Blackgang to Whale Chine

Quick walk today as the weather was looking dodgy. We parked at Blackgang Chine viewpoint car park (further up the hill from the theme park, and free), and followed the coastal path onwards Chale.  The path appeared fairly well used, but had nettles growing abundantly alongside it, so longer trousers than mine are to be recommended! And boots rather than hiking sandals. However, not too many stings and they wore off quickly. The path opened onto a field, the overflow car park for Blackgang Chine, led across it and back to the road. We followed the road downhill, over the traffic island, and rejoined the footpath on the left that led to the village. The footpath followed the road again, past the ancient St Andrew's church at Chale, and then turned left at the showground and headed towards the cliffs.

We continued along the cliff edge, admiring the dramatic scenery while also wondering whether we would inadvertently end up on the beach in a cliff fall as there appeared to be rather a lot of large cracks in the ground! The path ended abruptly at a large mound and turned inland over a make shift bridge, then back along the coast past a building that might have been a gun emplacement at one time. Hard to tell! The weather was in turns very blustery and then dead calm, which was odd as there weren't major changes in the landscape or the wind. It felt as though we would take off occasionally, and we laid flat on the ground to have a good look at a small chine (we saw two, Ladder Chine and Walpen Chine), without being blown over the edge! Once we reached, and had a good look at, Whale Chine, we turned back and followed the road until we got back to Chale. This was fairly uneventful, and we saw three beautiful alpacas along the way near the small, thatched Walpen Manor house.

Once we reached the car, the weather changed to wet and windy, so we decided a cup of tea was in order and headed to Isle of Wight Pearl, had a look at the jewellery, and had a cuppa and a bowl of homemade tomato soup to warm our cockles! Lush!

Route: https://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4585224.html
Distance: 4.3 miles

Ladder Chine or Walpen Chine

Landslip with scout signs

Alpacas near Chale

St Andrew's Church, Chale

West Wight Alpacas

As the sun was still out we had a family outing (three generations) to West Wight Alpacas in Wellow. I had heard lots of good things about this place from a variety of people, so when Mum suggested we went I leapt at the idea.

We drove through the back lanes of the Island to get there (not necessary really, but a pleasant drive), and arrived at the site on the main Wellow road. We paid our small entrance fee in the café and headed off to admire the chickens, ducks and guinea fowl in the nearby paddock. The chickens were plentiful and came in a huge range of colourings, and were accompanied by the most splendiferous cockerel I have ever had the pleasure to lay eyes on. He had magnificent green, red and bronze colouring and strutted his stuff amongst his harem. We purchased a pot of bird food and all had fun throwing it for the birds to eat, with the teenager piling some on her shoe and allowing chickens to peck the seed off, much to all our amusement.

After this we wandered around the outside of the paddocks admiring the alpacas, donkeys, rheas and llamas. The alpacas and llamas were unshorn and very fleecy, and came in a variety of shades of cream and brown. There was a choice of a short walk and a long walk around the paddocks, and we chose the short walk as there was a chilly breeze today.

Once we had seen all the animals we stopped in the café  for refreshments. I had a very generous pot of tea and shared a tasty rock cake with my Mum, while the teenager scoffed a bowl of freshly made chunky chips. There was also a shop selling alpaca and llama wool, and a range of handmade knitwear. We admired all and I wished I was a better knitter! To finish off I bought some fresh eggs, blue in colour. Beautiful! This was a lovely afternoon out, and I shall definitely visit again.