Isle of Wight coast path

I have made several attempts to go to the Isle of Wight and finally I did it. My goal was to walk around the island on the coast path. It was a very varied walk, very windy and a quiet time of year.

14 May I took the ferry from Southampton to East Cowes and started out on the IOW coast path. At first it wasn't much of a coast path: a main road then a minor road and I stopped to shelter by a house for a downpour. I looked at a little church in Wootton with nice carved doorway, crossed an inlet at Fishbourne and checked out Quarr Abbey (Cistercian), the new red brick abbey built last century and ruins of the walls of the original 12th c abbey in a field. Wooded bridleways to Binstead, an inlet, then Ryde and I was almost on the coast but I was separated from the water by the railway line and hoverport.

Finally from Ryde, 14 kilometres in, I walked along an esplanade by Appley beach (pausing to watch the bowling at the bowls club while avoiding a shower) with the tide way out exposing a huge expanse of sand and Portsmouth across the Solent looking very close. I passed Appley tower on the esplanade (belvedere from a house that has gone)

and could see two forts in the water off the mainland. At Seaview I went onto the beach, quite rocky and pebbly at low tide, and went a long way around a wooded point with landslides to St Helens esplanade. A lonely ruined church tower by the beach.

From there I crossed a weird area called the Duver on a long stone causeway with slimy rock pools, marshes and patches of sea grass on both sides. Then back on a road passing a line of houseboats and a wooded lane into Bembridge where I bought food as it began raining.

The map showed a campsite nearby in a field but the gate was locked so I went on to the beach to seek out camping possibilities along the coast: nothing. Just then it started raining seriously and as soon as it eased off I went back to the field and put up my tent (later the owner called by). The rain got much worse and there was some thunder then in the night the sky was clear and starry. 27 kms

15 May Better weather. I went down to the beach and the tide was coming in; the beach looked more attractive with the slimy rocks covered by water but I had to be quick to get along the sand so as not to get stranded on a rocky promontory I could see. At first I had to walk over lots of seaweed and then tiny pebbles and I had to scramble a bit at the promontory (many landslides above and the wet clay soil covering the rock was slippery) but on the far side was a sandy beach and great view of Culver cliff, white chalk.

I went up onto the cliff top past a big caravan park and across grassy Bembridge Downs with good coast views ahead and behind. This is out of the Solent and facing the English Channel. I reached Sandown with a long sandy beach and walked along the esplanade. 

I continued on the esplanade beneath yellow cliffs, a continuous line of beach boxes, to Shanklin which was mostly on top of the cliffs, and went up on steps that were officially closed but possible to squeeze past the barriers. Then a couple of detours inland through grassy downs with sea views and I arrived at the top part of Bonchurch where I could claim to see France across the Channel at a viewpoint. There was a long descent on narrow steps between two cliffs, a break on roads and another similar descent. Another officially closed section where the barrier had been pushed aside. So much of the original coast path is closed, mainly due to landslides, it's a shame. I reached the water again and walked on an esplanade into Ventnor. The weather had become iffy and there was a cold wind. I had a cream tea. 

I was able to walk out of Ventnor close to the water passing a couple of coves then on nice grassy slopes but soon reached a diversion which took me up into a village, St Lawrence. I made the most of this by checking out the tiny 12th c church. I rejoined the trail and walked at the edge of fields on the cliff top; sometimes I had a view over the dense woodland of the undercliff with constant landslides. I tried a short distance on an open undercliff stretch: steep steps, overhanging crumbly rocks and thick vegetation. 

I could see bad weather coming and when the downpour arrived I stopped at a seat facing the way I'd come because the rain would have been blowing right in my face; I realised this would be the perfect place to camp so once the rain stopped I put up my tent. After the rain the sky brightened up a bit but the temperature plummeted. I lay in my tent watching ferries crossing the Channel. 24 kms

16 May I walked through the fields into Niton to get breakfast. Then I went off the coast path to go to St Catherine's lighthouse which meant a descent through the undercliff to the coast - ironically not the coast path - (and getting over a barbed wire fence at a path closure). The lighthouse was nothing special but beyond it was a lovely bay and several pods of dolphins not far offshore. I had good views of the chalk escarpment above the undercliff, which ended near here. I could also see in the distance the white cliffs leading to the Needles. I climbed back to the top with a much better angle on the lighthouse

and walked on the cliffs with a great view of the cliffs ahead as they changed in colour from grey near me to yellow further west to reddish and then white. 

I came down to go through the village of Chale and returned to the cliff top for a good stretch on the yellow cliffs above a long yellow sandy beach (no access)

punctuated by a detour on the main road which was not nice because it was petrol head weekend on the island with a steady stream of noisy cars going past. The headwind was strong and cold. More cliff top walking on flat grassland with plenty of wildflowers

and I almost reached the end of the yellow section. The rock was very eroded, the 40 metre cliffs often shelving gradually from the water, sometimes with a bowl of vegetation part way up, and looked extremely crumbly. I came off the top onto a pebble beach (ignoring a path closed sign) saw a farm campsite and stopped early.

