Brighstone Again!

Finally back in Brighstone for a week of dog-sitting having been put off for two years due to Covid-19 restrictions. The heat wave has abated and we have had a week of sunshine, showers and drizzle. Perfect! Rosie, who I normally look after, is now old and arthritic and cannot walk far anymore, but there is a new addition in the form of Monty the black and white Collie puppy, who is about a year old, fully grown and a proper attention seeker. Just like a toddler.

We have done a variety of walks around the Coombe Lane area, as follows:

Limerstone Down

Up Coombe Lane to the end of the cottages, follow the footpath around until it becomes a tunnel of trees and follow that to the perpendicular junction at the top of the incline. Turn left and follow the increasingly steep path up to the top of Limerstone Down where it meets Brighstone Forest. Wander about in the forest for a while then follow the main path to Lynch Lane and walk back down the hill, stopping to pick wild apples and blackberries along the way.

Rowborough Down Reservoir

Up Coombe Lane to the end of the cottages, then turn right and through a gate leading uphill. Check if there are sheep present if your dog is off the lead. Follow the path uphill (it's quite steep!) to a set of double gates at the top. Once through these you can turn left and follow a level path - excellent for stick throwing - to the end of the field and either go downhill or retrace your steps. Back at the gate you can continue straight on, which will lead you to a path where you turn left to make your way either back to Coombe Lane or up to the top of Limerstone Down, or turn right and follow the path to the village. You could also turn right at the gate and choose either a steep path downhill or a slightly shallower path down through a gully. Both will take you to the village.

Grammars Common and the Longstone

Follow Lynch Lane downhill to a turning on your right (BS83), keeping the dog on the lead until you are past the houses, then along the footpath (BS56), avoiding the turning for Gaggerhill Farm (BS65) and along the road until you get to a footpath on your right leading to Gaggerhill (BS64). Follow this to a lane, turn right and keep going until you see the footpath for Grammars Common on your left. Turn here, follow the path uphill pausing to admire the view at the top before going into the woods at Grammars Common. Follow the well-signposted path through the woods, across a field leading downhill to Strawberry Lane. Beware of cows. Cross the road and turn right before shortly turning left and following the path to the Longstone. Pause here for a while and enjoy the peace and quiet, take in the views, and have a swig of mead if you remembered to bring some (we didn't). You have choices here; we chose to retrace our steps to Strawberry Lane, walk uphill and then down Lynch Lane, but you could also pick up a path that leads to the top of Mottistone Down and from there head either to Brook Down or back to Lynch Lane or through Brighstone Forest. Choices galore, all glorious.

Strawberry Lane car park to Mottistone

We had a cunning plan, and popped the dog in one car and drove both cars to the National Trust car park near Mottistone Manor, then drove the one with the dog in to the National Trust car park at the top of Strawberry Lane. Slight change to our plan here as there was a herd of cows baby the gate, so we scooted into the forest to the right and followed the path uphill and emerged near the top of Westover Down. Here we climbed on top of a hillock, probably a tumulus as there are several here, and surveyed the view. We could see the Solent to our north, the aenglish Channel to the west and south, and the entire west coast of the island stretching away below us.

We wandered back down the hill briefly before turning right and heading steeply downhill and following a small path until it met a broad official path that led through a gate. The dog found a very long branch which he decided to take with him! This path met others, so we turned left and headed for the longstone, and then right and downhill again, through woods, and then to the car park. Glorious!

Brighstone

Today was dog-walking day, training me for dog-sitting with a boisterous young collie in the summer. We walked down Lynch Lane towards Brighstone, turning right onto a footpath which headed along a dappled lane, through a gate and a sharp right turn alongside a paddock. The path then split, with the right hand path heading towards Gaggerhill Farm, or continue straight on towards Moortown. We took the latter route, then picked up another footpath which led to Gaggerhill avoiding the farm. From there we walked uphill towards Grammars Common and had a lovely shady amble through the pine woods, with a steep climb at one point, and discovering a clearing that had an abandoned campsite later on. No tents, just the remains of a fire and some rusting cooking equipment.

We continued on and came out onto a footpath near Black Barrow (buried under rhododendrons), and crossed a field to come out on Strawberry Lane. Glorious! The verges and banks were covered in wildflowers, with lots of pyramidal orchids in particular. We strolled up the hill in the sunshine, avoided getting run over by tourists who were blindly following their satnavs, and got to the top where we paused to catch our breath and admire the view. The West Wight truly is gorgeous. We turned right at the top and headed back down Lynch Lane towards Brighstone and lunch.

Bembridge Down and Culver

Today was a glorious spring day, so my friend and I decided that a yomp up to the Yarborough Monument on Culver Down would be the ideal way to test post-covid lung capacity!

We parked in the estate beyond the Wildheart Animal Sanctuary, crossed the road and the carpark beyond, then began our ascent along a path in the turf. The path led through some scrub, past an abandoned building that may have been a gun emplacement in WW2, before coming out into the open again by a holiday camp. 

Soon we were on National Trust land and walking along the top of Red Cliff, aptly named for the colour of the rock. To our right was a large area of landslip, covered in golden gorse; as we breathed in we were hit by the delicious coconutty smell of gorse blossom - glorious!

Soon we were ascending again, this time on chalk Downland and heading ever upwards to the monument. When we got there, we discovered the tea stall was shut, but luckily the pub offered tea and a seat with a lovely view of the channel. 

We descended after a while, listening to the skylarks and admiring the view across Sandown Bay. When we reached the far side of the landslip, we turned left and followed a path down through the gorse bushes, took our chances on a makeshift set of stepping stones on a very muddy section, and eventually ended up on the beach. We strolled along looking vaguely for sea glass and new-to-science fossils (no such luck!) before heading back to the car and home.