A Walk Around The Isle of Wight, UK

 

I had an hour to get from London’s King Cross station to the Waterloo station via the Tube but for whatever reason I was a little disoriented by the underground. The Northern Line didn’t read quite the same in real life as it did on the map. I was on the wrong train and it was taking a long time stopping at each stop. A little flustered I asked to barrow a tourist’s Underground map. Suddenly it all made sense. I got off, switched lines, and still made my train to Portsmouth with minutes to spare. Good thing as I had a time specific ticket. I straightened out my misdirection ok but felt a little off my game and out of practice. I made it much more difficult than need be.

In Portsmouth I got off at the Harbor and caught a ferry to town of Ryde on the Isle of Wight. On a relative whim I had decided to walk the 70 mile coastal path around the Island. First I needed some info, a can of stove fuel, but most of all a map. The path passes thru plenty of villages as it’s a mix of trail, shoreline, and mixed roads.

I got a little irritated when tourist information had no information on walking as the Isle of Wight is known for it but I found a small local bookshop that did. It was there that I found a proper Ordinance Survey map for the entire Island and a small easy to carry guidebook for the route. I figured it would take a little over 4 days. By late afternoon I began hiking.

About 4 miles into the walk I came upon a campground. Since it was getting kind of late in the day it was an easy decision to stop. I paid the 5 pound fee and began setting up my tent. Just as I was about finished a nice orange haired girl in her late teens approached me and said her mother cooked too much food and would I like to join them for dinner. Of course I said yes. Timing couldn’t have been better since I hardly had any food and wasn’t sure what I was going to do about dinner. I assumed I’d roam around for a Pub or something. Not only was I served dinner but it included beer as well.

The mother daughter were very nice and we all enjoyed good conversation. They were from London and on a 5 day get away. They arrived with a packed car and a huge tent with  all kinds of stuff for a comfortable set up. Auto camping with a large tent is very popular in the UK and Europe. Right after dinner the daughter got all dolled up, in an artsy sort of way, and we went to pub for drink but called it an early night.

When I left the campground the next morning at 9 am the mother and daughter were still sleeping. The skies were cloudy and there was a light mist as I passed through the seaside village of Bembridge and bypassed what should have been some nice coastal walking because of landslips. At Sandown the shore began to become more attractive as I started to pass through the touristy seaside villages of Sandown and Shanklin. At the end of Shanklin sits a storybook like pub right next to the Sea. It was impossible for me to pass it up without having a pint. I paused to do so.

The path continued to hug the shore as I skirted along past Ventnor and more rural hiking. I left the shore and climbed up past the sleepy village of St Lawrence to a ridgeline whose top gave way to farmland stretching to the north. I wasn’t sure where I was going to camp for the night but I decided to drop down off the ridge via a side trail to an apparent campground.

The side trail took me down to a road where I walked a short distance and inquired at a house where I saw two kids playing. The idyllic stone brick house was being rented by a hippy couple in their 30’s or 40’s. They said the campground had been shut for various reasons in part due to landslips. They offered their garden as a place to camp and their 7 and 11 year old daughters seemed pretty excited when I took them up on the offer. The girls rounded up the chickens while the mother suggested a spot. The garden was pretty messy with stuff, half finished projects and plenty of tall grass with weeds but comfortable nonetheless.

Once I got my tent pitched I was offered a cup of tea and given a bowl of chips (thick French fries) that I counted as dinner. I wound up talking to the husband quite a while. He was a welder by trade with Scottish roots who has turned to environmental design, gardening, and alternative living. He seemed to know a lot about geology and explained the landslip situation. The road, not far from where I accessed it, was recently cut off on one end due to a landslip (landslide in the USA). He told me how unstable a lot of the land is on his portion of the Island. The two daughters were also very friendly and everyone appeared to be very happy to talk to me. Their location, although pleasantly nice, did have sort of an isolated feel.

I slept pretty well and got started before the family was up. From there I hiked back up to the ridge and enjoyed a really nice day of hiking along trail atop the south shore cliff edges with very few people. It’s wide open with great ocean views.

I went almost all day before reaching another village. From Freshwater Bay I climbed the hill up to Tennyson’s monument where I left the path and dropped down to a campground at Stoats Farm.

Within the immediate area are 3 pubs within a 20 minute walk. After setting up camp and taking a shower I had pint at a seaside pub that was more like a restaurant with a great view. The next pub was a proper traditional village pub with a nice friendly atmosphere where I watch world cup soccer and ate Steak and Ale pie. The third pub was right near the campground. It was a proper pub but with a local crowd that seemed just tolerant of tourists. I watched the second half of the world cup soccer game with England getting beat a second time. The place didn’t feel too friendly.

The next day would be my longest day as I covered 20 miles of mixed trails and roads. I planned to stay at campground but I couldn’t justify paying the high price and questioned the attendant why it would be so expensive for a walker with a one man tent? I must have made an impression because the attendant gave me the code to the shower for free and suggested camping at a nearby bay. I took a shower and purchased some food from an onsite store and set up camp not far away on Thorness Bay.

I awoke early which is easy to do as the sun rises around 4 am this time of year in England. I got up at 6:30 to watch the first of 16,000 sailboats clear the point from Cowes for the around the Island sailboat race. Winds were light. It was going to be a long race.

It was a short hike to Cowes. At Cowes I considered staying because I thought it would be fun to watch the boats finish and take part in the party afterwards. With a little more thought I decided the party afterwards might be a reason not to stay. I continued on and arrived back where I started in Ryde late in the afternoon after numerous breaks. I checked into a cheap yet overpriced tired old hotel disguised as a B&B for the night.

It was a nice walk around the Island. The route has its pluses and minuses. The minuses come with a few miles of walking along a busy road. The pluses come with some very attractive shoreline.