Newport and St George's Down

Lockdown 3 and lots of local exploration has been going on. Today I had a socially distanced ramble with a chum, in the freezing February sunshine. We meandered around the town for a little while, then headed up St John's Road to Watergate Road and down the footpath at the side of St George's School to Shide. From here we joined the footpath along the river and headed towards Blackwater. After a while, and a brief stop for a cuppa from a thermos, we came to a bridge and turned left along a muddy, permissive path back to the main road, passing the cricket club on our way. 

We took our lives in our hands and crossed the road and joined a footpath leading up to St George's Down. This led past Standen House, a rather lovely country pile with a nice front lawn and a haha. The path continued up the hill into woodland, calm and quiet and lovely. After a while, and several stops for two unfit females to catch their breath, and also being passed four times by an enthusiastic runner trying to work off his dinner, we reached the top, coming out on the Bembridge Trail. 

Turning left we continued along the path, dodging large frozen puddles and passing Newport Golf Club. The path met with St George's Lane which we descended slowly, pausing often to admire the views across the valley to the hills beyond. Along the way we found several bushes with icicles hanging from them, something I have not seen for some time. The lane joined with Pan Lane, and we walked along to a footpath that led past some houses and back to the main road. A little further along we crossed over and joined the river path back to the town centre; we saw a heron standing on a little island of reeds mid-river and stopped for a while to watch it. Magnificent.

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.....

Medina Estuary

Today was the annual sponsored walk for St. Mary's Church, so I thought I'd join in. Some parishioners met up at the Church, and the rest of us met at the start of the Cowes-Newport cycle track on Arctic Road. Once we had all gathered here, (there were 14 of us), we set off for Newport. The weather was pleasant and warm, and we got going at a good pace chattering away and admiring the views of the River Medina, as well as dodging cyclists and runners. A popular path! After about an hour we reached Dodnor picnic area and were met by two chaps who had laid a tablecloth over a picnic table and provided tea, coffee and biscuits for us. Very nice! Once refreshed we headed on to Newport, popped into the Quay Arts Centre to use the facilities and said goodbye to four of the walkers who were now going home.

The rest of us picked up the path on the opposite side of the river and strolled on past the site of the Isle of Wight Festival, and onto a newly refurbished path along the river to Island Harbour. At Island Harbour we used a lock gate to cross over the harbour entrance and onto the next part of the path. Shortly afterwards we saw that the pathway was closed, but thought we'd chance it and carried on anyway, especially after walkers coming in the opposite direction said they had got through. However, we soon discovered that the main route was underwater and wandered up the field edge looking for an alternative. Unfortunately, one of our party slipped over in the mud and hurt his ankle, and the weather turned cold, wet and squally, so we decided to head back to the harbour before there were any more accidents. Luckily there was a café there, The Breeze, so we stopped for a coffee, called the injured chap's wife to collect him and decided what to do next. Half the party decided to head back to town and catch the bus home, and the remaining five of us decided to continue on a slightly alternative route.

We headed up the lane to the main Newport to Ryde road, turned left and picked up the old East Cowes Road, then walked along until we got to Beatrice Avenue. We headed down here towards St Mildred's Church, designed by Prince Albert, and then down through a housing estate and into East Cowes and thence to the chain ferry and home. We managed to run for the chain ferry as we could see it was about to leave and really didn't want to sit around and wait for the next one, and the lovely operators waited for us.

This was a lovely walk with lovely people and I shall try and tag along again next year!

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4289942.html

Distance: 11.7 miles

Sculptures at Seaclose park

PS Ryde Queen at Island Harbour

Bench at Whippingham

St Mildred's Church, Whippingham

Busy Weekend

So, Friday night became quiz night. I was invited to join a team of friends for a fundraising event in aid of Layla's Trust, a local children's charity, at the Traveller's Joy in Northwood. The night began with an all you can eat curry, consisting of four types of curry, rice, onion bahjis, poppadoms, and chutneys. Very nice indeed! The quiz started at about 8pm, and got rather competitive fairly quickly. We knew the majority of the neighbouring team so quite a bit of heckling ensued. Great fun. We didn't win, but we did have a good evening. The pub was packed so I expect that a lot of money was raised for the trust. 

