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Bracklesham Bay

8.08 miles (13 km)

Ordnance Survey Map Open Streetmap Enjoy a walk along the West Sussex coast from Bracklesham Bay to the Medmerry RSPB Nature Reserve. It's a nice stretch of coast with some good wildlife spotting opportunities as well.
You can start the walk from the car park on the sea front between East Wittering and Bracklesham. The coastal path then heads south east along the bay to RSPB Medmerry with views over the pebble beach to the Isle of Wight. You can then follow a path leading north away from the coast about a mile from Bracklesham. This will take you into the reserve where you can follow footpaths around the site. There's a wide range of habitats to explore such as intertidal mudflats, grassland, farmland saltmarsh and lagoons. Look out for birds such as Lapwing, Skylark and Avocet from the bird hides dotted along the walk. After exploring the reserve the walk returns to Bracklesham on the same paths.
You can continue your walking in the area by heading west from the car park to West Wittering and East Head where there's more lovely trails and beaches. Also nearby is Pagham Harbour where there's lots more wildlife to see in the reserve.

Bracklesham Bay OS Map Ordnance survey map - Mobile GPS OS Map with Location tracking

Bracklesham Bay Open Street Map Open Streetmap - Mobile GPS Map with Location tracking

Further Information and Other Local Ideas

The bay is designated as a biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest. It looks out onto the English Channel with the Isle of Wight visible from the beach, as is the Nab Tower lighthouse and the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth. The pebble beach is well known as good place to look out for fossils

Photos

Farmland, Bracklesham Bay - geograph.org.uk - 97253

Farmland, Bracklesham Bay. Looking north east from the beach with Greenwood Farm just visible in the background. The line of dark bushes across the centre marks the location of Broad Rife.

Bracklesham beach looking south-east - geograph.org.uk - 816872

Bracklesham beach looking south-east

Path from Bracklesham Beach - geograph.org.uk - 1293052

Path from Bracklesham Beach. A sign closer to the Holiday Village refers to the buildings as huts. Photograph taken from the gravel ridge that here keeps the sea at bay.

Bracklesham - geograph.org.uk - 5101

Bracklesham. Some typical "beach cottages" along the shore road.

Beach Access at Bracklesham - geograph.org.uk - 1293058

Beach Access at Bracklesham. Surfers and other beach users park their cars behind the wall and enjoy the relative comfort of the two concrete areas before venturing down the flint gravel to the sea.

The Stilt Pools, RSPB Medmerry (geograph 5976833)

The Stilt Pools, RSPB Medmerry

Video

GPS Files

GPX File

Bracklesham Bay.gpx (On Desktop:Right Click>Save As. On Ipad/Iphone:Click and hold>Download Linked File)

Memory Map Route

Bracklesham Bay.mmo (On Desktop:Right Click>Save As. On Ipad/Iphone:Click and hold >Download Linked File)