Bouldner

More of a slither than a walk today, and quite brief at that. I parked at Bouldner viewpoint car park, then turned left heading away from Yarmouth, taking the second footpath on the left after about 400 yards. This led down a lane past some lovely houses, then turned right by the sea. the path was squelchy to say the least, and I slithered and squelched carefully for some time past a pleasant secluded, pebbly beach and over a boardwalk across a reed filled pond. The path led uphill here, still extremely wet and muddy, passing through rather lovely woods and coming out on a marshy patch of land covered in flowering gorse and with lovely views across the western Solent. At the top of the hill were two buildings which were the remains of a battery, presumably from WW2, so I headed towards them. I didn't get quite as far, but headed through a gate back into the woods and took a slightly drier route back to the path. I squelched back until I got to a crossroads, and left the coastal path, carrying on along another footpath until I came out on the main Yarmouth road, which I followed back to the car park.

I shall definitely go back when the weather is drier and walk further, perhaps catching the bus to Bouldner then walking to Shalfleet. Lovely views and countryside.

Bouldner Beach

Boardwalk

View across the heath and Solent

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4026359.html

Distance: 2 miles

Footpaths: Coastal Path, S1, S43, S44

Colwell Bay

Just a short walk today, as I had a couple of spare hours to fill. I parked in Colwell Chine Road by the car park (but not in it as the lane was free and the car park wasn't!). I strolled down the lane to the sea wall and turned left to walk to Warden Point, past a restaurant closed for the winter and a row of brightly painted beach huts. Just past a WW2 gun emplacement, or the remains of Warden Point Battery, the path was closed off due to a bad landslip. Here there was a lovely view to the distant Needles which I stopped and admired before turning back and walking along the wall until I came to a footpath on my right; this was in reasonable repair, and had steps and a makeshift bridge of sleepers and led up the cliff. At the top I turned right and strolled past some more huts until the path ran out. I'd gone wrong again, taking the wrong path from the beach. I retraced my steps, following the seawall until I had to duck under a railing and scramble along the rocks that made up the cliff protection.

Warden Point

Beach huts at Colwell Bay

The rocks led to the beach, which was sandy and backed by cliffs of blue slipper clay, and interspersed with groynes. There was a flock of oystercatchers sunning themselves on the sand, who flew off as I approached. The view across the Solent was glorious in the February sunlight, with blue skies and fluffy clouds above and Hurst Castle on one side and Fort Albert on the other. Another scramble over rocks brought me to a slipway that led up to Brambles Chine and the Coastal Path.

At the top of the Chine I turned left on the Coastal Path, along a wet path between hedges that came out in a holiday camp, and led through it. This brought me out after a while on Monks Lane, so I turned left and walked as far as the stile that I used last week. I turned round and retraced my steps through the holiday camp then followed the coastal path past Brambles Chine and up to the main road, passing Brambles Farm and barking dogs on the way. Turning right at the road I walked along until I got to Madeira Road, turned right here and followed the road back to Colwell Bay and round to the car.

This was a lovely walk with good views and plenty of fresh air to blow away the cobwebs. I must learn to map read though!

Distance: 2.7 miles
Footpaths: Coastal Path, F10, F13, F67,
Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4023410.html

Fort Victoria

Beautiful day today, glorious bright blue February skies. I drove to Fort Victoria then walked from the car park, round the front of the car park and joined a path through the woods which joined the coastal path after a few hundred yards. Turning right at the top I followed the coastal path, and after a little while came to a viewpoint. Here was the best view across the Solent to Hurst Castle I have seen, so I stopped and sat a while on the bench and admired it. I carried on and followed the path almost as far as Fort Albert (private road), then followed a lane until I came to a stile on the left. I climbed over this and followed the footpath across the fields until it came out at a cul de sac, so I turned right then left and followed the road back to Fort Victoria. Pleasant Sunday afternoon stroll.

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4014492.html

Distance 2.5 miles

Footpaths: F3, coastal path

View across the Solent to Hurst Castle

Yarmouth

New Year's Day, so a picnic was called for. Obviously. We hopped into the car and drove to Bouldner Viewpoint car park, then followed a steep path down to the seawall. I had hoped to turn right at the bottom and stroll along to Hampstead, but the seawall ended abruptly after 100yards and it wasn't possible to get to the beach. We turned round and walked along the wall to Yarmouth Common, then turned uphill, then right along a narrow street lined with old and interesting houses and continued until we got to the town square. Being in need of a picnic, we located the bus shelter by the ferry terminal and sat and ate. The weather was a bit cold, damp and drizzly to sit outside unfortunately. After lunch we had a cuppa at The Gossips Cafe at the foot of the pier, before heading back to the car, this time following the main road from the common. Pleasant walk.

