Firestone Copse and Quarr Abbey

It's been a while since my intrepid walking partner and I went for a stomp, but today was the day. We drove out to Firestone Copse near Wootton Bridge and parked the car. Our route led us along woodland pathways, with carpets of daffodils and wood anemones to our left and right, until we reached Firestone Copse Road. Turning left we followed the road until it met Kite Hill Road, the main road to Ryde. Crossing with caution we continued our route, turning left down a path next to a post box, which led to Fishbourne Lane and past the ferry terminal. We turned right up a bridleway opposite the Fishbourne Inn and followed a broad lane until we reached Quarr Abbey, home to Dominican monks on the Island. We had a glorious view of the Abbey, and paused briefly to admire their famous pigs - beautiful but smelly!

The path led downhill towards the mediaeval ruins of the original abbey, where we turned right and followed another footpath back to the main road. Taking our lives in our hands we sprinted across the road between fast cars (well, fast for the Island, and fast enough for us) and passed through a gate to a very muddy field beyond. The path quickly dried out and led through some woodland and past a large, private pond. More of a small lakelet really. Rather serene and beautiful anyway. Beyond this was a field with several stately oak trees, which we passed between, and came to a lane.

The lane led to Newnham Farm, so we followed the footpath through the farmyard and two fields, and then up a long, shallow hill. At the top we found a shrine to a local man who dies in the First World War, and also commemorated the men of Binstead and Havenstreet who also died in the war. This was a rather lovely memorial, and most unusual, so we paused for a few minutes to admire it.

The path continued down the hill to meet the other end of Firestone Copse Road, which we followed until we reached the copse and followed more woodland paths to the car park. We finished our afternoon with a visit to Briddlesford Farm Shop and the Bluebells Café. Perfect!

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4502120.html

Distance: 4.2 miles

Quarr Abbey

Medieval Abbey Ruins

Pond

War Memorial, Newnham Farm

Wootton Circular Walk

Yet another windy February Day on the lovely Isle of Wight, so we headed for Wootton with two teenagers. As my friend had new boots we decided to do a short walk to break them in. The Ramblers had written a route of three miles so we decided to follow that.

We parked the car in Brannon Way, and headed off up the road via Mary Rose Avenue until we got to Station Road. Here we turned left, and then left again into Packsfield Lane, following it as far as the railway track for Isle of Wight Steam Railway. We crossed over and followed the pathways through extremely muddy fields full of sheep, and some damp but less muddy woodland; as we entered the field we watched a farmer rounding up his sheep with an apparently incompetent sheep dog in the neighbouring field, who were being watched in turn by a flock of geese. After a while we came to another railway crossing. On the other side of the crossing was a solid path leading through woodland and past fields, covered in leaf mould and little rivulets of water all the way back to Wootton Bridge. We stopped on the way to inspect an ice house that belonged to the Fernhill Estate, the house of which burned down in the 1930s. We also paused to watch three buzzards circling overhead in the strong updrafts that were preceding the coming storm.

This was a lovely walk, with signs of spring approaching - daffodils and catkins mostly, and some lovely winter-flowering cherry blossom. On the final stretch was woodland and a wildlife reserve that need further exploring on a less stormy day. On the way back we stopped for another cup of tea at Briddlesford Farm's Bluebell's Café. Cos we could. Oh yes, we DID NOT GET LOST. Not even once. Whoop whoop!

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4243651.html

Distance: 3 miles

Isle of Wight Steam Railway

Isle of Wight Steam Railway

Ice House Information

Mud glorious mud!

Appley to Seaview

The teenager and I have decided to go for a walk every Sunday afternoon for the foreseeable future, come rain or shine. I'm not sure about the last bit as we are essentially creatures of comfort who prefer to stay in the dry, if not the warm. However, we have made a start.

 

We drove to Ryde and parked in the car park behind Appley Tower, a folly on the seafront, then strolled through the soggy park and down to the promenade. From here we turned right, headed past the tower and stomped along the seafront past the wintry, sandy beach full of dog walkers, and avoided small children on bicycles and scooters. The wind was behind us, and the drizzle was upon us, but we carried on, chatting amiably about films, books and school. Very pleasant. The promenade took us past lots of fading Victorian and early 20th century villas, and as far as the beginning of Seaview, a lovely village, and its extremely nice beach houses. When the path turned towards the village proper, we turned back, and detoured through Puckpool Park, built in the remains of a 19th century coastal fortification.

 

On the way home we made a minor detour and stopped for a cuppa and a slice of cake at Bluebell's Café at Briddlesford Farm. Very nice it was too, and I highly recommend the lemon drizzle cake!

Easter Holidays

We're having a quiet holiday at home as we're both tired. The weather has mostly been lovely so far, and we've pottered about doing housework jobs, a bit of gardening and tootling around the Island.  Last week we went for a wander around Newtown with chums (see previous post), and now we are doing things to add to our Challenge 2014 list.

On Saturday we drove out to Shorwell for the annual Mammoth Jumble Sale in aid of the Hospice. I have been meaning to go for years. I was rather disappointed to be honest. Nothing at all that I wanted to buy, and I'm usually a sucker for some old tat at a church/ village sale. I bought a fairy cake for 20p then we wandered back to the village, buying some eggs from the farm gate on the way, and visiting the village shop so we could get some sweets. Shorwell village is pretty and needs investigating further; there are several footpaths leading off it so I suspect walks will commence soon.

Today we ventured to the tip to get rid of the garden rubbish, then drove to Briddlesford Farm. While there we stopped for tea, cake, coke and ice cream at Bluebells Cafe. This came to £8, which I thought was a bit steep, but the chocolate brownie that I had was to die for so I forgave them their prices.  Afterwards we popped in to the farm shop, but saw nothing that we wanted to buy. We then drove to Arreton Barns and pootled along to the Carp Pond. We bought some fish food from the Maritime Museum and spent quarter of an hour throwing it at frenzied carp and some deft ducks. Very pleasant. We carried on along the path and came to the parish church. This was open so we went in and had a look around; there were medieval tombstones, 17th century chests, the remains of an ancient font, some nice tiling by the altar, and bells.  I found it very calming and interesting, but my companion was not particularly interested, apart from by the organ. She could not work out how anyone could play it! The church is about 1000 years old, and is very weathered on the outside but appears to be in good condition inside.  To finish off, we went into Farmer Jack's Farm Shop where we found a few interesting things we wanted to buy, and lots of things we wanted to buy but couldn't really justify. My favourite was frozen, ready to bake danish pastries. Yummmmm!