Further Island Adventures

Dad and I engaged in a little social experiment recently....My old bike, which has been sitting in the shed gathering dust for a year, as the gears are a hazard to ones health, was placed next to the entrance of the close opposite without being locked to discern how honest folk passing through are....apparently not very...said bike disappeared after about 24 hours...granted that's about 23 hours longer than I gave the local tea leaf credit for, but they have a turkey on their hands...which is also where they'll be once the gears kick in of their own accord...ahhh, karma.

Anyhoo....The last day on the Isle of Wight was a group activity...since we had to catch the ferry back in the afternoon....I suggested, in the tone of demand, the castle was a decent enough place to spend the morning and so to Carisbrooke we went.

The entrance to the 12th Century Castle

The area has seen a form of fortification and battlements from around the 7th Century and is most famous for where Charles I was imprisoned before his execution in 1649

Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Beatrice was the last resident of the Castle between 1896-1944...her garden lies next to the chapel


The inside of the Chapel



My favourite part of the Castle is the old 16th Century well where donkey's are used to pull up the bucket...they weren't working the day we visited....


But they were hanging out at the stables...each Donkey has a name beginning with the letter 'J' (how very Sesame Street) due to Charles I who would smuggle out letters from his prison signed with the initial....this is either Jim-Bob, Julian, James, Jemima or Jewel....though they all look like Donkey off of Shrek if you ask me...."We can stay up late, swapping manly stories, and in the morning, I'm making waffles!"


The Well is 161 feet deep.....tested scientifically by dad and I by dropping in a pebble...took a whole 4 seconds before we heard the 'plop'....Those familiar with the novel Moonfleet will recognise this as the place where the Mohune diamond was hidden.


One of my other favourite things about castles is the battlements...the whole walking in the footsteps of folk from the last few hundred years always sets off my swashbuckling inner moppet....these particular footsteps equal 71 to the top of the keep


The view is totally worth it....



The view across the Castle and the downland in the distance the length of it I walked the day before.


Walking the Battlements...using big stick to mock a sword fight optional


We also walked the lower battlements...which still has the gun placements from WWI


One of the things I was hoping to see is the legendary Red Squirrel...they used to be a native of the whole country but some bright spark brought the grey squirrel from the US which harboured a disease fatal to the Red...the Isle of Wight is now the only place you find these cuties and anyone bringing the grey version to the Island who be in a bucket of trouble...I didn't get a picture (saw one from the car at one point) so I nicked one off Google.....


After our day at the Castle the only thing left to do was catch the ferry home...we ended up being a couple of hours early and fortune being in our favour were waved straight onto a ferry which was just about to leave.....

The Isle of Wight from the ferry



Crossing the Solent there were many yachts and sail boats since it was near perfect sailing weather....this is one of the Tall Ships Challenger fleet..used in major races around the world and also used to train youngsters from any neck of the woods to learn to sail....also in the background two of the four Palmerstone Follies from the 1800's which were built to defend Portsmouth from invasion from the French by the time they had been finished, however, were obsolete...these day's posh folk pay oodles of cash to spend the night in them.


And Finally as we pulled into the Ferry port a quick snap of the Spinnaker Tower and to it's left the Historic Dockyard with HMS Warrior on display.

So there you go...not bad for four days...I like to pack in what I can, especially when the weather was being so co-operative...now the leaves on the trees are starting to look decidedly brown, sunset is getting earlier, even on a sunny day there's the beginnings of a nip in the air.....and those damn annoying, and slight creepy, flying daddy-long-legs are starting to make a not so welcome appearance...That'll be Autumn then....*frowny face*

Walk 2: Carisbrook to Brighstone

To say I was a bit tired after my exploring of the Western point of the island was an understatement....I was out for the count at the third bong of News at Ten, which NEVER happens. Anyhoo I decided that for day 3 of the trip a shorter walk was probably a good idea. My folks were off to pay a visit to Queen Victoria's old digs, Osbourne House, which was going to be all paintings, cotton tops, musty smells and creaky furniture.....so, armed with map, water and pasty I got them to drop me at nearby Carisbrook for an inland walk across the downs to Brighstone around 5 miles away.

