Thorness

More 'Walk the Wight' training today.  As we were child-free we decided on a longer walk than usual. Starting in Cowes we headed along the seafront to Gurnard, up through the woods and then down along the marsh until we reached the Coastal Path.  We then walked along the cliffs to Thorness Bay, admiring the views across the bay once we got there.  The weather was beautiful, if a little windy, and the sun bounced off the sea in just the right way!

We turned inland here, heading along roads, and through fields and woods, until we reached Pallance Lane, Northwood.  We had to make a slight detour round a field at one point as there were two enormous cattle standing right by the gate we wanted to go through, and they didn't look friendly. And they were HUGE. And one had horns. We thought they were bulls but weren't close enough to tell so we retraced our steps, crawled under some barbed wire, and trekked through some woodland until we reached the next field and were able to look at the cattle from the other side of the gate. Still huge. And horned. Not bulls though, definitely. 

Anyway, once in Northwood we toddled wearily on until we got to The Travellers Joy pub, hoping for a drink. It was closed, unfortunately and we were a little miffed. However, when the lovely landlord heard us rattling the door handle, he unlocked and let us in as he was due to open up soon anyway. What a nice man!

Once refreshed we headed back along the road to Cowes and home, thoroughly tired but pleased with ourselves for managing a longer walk than usual.

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_1911212.html

Distance:  approx. 8.6 miles

Thorness Bay 

Medina Loop

As it was a glorious day six of us decided to take our bikes and cycle round the Medina River. We followed the cycle path from Cowes to Newport, stopping for a picnic near Newport Rowing Club. There were a lot of swans on the river who all swam towards us as soon as they realised food might be in the offing. They were disappointed! 

We were going to cycle back the way we came but instead carried on towards Newport, rounded the Quay Arts Centre and headed along the opposite bank of the river towards East Cowes. We felt obliged to stop for an ice cream at the football tournament in Seaclose Park then continued on our way.  The path on this side of the river was not smoothly tarmacked and contained many tree roots and lots of mud, which made for an exciting and at times precarious ride. We headed past rusting steam boats and over marshy paths before emerging at Island Harbour. Here we made a mistake, missed the signpost (of there was one) stating that we should continue along the riverbank and ended up cycling up the hill to the main road to Ryde. 

This next part of the journey was terrifying; one of our party was ten years old, so we rode in pairs, fairly close together, to ensure maximum safety.  This was especially necessary as car drivers on the Isle of Wight have little or no regard for cyclists it would seem and did their best to run us off the road.  Most of our party had been visiting the Island on a cycling tour, were experienced cyclists and felt they had never come across such bad driving in relation to cyclists and would not be keen to return.

However, as soon as we got to the top of the hill we left the main road and headed towards St Mildred's Church, Whippingham and from there continued into East Cowes with no further incident. We crossed the river on the floating bridge and soon after were enjoying a refreshing drink in The Duke of York pub.

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/cycling/route_1906186.html