Carisbrooke to Shorwell

Today was not the most salubrious of days for walking, being wet with the threat of thunderstorms. However, my friend and I set off optimistically, thinking that the weather would improve. Hmmm. Anyway, we parked in the car park behind Carisbrooke Castle near St Dominic's Priory, and strolled along the road to Froglands Lane. From here we walked up Dark Lane (one of my favourites), and picked up the Shepherd's Trail. We followed this trail for several miles, with the intention of ending up at Brighstone, but as ever with me, we got a bit lost.

 

The trail went through fields, along country lanes, past farm houses and manor houses, as well as going up and down a fair amount. The countryside looked scrumptious, glowing all shades of green on this warm, damp day, and with sudden bursts of wildflowers along the way. There were a lot of poppies. Gorgeous.

 

Delightful as this was, the grass and wildflowers were long and soggy, so before long we were similarly soggy (we forgot to bring waterproof trousers) and the walk turned into a squelch. We came eventually to a farmstead which had a paddock of unusual sheep - some were horned Jacob sheep- and followed the path past it to a crossroads. Our directions were a bit vague here, so we hoped for the best and followed a path that appeared to be going in the right direction. Bad plan. It led to a meadow of long, wet grass and thistles, with a plantation of native trees and shrubs, but no apparent pathway onwards. We followed the field round, found a footpath with no signage, so followed it to the top of the hill only to find we were back at the farm with the beautiful sheep! As we were really rather damp by now we decided to head back to the road, and followed it to Shorwell and the lovely pub, The Crown.

Once indoors we got hot coffee and a sandwich (yum), and I removed my socks and boots as they were sodden. We dried out a bit, then caught the bus back to Carisbrooke High Street, walked along Castle Lane past the ford, and up to the castle itself, around the moat and along another footpath and back to the car. We were going to have a brew at the Priory tea rooms but they are closed on Thursdays.

 

Another lovely walk, which was nice in the rain, but would be amazing in the sunshine.  

 

Distance (main walk): c. 7.5 miles

 

Intended Route: https://www.visitisleofwight.co.uk/dbimgs/13.Shepherds%20Trail.pdf