Bembridge

Oh, it's frightfully nice in Bembridge! We parked by the RNLI Lifeboat Station (once we'd figured out how the road system worked - a tad confusing), bought a pencil sharpener to get change for the parking machine, then walked along the road towards the Bembridge Coast Hotel and turned off onto a footpath just before we got there. We were following instructions from a very neat book of walks my friend had purchased, and continued under its guidance until we reached the coastal path. This followed the edge of some rather unstable cliffs, so we proceeded at a good pace bearing in mind the torrential rain that had hit the Island the previous day.

From the path we had magnificent views of Whitecliff Bay and Culver Down; I had never seen either from this direction before. On the other side of the path was a meadow, full of wildflowers and grasses and the occasional sheep. The path itself had many wildflowers and grasses too, and I recall seeing at least four varieties of grass, vetches, cow parsley and similar flowers. Very pleasant indeed. The path eventually led past Kingswood Activity Centre on the site of the former Bembridge School. There were lots of teenagers running about and having fun on site, and it looked like a great place to go to. The path turned right shortly after this, by an information board about Bembridge School and a magnificent tree that was designed to be climbed!

We followed the path to Jenny Streets Lane, turned left and downhill at the end, and then turned right into Steynes Wood; this was lovely and peaceful, full of trees and ferns and had the occasional dog walker. The path crossed the main road then continued through the wood; this was clearly less popular as the path was narrower and a little overgrown, but was still lovely. At the bottom we turned right and headed steeply up a chalk path that led between high hedges to Bembridge Windmill. We were in need of refreshment by now so we stopped for an ice lolly and a slurp of water before continuing on our way.

At the end of Windmill Lane we turned left and followed the road back towards the village before turning left down a footpath leading towards Brading Marshes. At the top of this lane was a dilapidated Victorian Villa with a large garden, which looked in desperate need of love and attention. I'd like to volunteer. Just saying. Anyway, the path came out next to the Pilot Boat Inn which looked lovely and has a good reputation I believe. We didn't stop as we had to get home to feed the children. The path continued across the road, up a private road, leading eventually down a very pleasant lane bordered on one side by really rather impressive properties. I forgot my manners and peeked over fences, through fences and over garden walls and had a jolly good nosey! I'm not sure that the couple following us were impressed - no one seemed to smile in that part of the village. The lane led back towards the beach, and we crunched along the shingle towards the lifeboat station, retrieved the car and drove home.

This was a lovely walk, and I shall definitely go again now that I think I can find my way around the village!

Whitecliff Bay

Climbing Tree

Bembridge Windmill

Lifeboat Station

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4348631.html

Distance: 4.5 miles

Footpaths: BB42, BB13, BB10, BB15, BB22, BB36, BB3, BB19, BB5, BB34, BB7

Isle of Wight Festival 2016

The Isle of Wight Festival was on this weekend and I was able to get in for the cost of a t-shirt and the proviso that I supervised some teenagers for a few hours. Sorted! I also got a staff wristband which had the advantage that I had access to a nice toilet. As the ticket was effectively free I didn't feel obliged to stay the whole weekend and see absolutely everything, but had a lovely time and went home when I was tired instead. My highlights are as follows:

Friday:

I watched Jess Glynn on the main stage - she was superb, and got the whole crowd going. I had no idea who she was, but realised I knew all her tunes! Jess had incredible trousers;I would like a pair - no idea where I would wear them, but they were green and shiny and lovely.  I'm only mentioning her outfit as I want her trousers - no other performer had that effect on me! I just missed seeing 'Busted' but heard them from further afield and they sounded good. Later in the afternoon I went to the 'Big Top' and watched Gabrielle Aplin; I had never heard of her or her music and thoroughly enjoyed her set. Really talented. In the evening I watched Stereophonics on the Main Stage, who were also excellent and would be worth seeing again. For food I purchased a veggie burger from the wonderful 'Tansy's Pantry' (a vegetarian café in a double Decker bus) and followed it up with a cup of tea and a slice of Jaime's exquisite chocolate orange cake. Yum yum yum! One of the funniest things I saw was a teenager carrying a stack of plastic pint 'glasses' taller than herself by at least two feet, looking for the recycling point; lots of enterprising children were earning extra money by collecting these glasses and trading them in at 10p each. The teenager I met later told me she had earned £37 that day. Wow!

Saturday:

I was mostly busy with teenagers until late afternoon but once free I went for a pootle around the site; I was hungry and found late lunch at 'Somerset Pork' in the form of pulled pork, crackling and stuffing in a bun, washed down with a cuppa. Very nice. I sat in the main arena while I ate it and listened to the end of 'The Corrs' set in the sunshine. Afterwards I pottered through the Octopus Garden then made my way through the fairground, where I met an old friend on the Scout stall; I dragged her away and we had a fun hour wandering round the shops looking at sequinned clothes and all the tat you normally get at festivals. When she left I went back to Tansy's Pantry for more cake and a cuppa, and chatted to the owner's Mum, who I knew, and watched people go by. We then went and watched a band in Kashmir Café.  This band were local, as were all performers in Kashmir Café, and called 'Bobby I Can Fly'. They had been playing together for years and were really good, so I'll try and catch them again. Afterwards I wandered back towards the main arena, pausing outside the Big Top to listen to the rest of the Buzzcocks set. I couldn't get in as there was a big crowd, but it was a sunny evening so didn't matter. After that I decided to go home; I was really tired, and although I would have liked to see The Damned, and Adam and the Ants, my bed was beckoning.

