April

Ryde to Seaview
A brisk impromptu stomp along the seafront to the Seaview Hotel, (stopped for a cuppa),  and back, with a friend, putting the world to rights. Lovely! Excellent views across the Solent too.

 

Cowes

A brisk walk through the town and on to Egypt Point lighthouse and back in the rain, stopping off for a cuppa at Coast. Lovely way to clear the cobwebs away.

 

Quay Arts

Popped in for lunch (lovely) and had a peek at the current exhibition. Definitely worth a visit. Excellent exhibition of body sculptures and art (Olympians and meta humans) by artist Louisa Giblin.

 

Isle of Wight Cantata Choir

The IOW Cantata Choir gave a strong rendition of Verdi's Requiem, ably accompanied by the IOW Symphony Orchestra and four superb soloists. Another excellent evening out.

February

'Hidden Heroes' Exhibition
We popped into the Quay Arts Centre to view their latest exhibiton on 'Hidden Heroes'. This was about Isle of Wight people, and ranged from the last Jutish King on the 7th century who repelled the Anglo-Saxons, and ensured the Island was the last place in Britain to accept Christianity, to Andy Stanford-Clark, a Master Inventor for IBM who amongst many other things helped invent Facebook messenger. In between were people who worked on Thrust II, the Black Arrow space programme, Julia Margaret Cameron (Victorian photography pioneer), Isabella de Fortibus (last independent Lord of the Wight in the 13th century) and several others. Very interesting.

Ryde to Quarr Abbey
A brisk walk this afternoon from Spencer Road to Quarr Abbey and back following the coastal path. Stopped for coffee and cake, obviously!

Quiz Night
The scouts (Explorers?) that are attending the next World Jamboree organised a quiz at Corf Camp to raise funds. I joined some friends for the night and somehow we managed to win by a reasonable margin! I was somewhat delighted at the outcome, and the box of chocs that came with it!

November and December 2017

It has been a quiet couple of months as I have been struck down with viral vertigo and unable to do much. Christmas was spent quietly with family, starting off with candlelit Nine Lessons and Carols at St Mary's Church, then a week later the Nativity at Holy Trinity Church, followed by Midnight Mass at St Mary's. I hadn't been to Midnight Mass for years and it was really rather lovely.

Yesterday I dragged a friend out and we went for a soggy stroll around Newtown (I always forget how wet it is in the winter), followed by a delicious cup of hot chocolate at the Cow Co. at Tapnell Farm. Lovely! 

Today I went to the Quay Arts Centre in Newport for their Sunday Recital; this was Paul Armfield and friends and jolly good they were too! Paul was joined by, among others, Tom Thorne on piano, John Thorne on double bass, Wilf Armfield on drums, JC Grimshaw on guitar and mandolin, Angelina Grimshaw on guitar and vocals, other Grimshaw's on violin and guitar, and some extremely talented chaps on violins and mandolin. The start was slightly shambolic, but as more people joined in everything came together and a lovely time was had by all. A great way to spend a damp Sunday morning ( and the tea was good too!).

Seaclose to Medham

Day three of Travels with Teenagers, so we took pity on them and had a virtually flats walk today. We started at Medina College and walked through the arboretum and across Seaclose Park and down to the Quay Arts Centre in Newport. We followed the road round past the Bergman's Rest pub, along the industrial estate and joined up with the Cowes to Newport cycle track, which we ambled along until we got to a disused and crumbling quayside near the turning to Medham Lane. We stopped here and had an early lunch in the sunshine, then pottered back the way we had come.

This seemed like a short walk, but was actually the longest we had done all week. Hills make a massive difference!

Route: https://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4579877.html
Distance: 8.3 miles

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

Fellowship of Groove

The teenager and I went to a fundraising gig at the Quay Arts Centre tonight; she wasn't sure she wanted to go, but once she had had a glass of coke and a packet of crisps she perked up. The gig was in aid of 'Uzima in our Hands', a local Island charity  raising funds for an orphan and day care centre in Kenya.  Music was provided by 'Ukuladies', and 'Fellowship of Groove'.

 

Ukuladies were a group of ladies playing cover versions of popular songs on ukuleles! Their music was very pleasant to listen to, and they told us more about the charity. Fellowship of Groove was a collection of musicians playing percussion, brass, keyboards and sax in a a very groovy way! Their music was great, and they got everybody's toes tapping. We had a lovely time, met some friends and enjoyed some great music.

The Table

My friend took me to the Quay Arts Centre last night to watch 'The Table' as a birthday treat.  This was a production by a company called Blind Summit and consisted of a trio of puppeteers operating a two foot high puppet called Moses.  He had a rag doll body and an intricately crafted cardboard head.  I spent much time pondering how to create it using mathematical nets! Moses performed on, and sometimes above or under, the table. The purpose of the show was apparently to tell the story of the last few hours in the life of the biblical Moses; this was interspersed with much improvisation and general hilarity. I laughed until I cried at points! The puppetry was superb and the puppeteers clearly knew their craft. One disappeared for a while and was temporarily replaced by a very able young man from the audience. An old man sat next to my friend, and as far as we coined tell he didn't crack a smile all the way through the show.

After the main performance the audience were invited back to view a performance that was in the early stages of production; this was a life-sized puppet of a man called Patrick. Patrick was a failed bass guitarist and somewhat dilapidated and .... odd. Yes. He started off as a young man giving au monologue about cancer being caused and cured by water and gradually aged.  This became gradually evident as the monologue progressed (increasing age was mentioned), and then his hand went back to rub his head and his hair fell back revealing a sparsely thatched scalp. Patrick's position on his chair became more upright and less lounge, but stooped like a tired old man.  I thought it was good, but rather disturbing. Not sure I would pay to see it.

After the theatre we headed for the pub, imbibed some booze and had a jolly good catch up! A good night out.