St Catherine's Lighthouse

A short but beautiful walk today. I met up with a friend, her tweenager and her dog and we drove to St Catherine's Road in Niton, and parked beyond the Buddle Inn. The private road beyond this led steeply downhill, between hedgerows in full flower, towards St Catherine's Lighthouse on the most southerly tip of the Island. At the end of the lane, just before the lighthouse we climbed a stile to our right and crossed into a meadow. The footpath led past an enormous rock (perfect for scrambling up) covered in sea thrift (Armeria), and then towards and then along the cliff edge. The ground here is notoriously unstable and we could see the results of past landslips in the surrounding landscape.

We followed the path through a buttercup-strewn meadow, over another stile, and down to Watershoot Bay, a very rocky beach. Lovely though. Behind the beach was some woodland so we scrambled up to it and had an explore, finding the remains of a couple of camps that locals had made. The dog was having a lovely time running around the undergrowth, and we had fun exploring more slowly!

We made our way back to the beach and retraced our steps back to the car, pausing briefly to admire the cattle in the field by the road. I'll definitely go back and explore some more!

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4333195.html

Footpath: NT37

Distance: 1.5 miles

St Catherine's Lighthouse

Symphony Orchestra May 2016

On 21st May Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra put on another concert, so I went along as one of my challenges this year is to see more live music and I rather enjoy an orchestral concert. The programme consisted of three pieces:

• 'Beni Mora ' by Holst
• 'Piano Concerto in E flat' by Ireland
• 'Job: A Masque for Dancing' by Vaughan Williams

'Beni Mora' was an interesting piece consisting of three pieces of dance music reminiscent of Algerian music (as intended!), and caught and kept my attention throughout.

The 'Piano Concerto' by John Ireland was passionate, with extremely good piano solos provided by the talented Viv Maclean; he managed to keep the audience spellbound with his playing. He was well accompanied by the orchestra.

After the interval we heard 'Job' by Vaughan Williams. This was written as a score for a ballet but stood up on its own without the dancers. Illustrations from William Blake's 'Book of Job' were projected behind the orchestra throughout the performance; these illustrations were the inspiration behind the music, so it was an appropriate thing to do. Each scene was introduced by the conductor, Jonathan Butcher, before the orchestra continued playing. I thoroughly enjoyed this piece by Williams.

The Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra played extremely well throughout the concert, ably conducted by Mr Butcher. I left feeling that my money had been well spent on the ticket, and that I really should practice playing my violin. I've got as far as dusting the case....

Ventnor Botanic Garden

Nearly the end of half term so teenager and I decided to have an expedition which included lunch. We headed south to Ventnor Botanic Garden, via Rookley and Whitwell (nice bendy country roads), paid the entrance fee and headed for 'Edulis', the restaurant in the gardens. Unfortunately their menu is not overly friendly for a picky teenager but she eventually decided on a ham sandwich, crisps and millionaire's shortbread, all of which met with satisfaction. I took a while to choose my meal as they all sounded yummy to me, and I eventually settled on the seafood linguine. Oh my goodness, this was yummy! Freshly caught local crab, mussels and king prawns in a nice sauce. Delish!

Once lunch was over we ambled around the gardens for an hour or so, having a good old natter and admiring the plants. The garden is on the site of a Victorian Tuberculosis hospital, and in a little valley which has a lovely, warm microclimate. Being close to the coast and the Gulf Stream helps too. Due to this, a wide variety of plants that would be too tender in many parts of the country can be grown here. Today the Echiums were at their peak, towering into the sky, ablaze with blue flowers and buzzing with bees. One of my favourite plants. Many other flowers were in bloom such as Sisyrinchium, Abutilon, Osteospermum, Allium, Syringa, Arum, and Rosa. I was particularly taken with the variety of bark textures on the many trees, and particularly liked a variety of Myrtus.

Once we had finished in the garden I perused the seed shop and bought several packets of wildflowers for my garden project. The botanic garden sells seed collected from it's own plants, as well as plants grown from cuttings from the garden, so you can get varieties of plants you wouldn't ordinarily find in a garden centre. Their gift shop is also very tempting, but today I mostly resisted the urge to buy lovely things!

