Camping

Well, we spent a fantastic weekend camping with the Scouts at Corf Camp, Isle of Wight and managed to bypass all Jubilee celebrations! Hurrah!  The scouts slept in old-fashioned canvas patrol tents, which took me straight back to my days in the Girl Guides. Much as I love those tents, I was glad to be sleeping in a modern, dry pod-tent with an inflatable mattress and a bit of privacy.

On Friday night we had a campfire and ate jacket potatoes, toasted marshmallows and chocolate biscuits and drank hot chocolate. Everyone was asleep by midnight, despite the constant noise of owls in the nearby trees. However, the girls tent woke up at 4.30am and started chattering loudly as they didn't realise the time.  Needless to say, the leaders were not amused, and peace and quiet quickly resumed.

On Saturday we all woke at 7am (I just love mornings...), had a fried breakfast and cleared away, then the scouts had activities; they tried their hands at archery and air rifle shooting, and then had a quiz. They came back to camp and had lunch, and then in the afternoon they split into groups and attempted to build a raft out of large plastic barrels, pioneering poles and assorted bits of rope.  One group didn't work well together so their attempt was abandoned, and the other raft had to be reconstructed on Sunday morning.  For the rest of the afternoon the scouts got to play around the site and have a go at making camp gadgets using sticks and square lashing.  It rained in the evening so we all sat in the mess tent and drank cocoa and played games. 

Sunday morning dawned, a raft was rebuilt, dragged on a trolley to Corf Lake (part of Newtown Creek) and plonked, with some trepidation, into the water.  It floated. Phew! All other scout troops present at the camp had also built at least one raft, so a race schedule was drawn up and racing began.  The first raft in the water fell apart quickly, but most others were fine.  Our first team's race went well, with our team taking the lead and keeping it. However, our second team had a slight mishap at the start; the leader tried pushing the raft to get it into the best position and it capsized with everyone aboard falling in the water! Hilarious! They reboarded and paddled off to the finish line, where they capsized again, this time with no help at all!  We won both our races, but as the races were timed we didn't make it into the top three overall. Never mind.

For the remainder of Sunday morning, scouts built a Sedan chair, and spent part of Sunday afternoon racing it round an obstacle course against other troops.  Again, we didn't win but it was good fun.  On Sunday evening there was a big campfire for all the Scout troops with singing and sketches.  Sadly it poured with rain so everyone went to the undercover area instead and carried on.

On Monday morning we let the Scouts lie in until 7.30am (kind!), then showed them how to light a fire in a collapsible barbecue using cotton wool, sticks and a flint & steel (sparky); they then had to cook their own breakfast once they had got a fire going.  Breakfast was beans and sausages and toasted muffins - very nice too!  Following this, we went to the closing ceremony, were awarded a silver for camp standards, came back and packed up the camp. Then we went home, knackered, filthy, but smiling.  A great weekend!

Walk the Wight 2012

Well, we did it! We 'Walked the Wight' for Earl Mountbatten Hospice - nearly 15 miles across the Island from Carisbrooke Castle to Alum Bay in glorious sunshine.  We started at 9.30am, joining a large crowd of walkers, human and canine, to tramp round the castle moat and on towards the Tennyson Trail.  The walk was slow going for the first few miles as there were so many people and the paths were relatively narrow. However, the crowds thinned out as Brighstone Forest was reached and the path widened - much easier from here!  Brighstone Forest was beautiful - full of Beech trees emerging into leaf, and with lovely glimpses through the trees of the countryside beyond.

Brighstone Forest

We made the checkpoint at Mottistone car-park after 2 hours and continued towards Brook Down, reaching the next checkpoint after 40 minutes.  Here the going got tough! The climb up the hill past the chalk-pit was steep; we put our heads down, our best foot forward and staggered up there in silence. Once we reached the top we were rewarded with stunning views all along the west coast of the Island.  We stopped here for a brief picnic, then continued on along the relatively flat ridge towards Freshwater.  

View towards the south

View towards Freshwater

After some time we reached Freshwater Golf Course and were delighted to see an Adder wriggling along the path - this caused much comment and excitement among all the walkers present.  We reached Freshwater Bay, aching and tired and wondered if we would make it to the end.  We stopped briefly for an ice-cream at the Plaza Ices van, made use of the facilities in the nearby hotel then trudged up the steep start of Tennyson Down with grim determination.  We kept going until we reached the Tennyson Monument, stopped for a swift cup of tea, then set off for Alum Bay.  We made it after 5 hours and 23 minutes!

At the finish line we were presented with medals by Andrew Turner (MP for the Island) and headed straight for the bus to Newport, where we had a swift half of Old Speckled Hen in The George pub before catching the bus to Cowes.  All in all a fantastic day, despite the blisters, and we may well try it again next year!

Distance: approx 14.5 miles
Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_1982877.html

Medina Loop

A damp, cold day in May, not ideal for walking but at least it wasn't raining hard. We met at the entrance to the Cowes-Newport cycle track and proceeded along it. There was an abundance of spring wildlife and we spotted wrens (at least that was what we think they were!), blue tits, robins and pigeons, a large thrush, and a small flock of swallows wheeling above the water below a bridge.  I'd never seen swallows so close up before and they were rather gorgeous. There was an abundance of plant-life too and we saw a rather lovely swathe of primroses and early purple orchids.