I went into Brighstone, looked in the 12th c two nave church, bought snacks and got caught in the rain. So I returned to the church to shelter. My tent shook like crazy all night in the wind but it stayed up. 18 kms

17 May I walked into Brighstone and got breakfast at the shop; it's nice sitting on a bench in these little villages. Today was almost entirely without path diversions or closures. From the village I returned to the cliff top with lovely walking on grassy downs into a slight breeze; I was still on the yellow cliffs with improving views of the white cliffs ahead.

The yellow and red components began to merge. I descended to a valley at Brook and went back up. At another valley I came down to a beach and went up onto the white cliffs; there was no gradual change from yellow/red to white and these cliffs were totally different, perpendicular and sheer chalk and higher. The chalky path was along a steep hillside above the cliff and I could clearly see the white cliffs around Harry's Rocks in Dorset on the SWCP. I came to Freshwater Bay, guarded by two sea stacks, and had a break.

Then the part I had been looking forward to the most: out on the grassy downs of the Needles peninsula to the Needles. This was several kilometres of straight path with increasing views of the Dorset and Hampshire coastline on the mainland, also Hurst castle (a Henry 8th fortification) and lighthouse. The wind had become much stronger like yesterday. I passed the Tennyson memorial at 145 metres elevation. There was a line of froth where the English Channel met the Solent.

For something as famous as the Needles they were hard to find, the viewpoint hidden among military remains, and when I found them I was surprised how small they were, more like shards than needles. It was an impressive sight from above: the narrow beach beneath the high cliffs and a row of white shards trailing off the end of the cliffs, a striped lighthouse at the very end. Almost nobody there.

I soon had a view of Alum Bay, famous for its cliffs streaked red, yellow and white, and there were masses of people on the beach, because (as I soon discovered) there was a big tourist development above the beach and a chairlift for beach access.

I went on climbing to Headon Warren for a different angle on the Needles and Alum Bay - from this side I could see the north facing side of the bay and the cliffs were only white. 

I came down to the water at Totland and walked right by the water to Colwill Bay, all the trappings of a seaside resort but no sun or sand (at high tide). Then I had to go inland to skirt several ugly holiday villages before returning to the cliff top at wooded Fort Victoria Country Park just across the Solent from Hurst lighthouse; the Solent only a kilometre wide here. In the middle of the park I came to a cleared area among big trees that looked great for camping and was sheltered from the wind (while I could still hear it and a chiming buoy in the water that chimed all night). 27 kms

18 May I walked along the water towards Yarmouth and crossed a marshy area, and had breakfast in the town - a pretty place with another of Henry 8th's castles and a short pier. More Solent side walking beneath low eroded cliffs then woodland at Boudner behind a beach with many uprooted trees caused by cliff collapses

and I came to a diversion sign but decided to go through anyway. I had a mixture of fields, cow paddocks (at one of these the cows were very interested in me)

I saw a beautiful golden pheasant with yellow plumage and long tail

- and a pebble beach, before a long stretch across marshland interspersed with brown streams.

There was a lot of boardwalk and it had gaps or loose slats in many places which must be the reason for the diversion; I would not have wanted to fall into those streams. The weather had become gloomy. I had to get around the many fingered Newtown River estuary which was a big trip inland. I walked on a gravel road, crossed Ningwood Lake on the estuary with reedy islands

and then the main road into Shalfleet, a small place with an 11th c church with a big fat Norman tower.

I had already decided to stay in Newport tonight and I went inside the church while waiting for the Newport bus; when I came out it started pouring and I was lucky that the bus came slightly early because there was nowhere under cover to wait. 14 kms

19 May I went back to Shalfleet late morning when the rain seemed to have cleared. A lot of road walking to get around the estuary and a military area, interspersed with nice walking in medieval fields (good camping when I didn't need it) and Newtown, which had a town hall building but no longer any town, and a good tailwind.

I was back at the Solent at Thorness, a low lying wetland with a bit of beach; it was misty and I could barely see the mainland.

Then things got exciting: I had obviously not noticed a diversion sign and all of a sudden the path was blocked by a barrier. There were no other paths so I went down to the almost non existent beach and climbed back up to get past the barrier. At the next barrier I diverted over barbed wire into a field. There were several places where the low embankment that the path was on had collapsed to make the way impassable. At another barrier I walked across a field towards a line of houses and through a gate onto someone's property, I was spotted and a woman came out and said that the locals are still using the path so I could go on. I climbed the next barrier and the last two were 1. pushed aside and 2. lying on the ground. The very end of the path was completely blocked off by a high fence but luckily I found a way out. Ironically when the route was open again at a sea wall I couldn't get along because the wall was flooded.

Once in Gurnard the going was easy along a series of esplanades. The water was rough and it was very windy. I could see Osbourne House, Queen Victoria's summer pile, across the bay; the coast path was inland when I passed it six days ago. The way was built up continuously to West Cowes which seemed a quaint place and I was disappointed all the hotels were full. I got the ferry across the water to East Cowes, completing my lap of the island, and walked to a holiday park to camp. 18 kms

Total 128 kms, 6 days