Straight away the track I was walking started to ascend...that's the ironic thing about 'downs' they're always up. A few minutes into my walk I was surprised by a small furry creature who jumped out of the hedgerow just a couple of metres in front of me...apparently the feeling was mutual as the little stoat dived back into the bush...curiosity got the better of the little critter though and it was soon inching it's way back towards me....I have a feeling it could smell my pasty. As I attempted to get a hold of my camera, having never seen a stoat in the wild before, I was aware of movement behind me...two cyclists, slightly insane, taking on the steep incline and making much noise with it...which had the stoat promptly diving for cover and myself flattened against the bank....As I inwardly cursed the bikers....and spandex is not a good look on anyone...the stoat disappeared from sight.....I didn't get the picture but it looked something like this:

The track soon evened out to open fields and showed some stunning views across the island. I caught sight of Carisbrook Castle which dates back to the 12th century.

The great thing about the island is that it's very difficult to get lost, well on foot anyway, the paths, tracks and bridleways are well mapped, maintained and in the middle of nowhere, when you reach a 5 way junction, there are signposts. The route I was on, Tennyson Way, would eventually lead all the way back to the Needles.

I stopped for lunch in the sunshine at around the halfway mark then ventured into Brighstone Forest....where I freaked myself out, with my stupidly over active imagination, at every snapping twig, rustling leaf and dropping conker.....dork.


Luckily the Blair Witch didn't disembowel me and I was soon exiting the wood onto Brighstone Heath...at 214 metres it's one of the highest points on the island, though the banks of bracken made it difficult to see the view from the top.


Wandering back down the hill I was greeted with an amazing sea view....the white cliffs to the right of the picture is Tennyson down, where I had walked the day before.


I continued to head down the track and in front of me saw Mottistone Down, which was the end of my walk...it didn't go unnoticed that the path I was on continued a fairly steep descent and the hill in the distanced was most definitely....up.


Climbing Mottistone Down....The view looking east.


Looking south


Looking back towards, the ever-so-slightly freaky, Brighstone Forest from the top of Mottistone.


Luckily at the top of the Down there was a bench where a couple and their cute black Lab pup were sitting, well the couple were sitting the pup was kinda bounding, jumping and rolling in rabbit poop in an attempt to be cute enough to scrounge some food...she succeeded.

Walking down Mottistone Down with Tennyson Down in the distance


I wandered back down the hill through a woodland path, by which time my feet were beginning to protest all the activity...I had just returned to the car park and was in the midst of a well earned rest when the parentals pulled in to give me a lift.....

Above, my route....I later worked out that my 'shorter' walk had turned into an 8 mile hike....meh.....calves of steel baby!

Walk 1: Totland to Freshwater Bay

Right then...first full day on the Isle of Wight and I woke up to sunshine pouring into my room. I had printed off a whole bunch of info about walking the island and since I was only going to be able to squeeze in a couple of days of walking I decided on one coastal walk and one inland walk. The coastal walk seemed like a good one to start with and so with the parentals amusing themselves I was dropped off at a little place called Totland.

Oh, I do have to digress a little here as en route to my starting point we came across a car full of cotton tops, the driver of which had taken it upon himself to rewrite the highway code and displayed some original interpretations of the point of the white dotted line in the centre of the road...i.e. he decided that upon driving the twisty turney section of highway, the best course of action was to line up the road markings in the middle of his wheels in some kind of nutty real life Scalextric attempt.....oncoming traffic be dammed. He would also use the length of a bus as a margin to navigate around parked cars....all this and an apparent top speed of around 20mph (I have a sneaking suspicion the vehicle was actually powered like that of the Ant Hill Mob off of Wacky Races)....anyhoo this activity continued for several miles...myself and the folks both laughing hysterically and gasping at each near miss until the driver, in the midst of some left/right highway identity crisis, finally pulled into a local attraction Blackgang Chine....traditionally an entertainment area for the under 12s....The mind boggles.

Like I say I digress...so onward...Totland...not much here and I had some distance to travel so I pretty much walked along the prom a ways and started the climb up through woodland to Headon Hill.



As I walked out onto the 15th Century, cultivated heathland I was met by the most stunning panoramic views back across the island and across the Solent to the mainland....

The pier in the picture was my starting point

Hurst Castle across the Solent

stretching from Portsmouth and Chichester to the East and the cliffs of Dorset to the West. I chatted to a couple of fellow walkers as we tried to identify a swooping bird of prey...possibly a Buzzard....

