Bonchurch

Lovely walk today. It was quite short but made up for it in terrain. We started off following a route by the Ramblers, but as usual went wrong! Anyway, here is our route and I'll put the link to the other below.

 

We parked near Bonchurch pond on St Boniface Road, then headed along the road towards Bonchurch Shute. We turned right and found ourselves outside East Dene, the home of the Victorian poet Algernon Swinburne (never heard of him!). Slightly further down the road was a house where Charles Dickens stayed, as did various other Victorian literati. Continuing down the road we came to the old church, nearly a thousand years old and the second smallest on the Island. We didn't stop, but I've been inside before and it is very tranquil. Worth a visit. Further down the lane was a proper babbling brook with very cold water. The path descended to the beach; we turned left here and walked along the shingle, via nice toilets which are looked after by volunteers, until we found The Boathouse. We turned left up a steep path, followed it up past some cottages and continued on across old landslip and into woods. This is where I took the wrong path. Instead of going up V65c as instructed, we went up V65d. This was signposted. We should have followed the Coastal Path. However, we followed the path up through the woods coming out near the top of Bonchurch Shute.  The kids were grumpy and hot so we followed the road around until we found The Smuggler's Tearoom. Cold drinks and ice creams followed while we admired the view across the channel.

 

We found the top of V65c by the car park so plunged down it, quickly arriving at the top of the Devil's Chimney (or Heaven's Banana as the ten year old renamed it, to make it less scary). This is a narrow path between high rocks, reputedly used by smugglers in the distant past. We emerged into lovely woodland and followed the path onwards, travelling down several flights of wooden steps, some more rickety than others, then along the cliff top until we found the junction with V65d! We carried on past this, back towards the beach, detouring along the coastal path at the bottom of East Dene, then back up past the church and back into the village. We finished by watching the ducks and carp in the village pond for five minutes then went home. Glorious afternoon!

Distance: 2.1miles
Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_3909348.html
Footpaths: V69, V65d, V66, V65c
Ramblers: http://iowramblers.com/page7.htm

Babbling brook

Entrance to Devil's Chimney

Woodland steps