Shorwell and Chillerton Down

Off for another stomp on a glorious autumn afternoon. We drove along Middle Road to Shorwell and parked near St Peter's Church, changed into our boots and headed to the footpath behind the church. This led past some pleasant houses, and a glorious patch of fungus, and uphill towards the downs. The path led gradually upwards towards Chillerton TV mast, with a steep climb at the end past a disused chalk pit.

Once we reached the fenced off TV mast we hit a problem; we followed the perimeter to the left and came to a barbed wire fence where the path appeared to plunge down the side of the chalk pit. Very steep, so no thank you! There didn't appear to be a way through, even though the map showed a footpath, so we turned round and followed the fence to the other side of the TV mast. This at least gave us some beautiful views of the surrounding downs and coast, and the village of Chillerton, bathed by the light of the late afternoon sun. Gorgeous.

However, when we got to the other end of the fence we could see the path over another never-ending barbed wire fence. Hmm. No way through seemingly, so, I'm not sorry to say, we hopped over a 'No entry' gate and high-tailed it for 100 yards until we found a gate onto the footpath. We were a right pair of nervous Nellies, quite concerned somebody would come out and shout at us, but they didn't, thankfully! Once home I looked at the route online and realised that if we hadn't cut up past the chalk pit the path would have led to where we wanted to be. Nice to know our map reading skills aren't improving...

When back on the path it was a straightforward walk back along a couple of tracks and through a field to Shorwell village and the car. Another nice drive along Middle Road, with a glimpse of this months super moon towards the end. Perfect!

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4438517.html

Distance: 4 miles

Fungus

Lovely landscape

More lovely landscape

St Peter's Church

London Markets and Museum

Needed a change of scene so the teenager and I hopped on a ferry, a bus and several trains and went to London town for a few days to visit family. We arrived at tea time, had my nephew’s delicious pasta carbonara, and watched ‘The Heat’ in the evening; I’d not seen this before, to the shock of the family, and found it hilarious. Good choice.

The next day, the teenager, her cousin and I hopped on a bus and headed to the British Museum for a day of culture. We toured the Greek, Roman and Egyptian galleries, and whizzed through the Assyrian section (seen it before), admiring ancient pottery, coinage, statuary and sarcophagi. I hadn’t been to the Greek pottery section since I was a schoolgirl studying Classics so wanted to go again. It wasn’t quite as exciting as I remembered but was interesting nonetheless. When we got to the Egyptian Mummy section we found it rather crowded; clearly people enjoy looking at dead bodies! The sarcophagi here were impressive, with beautiful decorations. Our final visit was to the Sutton Hoo collection; this was a collection of treasures found in an Anglo-Saxon boat burial in Suffolk (I think that’s right!), and was rather magnificent. I had read about it before, and was excited to view the real thing. We had a lovely day, and didn’t manage to see everything in the Museum so may have to go back.

In the evening we went to Dulwich and had a meal at Jaflong Indian restaurant. This was delicious, and made all of us happy! We had a variety of dishes, and tried each other’s too, and were all stuffed and sated by the end. Highly recommended.

The following day became a market pilgrimage. We began by getting the bus to Borough Market, and wandering around. Oh my goodness, I have never seen so much cheese under one roof! We pottered about, trying free samples of cheese, pickles, and anything else available, bought freshly made cheese and olive bread sticks, and generally got over excited about all the lovely food. Oh, we also found an Isle of Wight Tomato stall  so bought some of those. Very crowded, but good fun. Afterwards we caught a bus to London Bridge and walked across it, past Pudding Lane, and on to Leadenhall Market; the shops were closed over the weekend as most customers are city workers. However, we could wander around inside and admire the architecture. Lots of photographs were taken by the majority of the party. We stopped at the pub there for a drink and then caught a bus towards home. Some of us hopped off at Elephant and Castle to explore the Chinese supermarket there (lots of goodies!), then wandered along the road, ending up at East Street market; this was the polar opposite of Borough Market, and had loads of stalls selling fruit and veg, clothing, accessories, meat, fish, etc. for extremely reasonable prices. I’d definitely go there if I lived locally. In the evening we ate homemade pizza (delish) and chocolate cheesecake (also delish) and watched 'Untouchable' together. This is a magnificent film and I suggest you watch it (I don't say that often!).

