Quick walk today as the weather was looking dodgy. We parked at Blackgang Chine viewpoint car park (further up the hill from the
theme park, and free), and followed the coastal path onwards Chale. The path appeared fairly well used, but had nettles growing abundantly alongside it, so longer trousers than mine are to be recommended! And boots rather than hiking sandals. However, not too many stings and they wore off quickly. The path opened onto a field, the overflow car park for Blackgang Chine, led across it and back to the road. We followed the road downhill, over the traffic island, and rejoined the footpath on the left that led to the village. The footpath followed the road again, past the ancient St Andrew's
church at Chale, and then turned left at the showground and headed towards the cliffs.
We continued along the cliff edge, admiring the dramatic scenery while also wondering whether we would inadvertently end up on the beach in a cliff fall as there appeared to be rather a lot of large cracks in the ground! The path ended abruptly at a large mound and turned inland over a make shift bridge, then back along the coast past a building that might have been a gun emplacement at one time. Hard to tell! The weather was in turns very blustery and then dead calm, which was odd as there weren't major changes in the landscape or the wind. It felt as though we would take off occasionally, and we laid flat on the ground to have a good look at a small chine (we saw two,
Ladder Chine and Walpen Chine), without being blown over the edge! Once we reached, and had a good look at, Whale Chine, we turned back and followed the road until we got back to Chale. This was fairly uneventful, and we saw three beautiful alpacas along the way near the small, thatched
Walpen Manor house.
Once we reached the car, the weather changed to wet and windy, so we decided a cup of tea was in order and headed to
Isle of Wight Pearl, had a look at the jewellery, and had a cuppa and a bowl of homemade tomato soup to warm our cockles! Lush!
Route:
https://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4585224.html
Distance: 4.3 miles
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Ladder Chine or Walpen Chine |
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Landslip with scout signs |
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Alpacas near Chale |
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St Andrew's Church, Chale
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