Once we'd left the cycle track we headed along the river to Newport Quay then back along the opposite bank to Seaclose Park, full of footballers at this time of year instead of Festival goers.  The path here was somewhat muddier and full of stones and roots than the Cowes side, and as we approached Island Harbour became very boggy indeed! We got wet feet. Boo. At Island Harbour is a rusting hulk that was a paddle steamer, lots of yachts and some very nice houses.  The footpath through isn't terribly obvious; you have to go across lock gates that cross the harbour entrance, and may need to ask the Harbour Master to close them for you. On the other side  there is more marsh (wetter feet) but after a mile you come to the Folly Inn. We stopped here for a bite to eat and a cup of tea before continuing. The food was scrumptious.

After the Folly, we headed up the road before turning off onto a footpath that led across fields to St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham and from there along the road to East Cowes. We caught the floating bridge back across the Medina and into Cowes; this was only open to foot passengers and cyclists today for some reason, and had rather a party atmosphere as there was a large party of pirates on board.

Distance: 9.9 miles
Route: http://www.mapometer.com/walking/route_1967013.html

Thorness

More 'Walk the Wight' training today.  As we were child-free we decided on a longer walk than usual. Starting in Cowes we headed along the seafront to Gurnard, up through the woods and then down along the marsh until we reached the Coastal Path.  We then walked along the cliffs to Thorness Bay, admiring the views across the bay once we got there.  The weather was beautiful, if a little windy, and the sun bounced off the sea in just the right way!

We turned inland here, heading along roads, and through fields and woods, until we reached Pallance Lane, Northwood.  We had to make a slight detour round a field at one point as there were two enormous cattle standing right by the gate we wanted to go through, and they didn't look friendly. And they were HUGE. And one had horns. We thought they were bulls but weren't close enough to tell so we retraced our steps, crawled under some barbed wire, and trekked through some woodland until we reached the next field and were able to look at the cattle from the other side of the gate. Still huge. And horned. Not bulls though, definitely. 

Anyway, once in Northwood we toddled wearily on until we got to The Travellers Joy pub, hoping for a drink. It was closed, unfortunately and we were a little miffed. However, when the lovely landlord heard us rattling the door handle, he unlocked and let us in as he was due to open up soon anyway. What a nice man!

Once refreshed we headed back along the road to Cowes and home, thoroughly tired but pleased with ourselves for managing a longer walk than usual.

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_1911212.html

Distance:  approx. 8.6 miles

Thorness Bay 

Medina Loop

As it was a glorious day six of us decided to take our bikes and cycle round the Medina River. We followed the cycle path from Cowes to Newport, stopping for a picnic near Newport Rowing Club. There were a lot of swans on the river who all swam towards us as soon as they realised food might be in the offing. They were disappointed! 

We were going to cycle back the way we came but instead carried on towards Newport, rounded the Quay Arts Centre and headed along the opposite bank of the river towards East Cowes. We felt obliged to stop for an ice cream at the football tournament in Seaclose Park then continued on our way.  The path on this side of the river was not smoothly tarmacked and contained many tree roots and lots of mud, which made for an exciting and at times precarious ride. We headed past rusting steam boats and over marshy paths before emerging at Island Harbour. Here we made a mistake, missed the signpost (of there was one) stating that we should continue along the riverbank and ended up cycling up the hill to the main road to Ryde. 

This next part of the journey was terrifying; one of our party was ten years old, so we rode in pairs, fairly close together, to ensure maximum safety.  This was especially necessary as car drivers on the Isle of Wight have little or no regard for cyclists it would seem and did their best to run us off the road.  Most of our party had been visiting the Island on a cycling tour, were experienced cyclists and felt they had never come across such bad driving in relation to cyclists and would not be keen to return.

However, as soon as we got to the top of the hill we left the main road and headed towards St Mildred's Church, Whippingham and from there continued into East Cowes with no further incident. We crossed the river on the floating bridge and soon after were enjoying a refreshing drink in The Duke of York pub.

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/cycling/route_1906186.html

Appuldurcombe

We set off from The Griffin Inn in Godshill in glorious sunshine and strode along the footpath to the woods; these were full of beech trees and emergent bluebells (need to revisit in a week or two).  The ground rose steadily upwards and we headed merrily towards Gat Cliff, up a reasonably steep hill. Ha! When we reached Gat Cliff we realised the previous hill had merely been a slight incline - we were faced with 153 steep steps, followed by a stiff climb up another hill, in order to reach the Worsley Obelisk at the very top.  However, the effort was worth it as the views across the Island in all directions were spectacular.  We stopped a while to eat our picnic and recover our breath.

When we moved on we headed downhill past the radio towers, and eventually came to the outskirts of Wroxall, where the path led us towards the shell of Appuldurcombe House.  This is a lovely building, partially restored by English Heritage, set in manicured grounds which themselves are surrounded by less manicured farmland.  There were several ancient Beech trees along the route too.  The path led us towards Freemantle Gate, the old entrance to the Appuldurcombe estate, and from there past paddocks of Llamas and woolly pigs (honest!).  We headed back to the woods and into The Griffin where we stopped for a cuppa while the children played in the maze. 

Distance approx. 5.2 miles

Route:   http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_1870373.html

Views from Gat Cliff

Yar Estuary

Glorious weather today so we headed for Yarmouth. We strolled along the old railway line bordering the river, crossed the causeway and continued to Afton emerging opposite the End of the Line cafe.  We headed left and into Freshwater village before taking a footpath up to Golden Hill Fort. The views from the top were stunning! We could see across the Yar and the woodlands beyond, and felt we had walked a long way. After a breather we headed on to Norton Green, then across the fields to rejoin the main road to Yarmouth which led us to the Bugle Inn and a nice cup of coffee.

Total miles: c. 5.25

View from Golden Hill Fort

Route Map