Blackgang to Hoy Monument

First walk of the autumn today, in glorious sunshine and a stiff breeze. We parked at the Blackgang Viewpoint carpark, above Blackgang Chine theme park, and crossed over the road to steps leading to a field. The path led through a herd of cows, pastel coloured and seemingly kindly, and then upwards towards St Catherine's Oratory, or The Pepperpot as it is known locally. This stone tower was built in the early 1300s, apparently as a penance by a local landowner who stole wine from a shipwreck. It was originally a chapel with a beacon for shipping, but all that remains is the tower. Next to the oratory is a bronze age barrow, excavated, and further along is the 'Salt Pot', which is the stone circular base of an eighteenth century lighthouse that was never completed. We paused on the way up to watch what we thought was a kestrel, hovering above its prey, swooping to catch it, then sailing back up into the sky and swooping effortlessly along the ridge in the breeze. Beautiful.

We continued, through a field of skittish and distinctly less friendly cattle, down a steep slope past what may have been ancient agriculture (hill with lots of mini terraces), then through a gate into National Trust land and a well maintained path that led along the ridge of St Catherine's Down to the Hoy Monument. This was a very pleasant stroll, with glorious views across the Island to either side in the golden autumnal sunshine. The Hoy Monument is huge, and was erected to commemorate a visit to Great Britain by the Tsar of Russia. I don't think he made it to the Island! There is also a commemorative plaque for the troops that died at Sevastopol. Strange place to put it. We continued past the monument to a dead end, then retraced our steps to a side path and descended through woodland to pick up a path at the base of the ridge.

This path led along the edge of the wood and gradually took us back up the hill to the edge of the National Trust land. Wanting to avoid the cattle, we took a path that skirted the base of the ridged hill, only to find the cattle had moved and were ahead of us, so, wimps that we were, we retraced our steps and climbed back up the hill (on the other side of the fence!) to the trig point and the pepperpot. It was extremely windy at this point and we were glad not to have small children with us. We paused inside the pepperpot (no wind here) then plunged back down the hill towards the car park. We felt we had earned refreshment so we each bought an ice-cream from the van in the car park, and wandered along the cliff path to look down on Blackgang Chine. To finish the trip, we blasted up the Military Road to Freshwater Bay before returning home. Gorgeous afternoon!

Route (roughly): http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4412779.html

Distance: 3.6 miles

View along the West coast from the Pepperpot.

Chale mackerel

Ridged hill

Hoy Monument

Maple tree

Wight landscape

St Catherine's Oratory

Arreton

After a lazy summer my hiking buddy and I decided to get back out into the countryside again today. We drove up to Robin Hill to drop her family at Bestival (after we'd driven back to collect the tickets), then pootled down the road to Arreton Barns. We had no map, obviously, but thought we remembered the route of a nice walk. We were mostly right.

We walked through the barns site, past the duckpond and St George's church, and came out on the main road. Here we crossed over the road and entered a cabbage field. We walked all the way up the track to find a wire fence with no way through, so retraced our steps to find a path through the cabbages on our right. This also led to a fence, but we were able to hop over it to an obvious path on the other side. This led in due course over a couple of stiles and brought us onto the main Newport to Sandown cycle path. We headed towards Sandown, and shortly after found a path on our left leading to Haseley Manor; this mostly consisted of boardwalks as the path was rather muddy, and came out right next to the Manor House. Last time we were here the path was closed so it was nice to see the work that had been done.

From Haseley, we walked away from the road, past the outbuildings, and towards the downs. The path led us to a lake, rather low on water after the summer sunshine, and we walked round it, scaring the waterfowl, until we met back up with the main path. From here we continued up the hill on a farm track thinking that if we got to the top we would be able to get a glimpse of Bestival. However. It was a hot day, we were tired and unfit, so when we got to a gateway by the woods we sat down and talked ourselves out of it. Turns out we wouldn't have seen anything anyway! Back down the hill to the lake, turned right and followed the path back to Arreton Barns. Here we made a few purchases at Farmer Jacks farm shop and then had a drink on the terrace at the Dairyman's Daughter, and listened to a trio of musicians who were jolly good. Lovely afternoon!