The cliffs of Dorset

Alum Bay and the Needles

and then I ambled through the heather lined paths, passed Bronze aged burial mounds to the remains of the Heatherwood Battery....set up in the 1860's to keep an eye on those pesky French.
While wandering the heathland I caught sight of the Tennyson Monument across the valley, where I would be heading later.....and it's at this point I realised I'd have to walk down the bloody great hill I was on and walk back up the bloody great hill on which the monument stands....


First I would descend into Alum Bay, a place noted for it's odd geology, the cliffs a interesting mixture of different rock giving the Isle of Wight it's famous coloured sands trinkets. I walked to a viewpoint across the bay sighting one of the Islands most famous landmarks...The Needles....I was tempted to catch the chair lift back to the top, instead funds decided I was to take the 166 steps up the hill.
I bypassed the slightly tacky 'pleasure park'...aka a collection of permanent fairground entertainment and souvenir booths and started the walk along the cliff side. The walk takes you up a steady climb to the Western most point of the Island looking back across Alum Bay, the Solent and the Mainland...


At this point the walk becomes quite interesting as to the right of the footpath is a sloping grassy bank followed by a sheer drop down the chalky cliffs....it's advised walkers don't drift from the footpaths.
The Needles are a grouping of chalk stacks at the end of which stands a Lighthouse built in 1859. Also in the area are the artillery batteries which were still being used into the 1950's and an area which was used to test rockets until 1971...only the concrete footing of this site remains but you can see where the cliff side has been gouged when the rockets were fired.


This was where I decided to pitch up and devour my pasty overlooking an amazing cliff and ocean ensemble and watching a sparrowhawk hunt for his own sustenance.....talk about your perfect picnic spot.....Also, since I was next to a viewpoint for the Needles I spent the next half hour watching tourists puff and pant their way up and down the dozen or so steps astutely observing that the viewpoint advertised as that for the Needles...does in fact lead only to a view point for The Needles.

Fed, watered and knowing I still had a fair bit of mileage to cover before reaching Freshwater Bay, my final destination, I once again set off....ascending a steep hill path to finally reach Tennyson Down via West High Down.

Tennyson Down, looking towards Freshwater Bay and beyond

Looking back towards The Needles

I was met with the most stunning panoramic views...looking back to Headon Warren and as far along the Wight coast as Sandown. The Down stretches around 3 miles and as the name suggest has got something to do with the poet with a monument at the 147m peak.


Once again venturing too near the edge is not recommended as a sheer drop is only ever a few metres away. As I took in the views, sea breeze and sunshine I watched a group of three teens walk close to the edge before crawling on hands and knees before finally flattening onto their stomachs to peer over the cliff edge, only then apparently realising it was indeed....and I quote....'F**kin' high' and crawling back from the crumbling edge.

The cliffs of Tennyson Down

Approaching Freshwater Bay

I started my descent into Freshwater Bay where many folk were taking advantage of the sudden summer like weather swimming in the crystal clear waters of the pleasant little cove and I was contemplating a refreshing ice cream as a reward for all my healthy activity, when the parentals phoned to say they were nearby with my taxi.

Freshwater beach

Looking back toward Tennyson Down

My walk from Totland to Freshwater Bay via The Needles...I estimated it to be 5 1/2 miles....It was actually 7 miles

That evening I devoured a fantastically worthy dinner in a pub after which the folks and I wandered to nearby Shanklin Chine. The Island is full of Chines...which are basically areas of cliff which have been carved by streams and waterfalls and usually lined with lush vegetation....this one I remember going to often when we holidayed here and in the evening it is lit with lanterns and coloured lights which adds to the effect of it's smuggling heritage.


It is one of the earliest tourist attractions on the island records going back to 1817 and was used by soldiers in WWII as an assualt course and here P.L.U.T.O.(Pipe-Lines Under The Ocean) is also visable where fuel was sent through to troops across the channel.

Shanklin Beach at the bottom of the Chine

The pub where we had dinner


Shanklin village

After walking back up the stairs to the top of the chine and back to our hotel in Shanklin I was pretty much plum tuckered and retired for an early night....after planning the route for the next day's walk.....tbc