Phinna Brealey shares the latest update from her inspiring coastal adventures
Last year I travelled the coast of Kent and Sussex as part of my plan to travel the entirety of the south coast by bus, a few days at a time. In the month of September 2024 I circumnavigated all of Devon and Cornwall mostly by bus pass.
This year (2025) I need to fill in our home county Hampshire and venture into Dorset. So last week (17 – 20 Feb) I booked 3 hotel nights in order to explore around Langstone Harbour. That is the stretch of water between Hayling Island and Portsea Island (Portsmouth).
I chose a hotel in the middle of Hayling Island (Newton House Hotel, it was originally an 18th century farmhouse) just next to a bus stop for 2 nights and a cheap Ibis towards the east side of Portsmouth for one night. I wanted to walk the entire width of the triangular Hayling Island along its southern edge and hopefully up at least one of sides. I managed the eastern leg the first afternoon to the point where I could more or less see West Wittering where I finished in October. The next day I walked the length of the “Billy Trail” which follows the line of the old railway with fantastic views of the harbour right up to Langstone Bridge. The bus took me back to Beachlands and then I walked along the southern beach again to Ferry Point. The Ferry to Portsmouth is not working just this week, so the next day saw me on a series of buses to the Ibis. A chilly walk to the idle ferry, and then the easy very straight walk along the Esplanade as far as the pier in Portsmouth filled the afternoon. I did the other half of Portsea Island last year when I took family to our favourite Porchester Castle. My last day (Tuesday) I had a bus strike and rail closures to contend with, but visited the Mary Rose Museum in the morning and got a rail replacement bus to Fareham, a train to Winchester and then the good old 64 bus back to Alton.