Hasely Manor

Teasels

View from the gate

St George

Arreton Church

Fairport's Cropredy Convention 2016

Three cars set off in a convoy from deepest West Sussex at 4.15am on Thursday morning heading blearily to Oxfordshire and Fairport's Cropredy Convention. The drive was straightforward (I like the M25 at that hour of day!), with the exception of driving over the corpse of a large badger near Guildford. It made quite a thump. At about 6.15am we stopped at Cherwell Valley Services, got coffee, and added two more cars to the convoy. Shortly after, following a brief pause in a layby, we met the final car of the convoy and proceeded along the road to Cropredy village and Field 5. Tents were erected by about 8.30am, chairs were out and champagne decanted for those that drank alcohol. In all, we were a party of 18 adults and children of various sizes.

Later in the day, once snoozes had happened, we wandered up to the festival entrance and exchanged tickets for wristbands, then went for a mooch around the village as the arena wasn't open yet. We found, to our horror, that the local church were not providing breakfasts in the farmyard this year. Horror! They were instead based at the church providing continental and healthy breakfasts; that did not bode well.

The arena opened at 2pm, so we gathered chairs, flag, tarpaulin and other paraphernalia and headed over, staking out our pitch and then feeding the children, and ourselves, and chilling out. Music began at 4pm with Fairport Acoustic. My favourite track was 'Crudite', a pastiche of another, by Steeleye Span, called 'Gaudete' - very funny. Fairport were followed by 'Gryphon', a mixture of very old and more modern folk music. They were very pleasant but didn't play anything that particularly grabbed my attention. Following Gryphon were 'Coco and the Butterfields' who were full of energy and caprice - I loved their song 'Royston'. The violinist had got over enthusiastic in rehearsal and damaged her violin, but it still played well. The band also had an awesome human beat boxer - quite, quite amazing.

Next up were 'Hayseed Dixie' (I love them!) playing Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Queen, Mozart and German drinking songs in hillbilly style - banjos galore. Headline act of the evening were 'Madness' in all their glory. Fun was had dancing badly but enthusiastically while pausing for an occasional breather. While having a breather, I lay in my chair listening to the music and staring through gaps in the cloud for a glimpse of the Perseid meteor shower (didn't spot any). Glorious way to spend an evening.

On Friday morning I awoke to the sound of loud Northern neighbours and sizzling bacon, and sunshine. We all wandered off to the churchyard to see what their breakfasts would be tis year; sadly no breakfast inna bun, so we wandered round the village to Banbury Canoe Club who were cooking full English breakfasts.. They were run off their feet but we ordered and attempted a dingbats quiz while we waited. The food was edible but I prefer our usual. Anyway, back to camp via the cake stall (lush chocolate brownies), gathered our stuff and went to the arena.

The sun was out with barely a cloud in the sky, and the music was magnificent. In the afternoon the teenager and I went for a mooch through the village and along the canal, back through the caravan park and up through the arena stopping at various stalls along the way. Lovely. The rest of the day was spent sat in the arena or campsite (shady), chatting, reading, knitting and playing cards. Music included the excellent Anthony John Clarke and Dave Pegg, Brighde Ghaimbeul - the Radio 2 Young Folk Musician of the Year; she played pipes very well indeed. Other bands that I noted were 'Willie and the Bandits' who I quite enjoyed, followed by 'Headspace' who I didn't enjoy much as I'm not keen on prog rock. In the evening were 'Steeleye Span' who played well, and luckily included 'All around my Hat' which I knew! Headling the evening were the 'Bootleg Beatles' who played an excellent set of popular Beatles tunes, and mimicked the original band well.

