Shalfleet to Bouldner

Having been cooped up for three days with a rotten cold, I felt an overwhelming desire to go for a stroll this afternoon. It turned out to be quite a long one.

I parked at the free car park in Mill Lane, Shalfleet, headed back to the main road, turned right at the pub and followed the road past Shalfleet Manor until I found the footpath on the right. The path led over a stile and around a wheat field, As I walked round the edge small brown birds kept exploding out of the crop and into the hedgerows tweeting madly. At the corner of the field was a wooden bridge across the creek, followed by a railway sleeper in the mud, and then the path led into a wood. I lost the path briefly (hadn't read the map properly, surprise) but found it and followed it until it met a wide farm track which led down to the end of Western Haven, an arm of Newtown Creek. Here was a stone bridge and I paused a while to watch fish swimming lazily below, canoers and a wild swimmer (bright orange) in the creek, and a couple of buzzards that were circling and calling above. Gorgeous.

The track continued for a long while, and I took the right hand fork when it split, and followed it down past Creek Farm and Lower Hamstead Farm. Here the path continued along a private lane to a small quay for small pleasure boats, with stunning views across the entrance to Newtown Creek, the Solent and the Hampshire coast beyond. I backtracked slightly and picked up the coastal path again, newly graveled at this point. It soon came out on the very edge of the creek so was muddy and slightly precarious in places. There were boardwalks every so often to get across the muddier parts, and I was able to pause and contemplate lots of crabs scuttling about in a shallow pool for a while. Lovely.

After this the path led along the edge of a field, through a copse and down some steps to a shingle beach, which I tramped along for a few minutes until the path became turfed. Just off the path was a small memorial in the form of a Celtic cross to three young men who had been lost at sea nearby. Unexpected and rather lovely. The path led uphill parallel to the beach, past some landslip and farmland before coming out at Hamstead Farm. At this point I was greeted on the track by some loud farm dogs - not overly friendly animals, but neither were they showing any intention of biting. They ran off eventually and I continued on my way. The oath continued until it got to a 'proper' lane, and then the coastal path turned right across a field so I followed it, and through a recently cut hay meadow, until I came across houses at Seaview Road. More noisy dogs here, but they were behind a wire fence so I ignored them.

Soon after the path continued into Bouldner Forest and continued along the cliffs past Bouldner battery, and down to the sea via a boardwalk through a reed bed. Nice. Just after this the path split; you could continue to Yarmouth or turn left and follow a lane to the main road and a bus stop! I was tired by now, having had little exercise this week, so turned left and found a bus stop at the top of the lane. After a twenty minute wait (it could have been an hour) the bus turned up, and transported me to Shalfleet, where I retrieved the car and went home!

Route: https://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4602400.html 

Distance: 6.7 miles

Newtown

A lovely walk today, and not too taxing in the summer heat (remarkable considering the miserable weather of the last week). I met a friend in the main car park at Newtown and we ambled along the road past the old Town Hall, and shortly after turned onto a footpath leading along the creek. This crossed a couple of fields, then led through a wooded path and back onto the road.opposite the church. A little way beyond this was a path leading past an old house and down to the Mercia Seabrook bird hide, which we popped into briefly; it had a few people searching for birds on the wetlands and woods beyond, and we decided not to stay. Instead we walked across the field next to the hide and across the wooden footbridge to the remains of Newtown Quay, then out along a strip of land that jutted into the harbour. We stopped here for a bit, admiring the view and enjoying the peaceful atmosphere; there were few people around and we were surrounded by sea and countryside. Absolutely lovely.

We retraced our steps to the quayside then walked round the salt pans and across the field back to the road, and then onto another footpath behind the church, back to the road and along to the ancient house known as 'Noah's Ark'. This is, I think, the oldest building in Newtown and was at one time a pub, and has been many other things too. On the front is a plaque bearing the name 'Francheville', which was the medieval name for the, then, town and translates to Free Town. The plaque displays a picture of a boat and a lion, and is where the current name of the house comes from.

We went back down the road a little and picked up a footpath that led through fields and across the road to Walter's Copse. This is a lovely little copse, full of wild flowers and peace; we didn't walk all the way round it as intended, as we missed a side path. When we came out of the copse, we followed Town Lane back to the car park, and then went to the Town Hall and looked round inside (£4 a head). Upstairs were various pieces of antique furniture, clocks, Hogarth prints, a replica of the town seal and a magnificent fireplace. Downstairs, via a twisting, cast iron staircase, was a cool room with a history of the 'Ferguson Gang', a formidable group of ladies early last century, who bought various properties around the country, including Newtown Town Hall, and presented them to the National Trust. I suspect that I would have liked them immensely! There was also an ancient ring-dial telephone where you could dial up various oral histories of the area, and copies of ancient documents about the town.

Once finished, we followed the lane down to the 'main' road and headed for Shalfleet where we had tasty sandwiches at the New Inn before heading back to the car and then home.  It is amazing that this unassuming village with its wonderful wildlife and countryside was once the most important town on the Isle of Wight. 

Old Town Hall, Newtown

Route: (roughly) https://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4596372.html

Route we meant to take: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/newtown-national-nature-reserve/trails/enjoy-the-estuary-newtown-walk 

Distance: 5.5 miles

Newtown Woods

As we had lots of children with us today we decided on a relatively gentle walk and headed for Newtown. Once in the car park we collected a walking guide from the visitor centre and headed off. Coming out of the car park we turned left then shortly after turned right along a footpath (CB13a) towards Walter's Copse. This was VERY muddy; the kids didn't mind in the slightest and splashed on through while us adults squelched from one vaguely solid patch to another getting caught up in brambles on the way. After what seemed ages, but in truth was about 500 yards, we came across the remains of an oak tree that seemed to have been blasted by lightening in the distant past. Well, we liked to think that anyway. It had several limbs that touched the ground so it seemed a sensible point to stop for our picnic.

 

Once refreshed we continued along the bowling green towards the road. Here we turned right and followed the road past the old vicarage woods then found a gate on our left leading into Walter's Copse. This was lovely. Fresh green rides through the woods, carpeted with primrose, wood anemones and bluebells. The kids were oblivious to the beauty and charged ahead pretending they were orcs, goblins and hobbits. We squelched through the mud behind them. The path we were following eventually led over a stile and into a meadow by the creek. We walked along the edge of the meadow and then along a causeway to reach a lonely bird hide with magnificent views across the mud flats. There were few birds around so it was a peaceful vista. We could go no further, so we headed back to the woods, followed a path through Town Copse then back along the road until we reached the car park.

 

This was a short walk, but seemed much longer because of the mud. However, it was lovely; I've rarely seen such bountiful displays of wild spring woodland flowers, and the fresh air and sunshine did everyone good.

 

Distance: approx.. 2miles.

Footpaths: CB13a, CB9