Squeeze
Chidham
Sitting on a bench looking north to where the South Downs trace a rolling horizon against the drama of a big cloud sky, I look up and above is a kestrel. Hanging in the air, an angular shape against the blue. Motionless as a tethered kite, looking down intently, not at me but for some small movement in the grasses. Then a squeeze of feathers, a glide down the air and gone.
The coastal path changes. It’s the frayed edge, wearing away with tide and crumbling into the sea. A line on a map is really just a line in the sand - or in the mud around here. Like the water, the land moves out - meadow, salt marsh, shingle, mud - and then in again.
Without a hard edge the coastline would move and reform over time, taking the life that depends on these liminal zones with it. But when there are hard edges (sea walls and storm defences) there is nowhere to go, the landscape cannot move, the sea takes it and then returns to start work on the hard edges, wearing those away in time too. This would be a long process but as the seas rise, coastal erosion accelerates. This is the coastal squeeze where the edge lands of mud flat and saltmarsh are squeezed and then lost against sea walls.
So when the costal paths I’m walking are closed for repairs or have disappeared it leaves a vexed question of where a right way goes when the sea takes it? Can it be reinstated further inland? How to reforge the lost links in the coastal path chain?
Currently the Chichester Harbour Conservation team have a list of closed paths in the area. And a section of my Chidham walk is one of them.
Chidham isn’t an island but it feels like one. It’s a piece of land dangling into Chichester harbour like a bag on a belt. The name Chidham is thought to come from the Old English word ceod for bag or pouch. It’s a bag of delights on my walk today. Blue skies, sunshine, wildflowers, butterflies and birds. The walk goes along the coast with views into the harbour and inland to the South Downs.
There’s a section that’s only walkable at low tide so I’ve chosen my route and timing to allow for that squeeze.
Then a board walk - a wheelchair friendly section of the walk specifically made to give access to more people. And next, the section of closed path, damaged by recent storms and high tides.
And a choice - go on and walk the section of path where the edge is crumbling, other walkers tell me this is OK but I don’t want to cause more damage. One alternative is to trespass and walk along a private road to get back to where the path is open again. The other would be to turn around and walk back and risk being caught by the tide on the section where the path is only useable at low tide.
If I could hang in the air like the kestrel I could view the paths and make my choice. But I can’t and I feel the coastal squeeze and a difficult choice ahead.
Chichester Harbour Walks https://www.conservancy.co.uk/exploring/walking/
Closed footpaths: https://www.conservancy.co.uk/footpath-update-april-2024/
Coastal squeeze: https://www.conservancy.co.uk/about-chichester-harbour/pressures/coastal-squeeze/
Kestrel