Friday food was beef burger with Stilton from the Organic Beef stall for lunch, and an Ostrich burger for tea - absolutely scrumptious! We also snacked on hot, fresh donuts. Mmmmmmm!

We got up early on Saturday and went for breakfast at the Cricket club - sausage, bacon and egg in a bun - yum!  We sat on the grass to eat, and watched an unfortunate chap drive over the edge of the car park onto the green, and not through the gap indicated. He got stuck, but was eventually set right. After breakfast most of us grabbed our swimming gear and headed to the pool in Banbury for a shower and a swim. Lovely!

On our return we headed straight for the arena for Richard Digance's set - he comes every year. The field was packed and RD did a great set as usual, with songs and bad jokes, and ended with the traditional 20,000 people morris dancing (hanky waving anyway). It is always good fun to watch bewildered newcomers at this point! Richard was followed by a sci-fi folk group called 'Maia' who played interesting tunes. Later in the day were the superb 'Pierce Brothers' form Australia. They got the whole crowd going and received two encores. These guys were followed by the tuneful 'Demon Barbers XL', and then by the incredible 'Babylon Circus', a French ska band who were foot-stompingly incredible. Wow! Double encore, well-deserved, for them too. Wow!

Following Babylon Circus was the legendary Ralph McTell; his music was much calmer and more considered than previous acts, and showed consummate musicianship as expected. Lovely. To round off the festival Fairport Convention returned, with friends, and played some of the better known of their tunes, had a remembrance for Dave Swarbrick, who died earlier this year, and ended the festival with a rousing rendition of 'Matty Groves'. Food today was 'Falafel and goodness salad' for lunch, and chicken and chorizo paella for tea. There may have been more donuts....

This year's festival was one of the best I have attended for years, both for the weather and the music. Roll on next year!

Summer Wedding

Last Saturday I attended the wedding of some friends at New Barn Farm near Calbourne on the Island. Having faffed over frocks, had my hair cut and my nails pampered and painted sparkly dark blue (I'm very impressed with these!), I duly arrived. What a lovely venue! The guests gathered on a lawn that sloped down to a rose bower and was divided from the drive by well clipped yew bushes, and were kept shady by an enormous, and very welcome, holm oak tree. The wedding itself took place inside an old barn, with ancient wooden beams in the roof. The barn had been nicely plastered inside, and the walls decorated with swags of ivy. A large, beautiful flower arrangement was in an alcove at the front, and chairs were laid out in rows.

The bride arrived, looking gorgeous of course, and the groom beamed happily. The ceremony itself was simple and relaxed, with vows and readings. There was also a handfasting ceremony where the happy couple held hands so that their wrists were touching, and their children tied ribbons round them. Lovely.

After the ceremony there were drinks and canapés on the lawn while photos were taken, and then we came in for a delicious wedding breakfast. We had salmon mousse and rustic rolls, followed by chicken breast with a vegetable ragout, accompanied by new potatoes, carrots and green beans, followed by lemon tart with double cream. Yum! Lots of wine too for those that drank. The meal was followed by speeches and gift giving, and then we had some free time.

During the free time the bar opened in the back room of the barn, and we could play croquet on the lawn if we wished. Later on there was a fencing demonstration (the groom is a fencing instructor) which was great fun to watch.

In the evening was cake cutting, a disco and a hog roast (scrumptious). All in all a lovely day, with one of the happiest couples I know. Official photography was by the very capable Holly Cade; my snaps are below.

Summer Strolls

We go for a few short strolls around the place as the fancy takes us, so I thought I'd list them here.

Cowes Seafront

This is always a nice walk at this time of year; the town is bustling with sailors and tourists, there is usually yacht racing on the Solent, and many people are out on the seafront watching the sailing, playing on the beach or strolling along the promenade. We also have the pleasure of fairly regular visits from a common seal who likes to lounge on the old steps by the Royal Yacht Squadron.

