Nunwell Loop

Well, we woke up to a gorgeous sunny November day so decided to toddle off on another hike after lunch.  We drove to Brading Down viewpoint carpark, which overlooks Brading Roman Villa, Sandown Bay and Knighton.  Absolutely stunning views across the southern Isle of Wight today too.  The English Channel was as flat as a mill pond, and as blue as the Mediterranean in the autumn sunlight.

We walked up the carpark in search of a signpost, found it, crossed the busy Brading road and headed into a field and towards the woods.  We passed the Devil's Punchbowl barrow on our left (which the kids were not even vaguely interested in), and headed through a gate into Kelly's Copse.  This is a lovely Beech woodland, and being autumn the paths were covered in coppery-gold beech leaves. Which hid the mud.  The woodland led onto pasture and we followed the path round the base of a hill (the kids ran up it. And down it. And round it.). The hill was covered in horizontal ridges. I'm not sure if this is due to ancient farming techniques or simply gravity - must do some research! The hill was also covered in cobwebs to the delight of the older children and the horror of the youngest.  The path led uphill until it reached the Brading Road.  We followed this until we came to the turning for Eaglehead Copse.

Eaglehead Copse is another pleasant piece of woodland, managed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust.  There were many stands of Hazel which appeared to be coppiced regularly, many piles of dead twigs and logs to encourage invertebrates and small mammals, reptiles and amphibians and the promise of a sparrowhawk if we were lucky (we weren't, but saw the remains of a kill).  Following the side of the copse was a narrow field containing some rather beautiful cattle.  

Now, we came to the end of the copse and I managed to get us lost (surprise!).  At least, I thought I knew where we were and issued the command to follow the edge of the field, cross over the next two fields and we'd be in a lane.  Hmmm.  Got across the first field and found route blocked by barbed wire fence. Not to be deterred we found a gate a little further up and entered the next field.  It was a tad muddy.  My daughter's boot was sucked off her foot and I had to spend a minute up to my elbow in mud and cow-poo retrieving the boot from the mire. Lovely.  At this point the farmer stuck his head over a gate and asked if we were lost. We said Nononono, just took a wrong turning and will be out of his field very soon. I bet he was laughing at the inept townies attempting to tiptoe across his field!

Anyway, we got to the lane, followed it to the turning for Nunwell House, and headed back into Kelly's Copse and back to the car.  We saw three riders on the way - two girls on ponies, one on a Shetland that was rather small for her. Very nice!  We finished by removing boots and soggy socks and having a hot chocolate in the carpark overlooking the valley below.

Distance: 3.5 miles
Route:  http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_2506656.html