Once we left we headed back towards Godshill and popped into Brownrigg Farm Shop to stock up on local produce - "Oil of Wight" anyone? - and then toddled off to Ryde for other supplies; I didn't drive my usual route and went via Ashey Road, and at one point came round a corner and down a hill to see a magnificent view before us which caused me to shriek "OH MY GOODNESS! We're so lucky to live here!".  Beautiful, beautiful Isle of Wight!

Echium flowers

Acer

Myrtus bark

Pelargonium

Allium (Chives)

Flat Walk the Wight 2016

It's that time of year again when the Island community comes together to raise money en masse for Earl Mountbatten Hospice by taking part in Walk the Wight. There are several options, either walking the breadth of the Island from Bembridge to Alum Bay, going from Bembridge to Carisbrooke Castle, Carisbrooke Castle to Alum Bay, or, for those less fond or capable of hills, the flat walk from Sandown to Shide. We chose the latter due to creaky bones, lack of training, and the presence of teenagers.

We met at the park and ride in Somerton and caught the bus to Isle of Wight College. The bus was free with our walker number. Nice! Here we boarded the shuttle bus to Sandown Bay Academy; now, this was an open top Island Breezer, and the weather was pleasant, some chose to sit on the exposed top deck. The views were glorious and the bus was aptly named. Along the route we passed other walkers doing the big walks and all waved merrily back and forth - very jolly. We disembarked at Sandown, and followed the road round to the start of the Red Squirrel Trail (Newport - Sandown cycle path) where the walk began, and joined crowds of other walkers heading back to Newport.

We had 'Goldilocks' weather; not too hot, not too cold, but just right, and were able to remove our jumpers quite quickly and enjoy the spring sunshine. The atmosphere was lovely, with walkers of all shapes, sizes, ages and abilities taking part. We saw several people in wheelchairs, with mobility strollers, children on pushchairs, as well as three people completing the walk on stilts. Of course. Lots of people brought dogs too. The scenery was delightful, with wetlands to begin with, and Highland cattle, followed by more formal farmland and woodland. Spring was definitely upon us as the verges were full of wildflowers, and the trees were clothed in green. Along the route were several wooden sculptures, all interesting and with a nature theme, and many side paths that looked like they needed exploring in the future.

The walk ended in Shide, where we all received medals for taking part. My teenager had raced on ahead and saw a Samba band while she was waiting for us, but the band had gone when we caught her up. We ended by catching the shuttle bus into Newport and getting an 'artisan toastie' on a bread board at Skintrade Café in the square. Tasty!

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4318879.html
Distance: 8 miles
Fundraising: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Clare-Murray7

Highland Cattle

Horse Chestnut flowers

Railway Bridge

Whitwell and Stenbury

Another Sunday afternoon stroll on our beautiful Island. This time we headed south to Whitwell and parked near the church, and followed the route suggested by Isle of Wight Ramblers route 'Whitwell, Stenbury' in their 'Twelve more favourite walks' booklet.

The route led us up the main road past the church and rectory, then turned left down a broad footpath between houses. On the side of the footpath was an old water hydrant, installed in the village in the 1800s, and the 'White Well' which the village is apparently named after. This used to be a place of pilgrimage for the healing water's of the well, dedicated to 'Our Lady of Whitwell and St Rhadegund'.

The path led on down to a stream and then across a field to a metal gate. Apparently the old railway line led through here, but there was nothing obvious to suggest this (we looked hard!). The path continued upwards towards Nettlecombe, a hamlet that is all that remains of a medieval village, and past three large ponds on the way. Nettlecombe looked lovely - a small community nestled in a valley with countryside to die for. It was the best venue for sledging that I have ever seen! The pathway continued uphill, via NT3 and NT119, onto Stenbury Down. The views across the Island were magnificent; we could see all the way up to Tennyson Down and down the coast to Blackgang then round the southern end of the Island. Turning the other way we could see the Solent. In between all of this was beautiful, rolling countryside with fields as far as the eye could see, and spring flowers in every verge and hedgerow.  Glorious.