Ryde Seafront

We like to stroll from the boating lake to Appley Tower, the café beyond or even Seaview if we're feeling energetic. Often we paddle in the sea as this is a sandy beach, and get an ice cream from one of the vendors along the way. One's route back is often marked by the smoke from multiple disposable barbecues, with the pleasurable scent of sizzling sausages Along the way.

Cowes to Newport Cycle Track

This is a lovely walk along the route of the old railway, with plenty of shade on sunny days, and lovely views across the river Medina, and the surrounding farmland. Lots of wildflowers and wildlife, as well as walkers, runners and cyclists.

Chilton Chine

A good walk for small children and dogs! Park near Isle of Wight Pearl on the west coast of the Island, follow the path to some steps that lead down to the beach and have a pleasant walk and paddle. Keep an eye on the tide as it comes in quite quickly and there aren't many exits back up the cliffs.

Bembridge

Oh, it's frightfully nice in Bembridge! We parked by the RNLI Lifeboat Station (once we'd figured out how the road system worked - a tad confusing), bought a pencil sharpener to get change for the parking machine, then walked along the road towards the Bembridge Coast Hotel and turned off onto a footpath just before we got there. We were following instructions from a very neat book of walks my friend had purchased, and continued under its guidance until we reached the coastal path. This followed the edge of some rather unstable cliffs, so we proceeded at a good pace bearing in mind the torrential rain that had hit the Island the previous day.

From the path we had magnificent views of Whitecliff Bay and Culver Down; I had never seen either from this direction before. On the other side of the path was a meadow, full of wildflowers and grasses and the occasional sheep. The path itself had many wildflowers and grasses too, and I recall seeing at least four varieties of grass, vetches, cow parsley and similar flowers. Very pleasant indeed. The path eventually led past Kingswood Activity Centre on the site of the former Bembridge School. There were lots of teenagers running about and having fun on site, and it looked like a great place to go to. The path turned right shortly after this, by an information board about Bembridge School and a magnificent tree that was designed to be climbed!

We followed the path to Jenny Streets Lane, turned left and downhill at the end, and then turned right into Steynes Wood; this was lovely and peaceful, full of trees and ferns and had the occasional dog walker. The path crossed the main road then continued through the wood; this was clearly less popular as the path was narrower and a little overgrown, but was still lovely. At the bottom we turned right and headed steeply up a chalk path that led between high hedges to Bembridge Windmill. We were in need of refreshment by now so we stopped for an ice lolly and a slurp of water before continuing on our way.

At the end of Windmill Lane we turned left and followed the road back towards the village before turning left down a footpath leading towards Brading Marshes. At the top of this lane was a dilapidated Victorian Villa with a large garden, which looked in desperate need of love and attention. I'd like to volunteer. Just saying. Anyway, the path came out next to the Pilot Boat Inn which looked lovely and has a good reputation I believe. We didn't stop as we had to get home to feed the children. The path continued across the road, up a private road, leading eventually down a very pleasant lane bordered on one side by really rather impressive properties. I forgot my manners and peeked over fences, through fences and over garden walls and had a jolly good nosey! I'm not sure that the couple following us were impressed - no one seemed to smile in that part of the village. The lane led back towards the beach, and we crunched along the shingle towards the lifeboat station, retrieved the car and drove home.

This was a lovely walk, and I shall definitely go again now that I think I can find my way around the village!

