Almost all of our campervan trips involve following a Coastal walk, or aiming up a hill or mountain for some sense of achievement and breathtaking views.
Here are three walks we did which you may want to follow which are only for the sure footed and give some fantastic views.
1. The Hayling Billy Trail, Hayling Island, Approx 3hrs round trip.
We parked on a lay-by on the right after just crossing the bridge on the A3023. This coastal walk takes you on a glorious beach trail where you can learn about the original wooden bridge built in 1824. You can still see wooden supports in the sea where passengers would have to depart from buses and travel by foot to meet them on the other end.
According to Wikipedia, the bridge was too fragile to carry people; it was then replaced with today’s concrete version in 1956. The trail takes you along the coast line where you will be in awe of all the lucky backgardens to some of the most expensive and mouthwatering homes on the island. The walk also attracts many birdwatchers which are preying over the many oyster beds which is such a pretty site. There are a handful of pubs en route if you want a bite to eat, but we took a handful of energy snacks and by the time we reached Funland Amusement Parks off Sea Road, we had some fish and chip, which unfortunately the chips were not the finest, so try to avoid. After refueling, we headed back up Beach Road to our starting point as the beach was no longer dog friendly. The starting point is also a discrete wild camping spot but you’ll find a main beach along the South that offer paid overnight camping for £15 per night and the offer was taken up by a handful of motorhomes. I think this concept is one that Huttoft Car Terrace should take on board. The beaches are very much like a pebble-Brighton sand.
2. Newhaven to Seaford, Approx 3hr Round Trip
Our starting point was near Newhaven where we’d started our walk very late afternoon and aimed for the town to grab a filling early lunch. You will find a main retail park with McDonalds, KFC and many discount stores just off the main road to Seaford. We opted for a KFC before getting many miles underfoot. If you are considering eating, then stick to Newhaven as Seaford is a beautiful and peaceful resort with less choice. However, it offers the best views along the very long coast and reaches its peak past the Golf Club and climbing many steep and dangerous cliff egdes. Note dogs are not allowed on the main Seaford beach from May 1st – Sept 30th and when approaching the cliff egdes, you really need a reactive dog on a short lead. I say reactive as ours likes to chase anything that moves without thinking of consequences. There were also the odd wild camper with a tent trying to camp in a nook or cranny. When you reach the top, you will follow it down to another bay, beautifully surrounded by a row of picturesque terrace houses with a fantastic sea front garden. This is when we headed back to our starting point for the night before it got dark.
3. Earl Beauchamp’s Fountain to the The Malverns, Approx 1hr round trip
Normally we find that sea views float our boat more than any country view, but of course there are exceptions. Reaching to the top of the highest Malvern is one of them. You can make a 360 degree turn and look for miles and miles on such gorgeous greenery and Victorian rows or trees. It is super windy up there, so something to cover your ears is recommended to prevent any headaches. You can access this by bike like many others and there are many well kept tracks, with easy to difficult but quicker tracks to take. We opted for the quicker one, but by no means is this easy. Take plenty of layers as it’s sweaty work (vests and shorts) going up, but you soon need to windproof jackets heading down. There are a few hills so i can imagine losing a day here hiking being pretty easy. Note if by foot, you will need to take a packed lunch as there are no shops within the area that we could find. We would have stomped on many of the other hills after 3 hours of driving here from the South Coast, we needed to head back for the night.
Please let me know if you do try any of these walks and comment below if you can recommend any to me as we are always hiking somewhere in the UK on one of our many Mazda Bongo/Ford Freda trips.
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