Sunday:

More teenage supervision, but this time accompanied by the delightful tones of a group of ladies singing swing tunes in Cirque de la Quirk. I didn't catch the name of the group, but they sang songs such as Chattanooga Choo Choo very nicely. I sang along. Once the teenagers had finished their task, we made our way to Kashmir Café and watched the Medina Ukulele Orchestra; this consisted of students from Medina College (where the festival is held, mostly), playing ukuleles and singing. Their standard was very high and they played to a full tent. Excellent! Later in the day I watched Mike and the Mechanics on the main stage and was again surprised by how many of their songs I knew and could sing along to. I really enjoyed their set too! For late lunch I had a crispy duck wrap, with chips on the side, both of which were scrumptious. I do like festival food! I made my way home after this as I was still tired, and had lots to do before Monday.

The Isle of Wight Festival was great fun. I wasn't sure what to expect as one hears such wildly different stories from locals. I found that it was extremely well managed and had enough variety of performers to suit the taste of the myriad people there, who seemed to range in age from new born to septuagenarians. I'm not sure that I would go if I had to pay the full price, mostly because I'm a bit tight, but I think it is good value for money considering how much you would pay to see one headline band in a large venue, and how much you would pay to travel, especially from our beautiful Island. I think I might try it out again next year.....

St Catherine's Lighthouse

A short but beautiful walk today. I met up with a friend, her tweenager and her dog and we drove to St Catherine's Road in Niton, and parked beyond the Buddle Inn. The private road beyond this led steeply downhill, between hedgerows in full flower, towards St Catherine's Lighthouse on the most southerly tip of the Island. At the end of the lane, just before the lighthouse we climbed a stile to our right and crossed into a meadow. The footpath led past an enormous rock (perfect for scrambling up) covered in sea thrift (Armeria), and then towards and then along the cliff edge. The ground here is notoriously unstable and we could see the results of past landslips in the surrounding landscape.

We followed the path through a buttercup-strewn meadow, over another stile, and down to Watershoot Bay, a very rocky beach. Lovely though. Behind the beach was some woodland so we scrambled up to it and had an explore, finding the remains of a couple of camps that locals had made. The dog was having a lovely time running around the undergrowth, and we had fun exploring more slowly!

We made our way back to the beach and retraced our steps back to the car, pausing briefly to admire the cattle in the field by the road. I'll definitely go back and explore some more!

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4333195.html

Footpath: NT37

Distance: 1.5 miles

St Catherine's Lighthouse

Symphony Orchestra May 2016

On 21st May Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra put on another concert, so I went along as one of my challenges this year is to see more live music and I rather enjoy an orchestral concert. The programme consisted of three pieces:

• 'Beni Mora ' by Holst
• 'Piano Concerto in E flat' by Ireland
• 'Job: A Masque for Dancing' by Vaughan Williams

'Beni Mora' was an interesting piece consisting of three pieces of dance music reminiscent of Algerian music (as intended!), and caught and kept my attention throughout.

The 'Piano Concerto' by John Ireland was passionate, with extremely good piano solos provided by the talented Viv Maclean; he managed to keep the audience spellbound with his playing. He was well accompanied by the orchestra.

After the interval we heard 'Job' by Vaughan Williams. This was written as a score for a ballet but stood up on its own without the dancers. Illustrations from William Blake's 'Book of Job' were projected behind the orchestra throughout the performance; these illustrations were the inspiration behind the music, so it was an appropriate thing to do. Each scene was introduced by the conductor, Jonathan Butcher, before the orchestra continued playing. I thoroughly enjoyed this piece by Williams.

The Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra played extremely well throughout the concert, ably conducted by Mr Butcher. I left feeling that my money had been well spent on the ticket, and that I really should practice playing my violin. I've got as far as dusting the case....

Ventnor Botanic Garden

Nearly the end of half term so teenager and I decided to have an expedition which included lunch. We headed south to Ventnor Botanic Garden, via Rookley and Whitwell (nice bendy country roads), paid the entrance fee and headed for 'Edulis', the restaurant in the gardens. Unfortunately their menu is not overly friendly for a picky teenager but she eventually decided on a ham sandwich, crisps and millionaire's shortbread, all of which met with satisfaction. I took a while to choose my meal as they all sounded yummy to me, and I eventually settled on the seafood linguine. Oh my goodness, this was yummy! Freshly caught local crab, mussels and king prawns in a nice sauce. Delish!

Once lunch was over we ambled around the gardens for an hour or so, having a good old natter and admiring the plants. The garden is on the site of a Victorian Tuberculosis hospital, and in a little valley which has a lovely, warm microclimate. Being close to the coast and the Gulf Stream helps too. Due to this, a wide variety of plants that would be too tender in many parts of the country can be grown here. Today the Echiums were at their peak, towering into the sky, ablaze with blue flowers and buzzing with bees. One of my favourite plants. Many other flowers were in bloom such as Sisyrinchium, Abutilon, Osteospermum, Allium, Syringa, Arum, and Rosa. I was particularly taken with the variety of bark textures on the many trees, and particularly liked a variety of Myrtus.

Once we had finished in the garden I perused the seed shop and bought several packets of wildflowers for my garden project. The botanic garden sells seed collected from it's own plants, as well as plants grown from cuttings from the garden, so you can get varieties of plants you wouldn't ordinarily find in a garden centre. Their gift shop is also very tempting, but today I mostly resisted the urge to buy lovely things!

Once we left we headed back towards Godshill and popped into Brownrigg Farm Shop to stock up on local produce - "Oil of Wight" anyone? - and then toddled off to Ryde for other supplies; I didn't drive my usual route and went via Ashey Road, and at one point came round a corner and down a hill to see a magnificent view before us which caused me to shriek "OH MY GOODNESS! We're so lucky to live here!".  Beautiful, beautiful Isle of Wight!

Echium flowers

Acer

Myrtus bark

Pelargonium

Allium (Chives)