Whitecliff Bay

Climbing Tree

Bembridge Windmill

Lifeboat Station

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4348631.html

Distance: 4.5 miles

Footpaths: BB42, BB13, BB10, BB15, BB22, BB36, BB3, BB19, BB5, BB34, BB7

Isle of Wight Festival 2016

The Isle of Wight Festival was on this weekend and I was able to get in for the cost of a t-shirt and the proviso that I supervised some teenagers for a few hours. Sorted! I also got a staff wristband which had the advantage that I had access to a nice toilet. As the ticket was effectively free I didn't feel obliged to stay the whole weekend and see absolutely everything, but had a lovely time and went home when I was tired instead. My highlights are as follows:

Friday:

I watched Jess Glynn on the main stage - she was superb, and got the whole crowd going. I had no idea who she was, but realised I knew all her tunes! Jess had incredible trousers;I would like a pair - no idea where I would wear them, but they were green and shiny and lovely.  I'm only mentioning her outfit as I want her trousers - no other performer had that effect on me! I just missed seeing 'Busted' but heard them from further afield and they sounded good. Later in the afternoon I went to the 'Big Top' and watched Gabrielle Aplin; I had never heard of her or her music and thoroughly enjoyed her set. Really talented. In the evening I watched Stereophonics on the Main Stage, who were also excellent and would be worth seeing again. For food I purchased a veggie burger from the wonderful 'Tansy's Pantry' (a vegetarian café in a double Decker bus) and followed it up with a cup of tea and a slice of Jaime's exquisite chocolate orange cake. Yum yum yum! One of the funniest things I saw was a teenager carrying a stack of plastic pint 'glasses' taller than herself by at least two feet, looking for the recycling point; lots of enterprising children were earning extra money by collecting these glasses and trading them in at 10p each. The teenager I met later told me she had earned £37 that day. Wow!

Saturday:

I was mostly busy with teenagers until late afternoon but once free I went for a pootle around the site; I was hungry and found late lunch at 'Somerset Pork' in the form of pulled pork, crackling and stuffing in a bun, washed down with a cuppa. Very nice. I sat in the main arena while I ate it and listened to the end of 'The Corrs' set in the sunshine. Afterwards I pottered through the Octopus Garden then made my way through the fairground, where I met an old friend on the Scout stall; I dragged her away and we had a fun hour wandering round the shops looking at sequinned clothes and all the tat you normally get at festivals. When she left I went back to Tansy's Pantry for more cake and a cuppa, and chatted to the owner's Mum, who I knew, and watched people go by. We then went and watched a band in Kashmir Café.  This band were local, as were all performers in Kashmir Café, and called 'Bobby I Can Fly'. They had been playing together for years and were really good, so I'll try and catch them again. Afterwards I wandered back towards the main arena, pausing outside the Big Top to listen to the rest of the Buzzcocks set. I couldn't get in as there was a big crowd, but it was a sunny evening so didn't matter. After that I decided to go home; I was really tired, and although I would have liked to see The Damned, and Adam and the Ants, my bed was beckoning.

Sunday:

More teenage supervision, but this time accompanied by the delightful tones of a group of ladies singing swing tunes in Cirque de la Quirk. I didn't catch the name of the group, but they sang songs such as Chattanooga Choo Choo very nicely. I sang along. Once the teenagers had finished their task, we made our way to Kashmir Café and watched the Medina Ukulele Orchestra; this consisted of students from Medina College (where the festival is held, mostly), playing ukuleles and singing. Their standard was very high and they played to a full tent. Excellent! Later in the day I watched Mike and the Mechanics on the main stage and was again surprised by how many of their songs I knew and could sing along to. I really enjoyed their set too! For late lunch I had a crispy duck wrap, with chips on the side, both of which were scrumptious. I do like festival food! I made my way home after this as I was still tired, and had lots to do before Monday.

The Isle of Wight Festival was great fun. I wasn't sure what to expect as one hears such wildly different stories from locals. I found that it was extremely well managed and had enough variety of performers to suit the taste of the myriad people there, who seemed to range in age from new born to septuagenarians. I'm not sure that I would go if I had to pay the full price, mostly because I'm a bit tight, but I think it is good value for money considering how much you would pay to see one headline band in a large venue, and how much you would pay to travel, especially from our beautiful Island. I think I might try it out again next year.....