Distance: 2 miles
Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_3988412.html

Chessell Pottery

My Mum won a prize of 'tea for two' at Chessell Pottery and invited me along. We opted for the savoury tea, and had homemade cheese scones with butter, homemade chutney, cheddar and Gallybagger cheese. And a large pot of tea. Delicious! Afterwards we pottered in the gift shop and admired the pottery, bought some bits and pieces then left. As we were in the vicinity we went to Winkle Street, parking just up the road by Calbourne Church. The church was open so we went in, as neither of us had visited before. This is a very old church, around 800 years in places, and in desperate need of renovation. This is being done, but there were obvious signs of age and deterioration. That being said, it was a lovely church, quiet and peaceful with plenty of history and interesting architecture.

 

We wondered down the road to Winkle Street, which has a stream, the Caul Bourne, running down one side with little private bridges crossing it, and a row of (mostly) thatched cottages opposite. I think that is what people have in mind when they say picturesque! Very pleasant.

 

Calbourne Church 

Winkle Street

 

Staycation Summary

I recommend Staycation! We had a lovely week, and my daughter had great fun planning what we were going to do, telling me off when I interfered and things went wrong, as well as being in charge of the budget.

Buying Freedom tickets for the bus made sure that we went out every day so that we got good value. We went on 22 bus journeys in total so this works out at about 50p a journey. Bargain! Never thought I'd say that about Southern Vectis. A budget of £20 a day was sufficient for two people, considering main meals and bus journeys were generally not included. We came in under budget by about £8, after spending quite a lot getting in to Blackgang Chine, and having a meal at The Bugle. Worth every penny for the latter at least.

 

We both enjoyed the hiking in the countryside; we do quite a lot anyway but the two walks we did really reminded us just how beautiful this Island of ours is. Dimbola Lodge definitely gets the award for best tea and cake on the Island. Absolute value for money, and the cake was scrumptious.

 

Doing a Staycation made us look more closely at the Isle of Wight, and had the benefit of getting us out of the house every day, doing something interesting, and spending time together without the distractions of housework, television and computers. Everyone should do it, and get the kids to plan it!

Staycation Day 5

We had a lazy day today, starting after lunch and doing minimal walking. We caught the bus to Newport then caught another to Freshwater Bay. This was a double decker and gave us views we had never seen before. The first magnificent view was of Carisbrooke Castle as we sped along the middle road; we could see it in all its glory as it stood upon the hill. After this we drove through the countryside, speeding through the villages of Shorwell, Brighstone, Mottistone and Brook and getting to gaze over hedges and see fields, gardens and allotments that you can't see from a car. The bus then turned along the Military Road and headed for Freshwater. There were good views along the coast and over the sea.

 

We hopped off at Freshwater Bay and headed for Dimbola Lodge, home of the Victorian photography pioneer Julia Margaret Cameron. There were several exhibitions on, all of which were interesting. The permanent exhibitions were of Mrs Cameron's life and work, which was quite interesting, and one about the Isle of Wight Festivals. The main visiting exhibition was by TV presenter and naturalist Chris Packham, and was stunning. The pictures of elephants were particularly good, but all were eye-catching. There was also a small exhibition by Chris Jones featuring landscape shots, as well as an exhibition by students from Medina College which was interesting. Afterwards we browsed in the gift shop then went to the tea room. Oh my! I had a pot of tea for one, which yielded three cups of tea before refilling with hot water, and the most enormous slice of delicious homemade chocolate cake. Sod the diet! My daughter had a refined packet of crisps and a coke. No taste!

 

Our next jaunt took us on the Needles Breezer, an open top bus tour, which we joined at Freshwater Bay. The tour took us through Totland then on to the Needles Park at Alum Bay, then up the cliff road to the Needles Batteries and rocket testing site. Sitting at the front of the top deck of a double decker bus, driving along a narrow road on the edge of a cliff is possibly one of the most nerve wracking journeys you can do in the UK. The bus had a commentary which was mostly along the lines of 'Just to your right, behind the hedge where you can't see it, is....' which was amusing, and only ruined when a couple of very loud chaps got on at Colwell and talked over it. They didn't respond to raised eyebrows or 'tuts' unfortunately. We got off at Yarmouth, which was the end of the line.

 

As it was a beautiful evening, and we had a while until the Newport bus arrived, we went for a stroll around the town. Yarmouth is very small but has a variety of shops, delis and pubs and consequently smelled scrumptious. We decided to stay for tea. First though we went for a walk up Yarmouth Pier; this wasn't a very long pier but it was pretty and had lots of people fishing off the end. Every plank on the pier had been sponsored by local people and organisations too. We had tea at The Bugle, in the town square. I had a delicious homemade fish pie, with bread and salad while my daughter had scampi, chips and salad. They were good sized portions and we were absolutely stuffed by the end. Might go there again!

 

We caught the bus back to Newport, via Shalfleet, then another bus back to Cowes and waddled home. A good day out.

 

Buses: 1, 12, Needles Breezer, 7

 

Tea and cake at Dimbola Lodge

Jimi Hendrix statue at Dimbola Lodge