The Billy Trail, Hayling Island
History of the Hayling Billy Trail
In 1865 a single track railway line was opened between Havant train station and what is now Station Theatre on Hayling Island, initially it was used to transport goods to Hayling Island but in 1867 it was also used for passengers, primarily holidaymakers.
During World War 2 the line was used to ferry military personel and equipment down to the holiday camps on Hayling which had been requistioned for the war. Thousands of tons of rubble was brought in from Havant via the train to create the four sections of Mulberry harbours.
With the deterioration of the Langstone Harbour viaduct and how unaffordable a repair or replacement would be, at the end of 1963 the line was closed.
In 1984 there was a local campaign by cyclists and Sustrans volunteers to repurpose the disused tracks and turn it into a multi-purpose walking and cycling route, since then the route has been repurposed in stages, and in more recent times became a part of the King Charles III England Coastal Path.
On The Day…
I live in Portsmouth so I took a taxi down to the Eastney Ferry Landing, alternatively there is a bus (#25) that goes down there although it isn’t very frequent, there is also free parking but limited.
I met some friends there and we all got on the ferry together, it’s £4 for the trip over and takes about 2 minutes to cross, but in the heat we’ve been having it offered some fantastic views and a lovely sea breeze.
There are public toilets once you land at Hayling Island (however they were locked when we arrived), as well as a local pub called the Ferryboat Inn, unfortunately this was also closed at 10:50am.
We took Ferry Road East which offered some fantastic views of Portsmouth. We did however get a bit confused by one of the signed and ended up following what we thought was the coastal path but was actually a path leading around the coast and taking us into the Warner Hotel, it was nice to have a look around though.
Just past the old Anti-Aircraft Battery is the actual turning to go off road and onto the King Charles III Coastal Walk which is a very narrow single track path running behind a lot of houses - it was very overgrown down here with a lot of brambles and nettles. This eventually brought us out on Sinah Lane which we continued all the way down to the Station Theatre which is the start of the Billy Trail. The Station Theatre has toilets that the staff didn’t seem to mind you using.
The Billy Trail is a fantastic and completely flat walk which is suitable for walking, bikes, push chairs, and probably mobility vehicles like manual and electric wheelchairs. The vast majority of the route is covered by trees creating a canopy so in the heat we were having it was rather cool and protected from the sun. To the West of the trail there were views over to the east side of Portsmouth with the Spinnaker Tower clearly visible in the distance, it was a lovely view and offered a different angle on the city.
There are plenty of grassy areas along the route as well as benches that offered great views and space to have a picnic, which we did about halfway along the route at a crossroad junction. It was slightly off the track so quite a peaceful place to eat.
Near the end of the Hayling leg of the walk just before the West Hayling Nature Reserve there is Hayling Billy Bites which offers hot and cold snack food, and more importantly to the group I was walking with, ice creams which they all enjoyed. Unfortunately there were no dairy free options available at the time.
The West Hayling Nature Reserve is a deviation from the Billy Trail and a part of the walk you hear before you see, but is well worth the visit as it’s a lovely view out towards the Farlington Marshes, and also a spot to read about the oyster beds which were used back in the Roman times.
Continuing back on the trail you can walk up to the old Hayling Railway Viaduct before continuing along the actual trail and seeing the viaduct from different angles, there is also Bronte’s Cafe in the car park here which we didn’t try, but the smell from it was amazing.
Crossing Langstone bridge was a bit of a pain with the amount of cyclists using the path rather than the road, and so many of them not even having a bell, but you eventually get over and can continue into the green space continuing where the railway line used to be before crossing at Langstone Avenue. We missed the entrance to the continuation of the Billy Trail at this point and followed the avenue which lead us back on it. This stretch was much nicer than walking along quite a busy road and ran alongside a stream, three of us decided to have a little paddle here and cool our feet before continuing the walk north and eventually coming out at Havant train station.
The day was lovely and we were blessed with some fantastic weather, although for my own personal preference I would have preferred the temperature to be a little lower. Unfortunately I did end up with some blistering on the tips of my little toes, which is often the case for me, but I was hoping that the toe socks I had would have prevented that.
The walk was a total of 11.64 km but was very easy and for the most part very flat, offering fantastic views throughout the walk. It has inspired me to walk the full coastal path of Langstone Harbour, and with the experience from this walk it has highlighted that I should take my big lens for my camera as there were plenty of spots throughout this leg that offered some great photo ops of birds. The highlight was watching a kestrel hovering around Langstone.
If interested here is the route on OS Maps
