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!

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  

 

 

Brighton Graduation

Yesterday I travelled to Brighton with my Mum and daughter to attend my Open University graduation ceremony. Mum picked us up at 6.50am and we drove to Ryde and caught the Island Line train to the end of Ryder Pier; I love this train! It is a retired London Underground train and is rather old with modernish upgrades cobbled on to it. We then caught a Wightlink catamaran across the Solent to Portsmouth Harbour, where we caught a train to Brighton. We arrived in said city about an hour and a half later and walked at high speed through the town (downhill, luckily) in search of The Dome. We found it, behind the Pavilion, with gardens full of tourists and bemoaned OU students.

 

Once we had found the way in I collected our tickets, then went in search of my robes. These were provided by Ede and Ravenscroft, who were jolly good. The chap who helped me don my robes was suitably soothing, told me I looked lovely and congratulated me on my success. Bless him! Mum and daughter were seated upstairs, and I was downstairs with the graduates.

 

The ceremony started with a procession of University dignitaries, followed by a speech by the pro Vice Chancellor. Research students were awarded first, followed by an honorary degree for Ewart Wooldridge (who gave a speech), then Masters degrees, Bachelors degrees (Arts, Engineering, Law, Science), then foundation degrees and certificates. Another speech by the pro Vice Chancellor, then the dignitaries recessed followed by the graduates. Free fizz was provided in the bar, photos were taken, robes handed back, then off into Brighton for the rest of the day.

 

We had  lunch at a delightful restaurant called Pinocchio's; I had spaghetti with anchovies and black olives on a tomato sauce, followed by lemon sorbet. Very nice. We then had a mooch around North Laines and found some interesting shops. We had an encounter with a silver seller who started to rant about his year long holiday on the Island at her Majesty's pleasure, due to criminal activity with cannabis ("It's not like there's any victims, so the law's all wrong!"), at which point we moved swiftly on. We were all tired so we headed back to the station and back to the Island. A good day.

Headon Warren and Totland Bay

What a glorious day for a walk! We headed across the Island to Totland, getting diverted on the way as the Yarmouth road was closed for repairs. We parked next to the Broadway Inn on Madeira Road, asked for directions from a passing elderly lady, and headed off up the hill towards Alum Bay.

On the right hand side, after about half a mile, was a footpath heading onto the Warren. We followed this bumpy, sandy path between high scrubby hedges until we came out into bright sunshine on top of the Warren.  Headon Warren is sandy, flinty soil and covered in heather and gorse, with the odd stunted tree. The gorse was flowering today, but the heather looked as though it was dead; I expect that it will be covered in purple  flowers if we go back in a month. Part of the route was closed as there had been a landslip earlier in the month. We had a peek, and there was a sheer drop where the land had fallen away by about ten feet. Further along our path the land had slipped by about two feet. We didn't go much further! From this point there was a magnificent view across Alum Bay to The Needles. I don't think I've ever seen such a good view of them.

The Needles from Headon Warren

We headed back towards Totland, staying on footpaths rather than the main road. We were planning on going straight back to the car but detoured along a couple of footpaths we found and ended up on Totland Beach. the tide was right out so the kids went and played on the sandy beach for a bit, then we walked along to the pier (disintegrating), found another footpath and discovered we were back on Madeira Road. We admired the lovely houses then hopped in the car and went home.  Lovely afternoon.

Totland Bay 

Route:  http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_3807832.html

Distance: 3.7miles

Footpaths:  T20, T17, T14, T2, T33

Cowes Cows

It was beautifully sunny this afternoon, so we went for a late walk. When we got to the bandstand we poked around in the flower beds (not vandalising them you understand) and found a Cowes Cow that we thought was hidden there. Much whooping and gleeful jigging about ensued! Next we had to find a new hiding place, so we set off along the parade and poked the cow into all kinds of crevices and cracks until we found somewhere suitable, which was hopefully, but probably not, original. We took a photo for the Facebook page then headed back to town.

As we walked back, the light mist over the sea deepened rapidly into a thick fog and within ten minutes we could not see the ferry that we knew to be just a couple of hundred yards offshore. We could however hear the foghorn. Loud.  We stopped at Tottie's chip shop and had sausage and chips for tea in front of out telly. Perfect end to a pleasant afternoon.

Challenge 2014

Right, we have decided on a challenge for 2014! As well as continuing to collect footpaths on walking expeditions around the Island, we shall be tourists in our own back yard visiting local attractions, be they free or otherwise, drinking tea in local cafes and listening to live music down the pub or marina or seafront, or wherever it happens to be playing. Not planning on going to the major music festivals though as that is somewhat out of our budget.

East Cowes Boat Trail

Well it was a beautiful day so we decided to go for a walk. I downloaded the Cowes -East Cowes Boat Trail guide from the council website and we set off. First stop was the floating bridge; this runs across the River Medina between Cowes and East Cowes and is currently free to foot passengers. We got off in East Cowes, found the first knot sign of the trail and set off around the town. The trail led us past the site of the Grid Iron Shed, where the first seaplane was launched in 1913, then on to Trinity Wharf which used to be the dot for lighthouses and buoys. It was also Queen Victoria's choice of landing stage when she came to visit Osborne House. Next we saw the back of Columbine Yard where the hovercraft was developed. On the front of this is the world's largest Union Jack but we couldn't see that from this side of the river.

Around the corner were barracks and coastguard cottages and a giant propeller. There was also a plaque commemorating a local boy who had a fight with Prince Albert, son of Queen Victoria, and who was rewarded by the Queen in return! We didn't get a good look because there were road works and we couldn't get close.  We followed the seafront to Castle Point then had a muddy walk back through the woods, stopped off briefly at the playground (great for munchkins!), and then walked up Cambridge Road to see the shell house; this is an ordinary semi-detached house which has a mosaic on the side of a large sailing ship made entirely of cockle shells. Lovely. My daughter was tired by this time so we pottered back to the town centre hoping for a cup of tea and a sit down. We went into a cafe near the Co-op and were told that drinks were take out only. We left empty-handed and grumpy and went back to Cowes.

We ended a pleasant afternoon having a swift drink in Cowes Ale House listening to 2nd Time Around, a local folk band. We will continue the rest of the boat trail another day.

 

Distance walked: 4.5km

Spent: £2.20