We followed the path to Week Farm, crossed the farmyard and continued on up the hill towards metal towers that overlooked Wroxall, and where the path joined with the route to Gat Cliff and Appuldurcombe.  At this point we turned left and plunged steeply downhill towards Newbarn Farm, said hello to the farmer as we crossed the farmyard, and followed a path past sheep paddocks. Here we saw a newly born lamb, still wet and bloody, lying near its mother and the placenta. Strangely cute! There were lots of lambs here, of varying ages, gambolling happily around the fields. We saw a couple feeding and their little tails were waggling with joy! The country here seemed ageless, and we could well imagine that not much had changed for several centuries and almost expected Mr Darcy to come galloping over the hill. He didn't, sadly. We passed moss-covered, crumbling, dry stone walls, and tripped along an uneven pathway towards Stenbury Manor and passed between this building and the farm outbuildings. The manor appeared shut up, with shutters at every window, but that could just have been to keep out the prying eyes of passing walkers.

After the manor the path returned to Nettlecombe, over a series of stiles and past more happy lambs, and eventually rejoined the well path and back to Whitwell. We decided we needed a cup of tea so drove to The Buddle Inn in nearby Niton to get one. We also ordered cheesecake which turned out to be rather more expensive than we anticipated, but was suitably yummy.

This was a delightful walk, not too muddy, and steep in places, with lovely wildlife. We saw flowering gorse, blackthorn blossom, cowslips, primroses, stitchwort, bugle, bluebells, rabbits, horses, cock pheasants in full spring glory, hen pheasants, alpacas, cattle, sheep and lambs.

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4302624.html

Distance: 4.5miles

Pathways: NT3, NT119, NT9, V62

Bluebells

Rolling countryside

Wind-blasted trees

Stenbury Manor

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

Mottistone to the Sea

I dragged the teenager into daylight and headed for the West Wight today. We parked at the National Trust car park at Mottistone Manor, then followed their suggested route towards the coast. This led through the churchyard down a short lane, over a stile and onto a footpath. This was slightly squishy in places, but had a stream to the right, and plenty of herbage; the nettles were growing, and cow parsley was coming into bud, and all the hedgerow plants were greening up. We followed a pair of mallards to a wild meadow, where they took to a small pond, and we continued onwards.

The path turned right at a junction, bordered by a laid hedge to the left, and we headed onwards to walk along the edge of another stream and a small woodland. This latter was very pretty in the dappled sunlight, with the deciduous trees putting out leaves, and masses of cow parsley on the path. We could hear the songbirds warbling in the trees and hedgerows and noticed a few bees and bumblebees buzzing among the early wildflowers. The path crossed a small bridge and another stile into a rather soggy meadow, coming out after a little while onto the military road.

We turned right, passed two cottages, then crossed over the road to follow a permissive path through fields to the cliff edge at Sudmoor Point, and picking up the coastal path. There was a glorious view here all along the coast from Blackgang to Tennyson Down, and looking down over the landslip we could see that the tide was far out and that the rocky reef was exposed. Unfortunately there was no access to the beach as far as I could see, so we didn't get closer. The teenager was tired so that was probably a good thing! We followed the coastal path for a while until we met a footpath going inland, and followed this back to the military road, and then crossed over and picked up the final path back to Mottistone. This was a lovely farm track between high hedges, secluded from the breeze and warm in the spring sunshine, and led us back to the church and then the car park.

As the teenager had made it all the way round, I rewarded her (and me, obviously) with an ice cream from the van at Compton Bay before driving home along lots of country lanes, avoiding many suicidal pigeons and a pheasant.

Route: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/mottistone-estate/trails/a-mottistone-meander-south-to-the-sea-walk-2

Distance: 2.8 miles

Footpaths: BS74, Coastal Path, BS75, BS100

Mottistone Church

Woodland Stream

View from the coastal path towards Freshwater