Saturday was very busy. We had a family outing to Lymington and met up with my sister and her family. We all pottered round the market (well worth a visit) as well as the lovely shops, before going to lunch at The Ship Inn, a pub on the quay. Here we had a delicious meal, although the service was unusually bad, and caught up with all the family news. I recommend the burger and chips!

In the evening, once back on the Island, I joined a couple of friends and we drove to Newport to join in the 'Wight on Pink Breast Cancer Now Torches and Tassels' walk from Sandown to Newport. We registered, then caught the free bus to Sandown Bay Academy, the mustering point.  Everyone had to stand around for a while in the cold ready for the 8pm start. We were entertained by a jolly samba band though, who got everyone in the right mood. At 8pm we lined up, listened to a speech by a town crier, and set off accompanied by more samba music.

The route was well planned, with marshalls at road crossings, and pink arrows sprayed on the path to direct us. We followed the Sandown to Newport cycle track, the old railway line for the most part, which was bordered at the start by the River Yar, and later on by the River Medina. About halfway along the route there were ladies handing out water, and a portaloo was provided. Everyone was in a jolly mood, many people were in fancy dress (not me) and fun seemed to be had by all. As we walked along, and walkers were spreading out, we could see a line of pink fairy lights and light up head-dresses moving along the route. It must have looked quite peculiar to anyone seeing it from afar who didn't know what was happening.

At the end of the route, we passed under a bridge and through an archway of pink balloons and were cheered and given a medal and goodie bag. An excellent, well organised event which I hope will be repeated next year.

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4273406.html

Distance: 8.5miles 

Lymington Quay

Samba band

Sculpture near Blackwater

Balloon archway

Medal and goodies

Christmas Dinner

Well the weather really isn't right for rambling so I shall continue to waffle on about food. I attended my work's Christmas Dinner at The Bargeman's Rest, Newport on Friday last and had a jolly time. Pleasant company was accompanied by good food in sizeable portions.

 

I began with a Spinach and Ricotta  parcel and salad. I had expected the parcel to be of delicate pastry, and was surprised when it turned out to be rather chunky and pie-like. However, it tasted very nice, as did the salad. For my main course I was given a huge portion of stuffed, slow roasted pork loin with an arch of very crackly crackling, and roast potatoes. Vegetables provided separately were cauliflower cheese, carrots, sprouts, and boiled potatoes, and there was also cranberry sauce and gravy. Absolutely delicious all round, and the pork was cooked to perfection. Pudding had been pre-ordered, and was a gluten free chocolate brownie with chocolate sauce and squirty cream. This wasn't such an impressive course; the brownie was rather thin and large, rather than small, chunky and oozing chocolatey gooeyness, the sauce wasn't necessary (or at least so much of it), and the cream should have come in a jug. By that stage I was so stuffed from the first two courses that pudding didn't really matter!

 

The service was excellent all round, from bar staff to waiting staff and I would definitely eat there again.

Fairlee Farms

I went for an amble while my daughter had her swimming lesson.  Getting off the bus at Medina Leisure Centre I walked up the road away from Newport. Turning left into Mews Lane I followed the track past Little Fairlee Farm, then on towards another farm, over stiles and along a path ankle deep in wet grass and weeds. At the farm there was a footpath on the right that led to a field of bullocks. They were large and started moving towards me when I opened the gate, so, like the wussie townie I am I beat a retreat, shut the gate and stared at them for a while. I bet the farmers were having a laugh at me!  

I  continued up the farm track and came to a junction of footpaths; the left turn took me towards Wootton (not today thanks), the right took me across another field of cattle, so I went straight on up Mews Lane and joined up with Staplers Road.  I followed this for a while, then turned right into the estate and wended my way among the streets until I found a small cemetery which I explored.  This cemetery was obviously a haven for wildlife, being unkempt though clearly looked after, and was a pleasant ocean of calm yards from the main Newport to Ryde road. Leaving the cemetery, I turned right and after a few yards  found another footpath, possibly the old railway line, going towards the Leisure Centre so I followed this until I found the turning  back to the main road. A pleasant walk!

View towards Fairlee Road from Mew Lane

Cemetery

Distance: 3 miles
Footpaths used:  N118, N117, N208, N208c