The morals of this story are: don't believe everything you read, including weather forecasts and pilot books, and that bad reputations are not always deserved.

The sail down to Hornet for the ASC rally had been a "breezy" affaire but with just the tip of the genoa showing we had had a very comfortable ride.

Our plan was that after the Hornet rally we would have a lazy Sunday and then to cross to Le Harvre on Monday. The goal was Moule Fritte in the picturesque harbour of Honfleur. However after fantastic weather on Sunday the forecast for the rest of the week was looking a bit "iffy". The BBC were giving overcast and rain for several days and Theyr.net was giving very light winds across the channel. So at 0600 on Monday morning with grey sky, rain and not much wind , we decided not to spend 15 hours motoring in the rain and went back to bed! The long range forecasts for the next week end also did not look good either with a low running up the channel giving some unpredictable and stormy weather. This left us with a potential 4 day window to rush over grab our moule and rush back. Given that we wanted a rest as well as some sailing this was the end of the moule fritte plan !!! However rather than going back to our usual haunts between Chichester and Weymouth. We decided that we wanted to do a bit of exploring and a plan was hatched to go round Selsey Bill to Littlehampton.

As Martin from Calshot Activity center said later: " why would you want to go to Littlehampton, it's a dump , I did my apprenticeship there".

Certainly if you read the pilot books it does not sound too inviting with a narrow entrance and strong cross tides. Tom Cunliff pilot book is full of dire warnings of "troubles a plenty " if one goes too close inshore east of Selsey Bill. However the weather on Tuesday was bright and sunny and the forecast F4 NE which would have been on the nose from Selsey to Littlehampton became a nice F3 SW which was almost a dead run! Leaving Hornet we passed thru the inshore gap in the submarine barrier off Southsea and set course for the Looe Channel which passes inshore of the Owers Lanby and avoids the overfalls caused by the in shore shallows. The passage is buoyed at the western end and is only a few hundred meters wide . Even at neap tides the effects of the shallows either side of the channel can easily be seen, but to be honest in the conditions which we were there its is not as intimidating as Hurst Narrows. After turning inshore ( not too much !!) and passing " The Mixon" post it was a couple of hours gentle sailing to the entrance of Littlehampton.

On approaching the entrance we called up the Harbourmaster who advised us that they were just bringing a ship out and that the fairway would be closed for a short period. Ten minutes later the pilot launch and a small coaster popped out and after a quick check with the Pilot launch we were given clearance to enter. The entrance is about 150m wide and it is true that there is a strong tidal flow in between the entrance walls which continues well up into the river. Hence when we reached the visitors pontoon we needed to make a quick "handbrake turn".

What a surprise !! Great visitors pontoons, new "award winning" promenade with all the old industrial area replaced with nice "waterfront properties", super clean showers etc and just a short walk to the ice cream shop. We asked the harbourmaster about the write up that Littlehampton gets in the Almanacs and Pilot books and his face fell! He told us that he has tried many times to get these amended but apparently the response from the "authors" is that they write the guides for the "lowest common denominator". Heaven knows what they would say about the entrance to Ashlett!!! Anyway suffice to say that we found Littlehampton a charming spot and spent a couple of very sunny days lazing around. The Arun Sailing club were very welcoming, they are similar to ourselves with about 300 members and drying pontoon moorings in the river, They have a nice clubhouse and bar and do a great cheese, ham and mushroom toasty.

Littlehampton may not be Honfleur and fish and chips are not moule frittes but Littlehampton gets a big thumbs up from us and we would certainly recommend it as a potential destination for club members (or maybe even a rally).

Our return passage was a gentle drift , (Maggie is convinced that no one will believe that I can get so chilled that I am happy to drift along at 2 knots). We detoured in to Chichester harbour to visit Bosham which is another favourite spot for us. Again the sailing Club is very friendly and the scenery is stunning. After watching the nest of a pair of local swans getting washed away several years running the club has built a floating Swantoon and this year the pair produced 8 cygnets, the last of which as hatched the day before we arrived. They were the center of local attraction along with a brood of 9 little ducklings. However the most outrageous animal we met at Bosham was a local cat called Jack. Not only is he huge fluffy and ginger but he is so self assured that two nights running he jumped aboard Kouba , inspected every cushion and then jumped nearly 5 feet back to the quay wall .. certainly an unconventional but friendly cat (but then aren't we all) !