiny little village which is about a 2 hour drive down the coast.
where we slept in the municipal car park (don’t tell the council) and breakfasted in the harbour (yes, ‘in’) at low tide.
I have seen images where unsuspecting tourists have parked on this hard-standing and come back 6 hours later, when the tide has come in, to find their cars submerged, to the roof, in water.
Tide out
Tide in
Having moved back to the ‘safe’ municipal car park (our camp site) and put another days ticket on the car we headed north with the bikes, over the A27 and into the countryside. We climbed up as far as Goodwood race course and circled back to Chichester harbour
where we had a picnic lunch before following the canal back towards Bosham. Ditching the bikes at the car, we wandered off into the village to watch the sun set over the East side of the harbour
before heading off to the pub for some supper and bedding down in our unusual accommodation.
The following morning, after a surprisingly restful night, we headed back to the tidal basin for breakfast in the company of some of the locals,
and spent some time wandering and taking photos of the village
and more locals
before removing the car back to safety and setting off again on the bikes. This time we followed an eastbound coastal path (my favourite).
until we came to a dead end
not that is stopped some….
and (she says with glee) had to take the ferry
We stopped for lunch at the (in)famous Twitterings… I mean Witterings (a little over populated when the sun shines)
before turning for home.
The tide was in by the time we got back to the basin at Bosham and the road was closed so we made the most of out time by having a little swim amongst the weeds
before sitting, with a well earnt Cider, watching another glorious day sink over the horizon.
I wonder what adventures this summer holds.
Onyerbicycle's Blog 