We were a bit more laid back on the final day; most people toddled off to Church, teenager remained in bed and I pottered about. This included a stroll around the lovely Ruskin Park. This park is popular with the locals and I spent time dodging children on bikes, joggers and dogs on their morning walk. There was also a community vegetable garden, tennis courts, skateboard ramps, basketball hoops, and a paddling pool, not to mention plenty of  mature Horse Chestnut trees, large expanses of grass, a pond, a flower labyrinth in the making, autumn cyclamen peeping through the leaf litter, a café and a bandstand. Oh, and grey squirrels (very tame). Lots of them. We're not keen on them on the Island as we only have the native red squirrels, but the London greys were tolerable in context! I also got to kick through piles of windblown leaves on the way to and from the park which made me very happy.  We finished the visit with a delicious Sunday roast cooked by my sister, and then travelled home by trains, buses and a ferry. What a lovely time we had!

Roof detail, British Museum

Cheese stall, Borough Market

Entrance to Leadenhall Market

Ruskin Park fungi

Ruskin Park squirrel



Ventnor and the Downs

Well, we had a plan. We were going to follow the National Trust route from Luccombe Down, via the Devil's Chimney, down to the beach and then back up the BIG hill. Hmmm. Sounded good. However, we got a bit lost trying to find the car park and had a grand tour of Upper Bonchurch, the local countryside and Shanklin duck pond before we figured out where it was. By this time it was nearly 3pm on a slightly gloomy autumn afternoon and we were not as keen as we had been.

Onwards and downwards though, but ditching the original route. We parked at the end of a chalk track on top of Luccombe Down and admired the magnificent views across Sandown Bay, and also the English Channel. We marched off down the Down, heading down Nansen Hill and emerging on the road opposite Smugglers Haven tea rooms by Devil's Chimney. We continued along the road for a bit, before finding the footpath on the right. Once through the gate we were confronted with a hill full of feral goats. Now, I'm reasonably sure that they posed no threat, but they had ENORMOUS horns - at least half as big as each goat -  and, quite frankly, we feared for the safety of our kneecaps if we irritated them. Also, they could run faster than us. It's not that we're a pair of big ol' scaredy cats, honest.

Back to the road in search of another footpath heading upwards, which we eventually found just past a bend in the road. On the way we were able to admire the variety of architecture in the area - the locals seem to have a thing for random turrets on their houses, - and the breathtaking, vertigo inducing, views of the town below. We found our path in the woods, but quickly realised it was treacherous so turned back; the path was narrow and steep with a precipitous drop down to the road below. Not only that, it was covered with a slippery layer of evergreen oak leaves, so turning back was really the sensible option.

We followed the path in the other direction, still through the woods but much more level, past tennis courts and grand Victorian Villas and came out on the road near the Bowling Club. We continued on the road until we got to the industrial estate and took the steep footpath there back up the down. Oh. My. Goodness. It was steep. We stopped regularly for a breather - the wind was strong and took our breath away - and eventually got to the top. Phew! The view of the town below and the surrounding hills was incredible.

The final slog took us past WW2 pill boxes and Ventnor Radar Station, which was bombed heavily in the war. I had heard rumours of an underground town under this hill years ago, and found an information board saying that there was in fact a Cold War era nuclear bunker there. I need to see this! Very exciting, but unlikely to be open to the public sadly.

An excellent, invigorating walk, and we'll do the original route another day. When we're fitter. And have warmer clothing.

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4428457.html

Distance: approx. 3.5 - 4 miles.

View to Sandown Bay

Bonchurch

Random turret



Pill box

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.