Ventnor

Ventnor from the Esplanade

On day two of our short trip to the Isle of Wight, we set out from where we had been staying, the excellent Hillside hotel and walked further up the hill. We soon passed a nice pair of Victorian buildings: the one on the left is the former station tavern, while the one on the right, although looking like a chapel, has a stone plaque (dated 1888) linking it to the Ventnor Gas and Water Company. The long-vanished railway started in Ryde and entered Ventnor via a tunnel under St. Boniface Down, of which more later.

We turned right here and climbed a steep path to reach the downs that lie above Ventnor.  There was a fine view over the western side of the town, with the end of St Boniface Down on the left. The sun was in the wrong place to make a photo fully successful.

We joined and followed a road for a while, walked just below the radio masts and enjoyed fine views to the west from an elevation of about 235m.

We followed St Boniface Down with the radar station now to our left to reach the grassier Bonchurch Down. As the wide grassy path descended towards the sea, Sandown Bay opened up to our left, with the white chalk Culver Cliff prominent to the east. There were a number of yellow gorse plants here - we weren't sure whether they were late or early to be in flower.

We descended Nansen Hill and admired the breakers at Luccombe Bay, with Culver Cliff again in the background.

We decided we had better halt our forward progress at this point to be sure of catching the 3 pm ferry and followed the road back towards Ventnor. With some difficulty, we found our way down to the Coastal Path at Wheelers Bay.

We were staggered by the three-spoked concrete shapes used as shore defences. Were they interesting or weird? We couldn't decide.

Then past the elaborately defended harbour to the town, where we had a nice tapas lunch, and up the hill back to the hotel.

Map: Explorer OL29 (Isle of Wight).

Conditions: Not too cold. Quite a lot of blue sky, but some haze and spray in evidence and less clear than yesterday.

Distance: 5 miles.

Rating: four stars.

Tennyson Down and the Needles

Tennyson's Monument

We met up with our friends Viv and Giles for a two day walking trip to the Isle of Wight, and staretd by driving through Freshwater to reach the car park below Tennyson Down. We climbed up to Tennyson's Monument. The great poet lived at nearby Farringdon House for nearly 40 years and (according to Wikipedia) used to walk on the down almost every day, saying that the air was worth 'sixpence a pint'. The monument stands on the highest point of Tennyson Down (at 147m) and was erected after the poet’s death in 1897. The down, originally called East High Down, was renamed in Tennyson’s honour.

Looking to the north you can see right across the narrow rend if the island to get a very good view of Hurst Castle, which we walked to recently as the end point of the Bournemouth Coast Path.

Looking east, there is a fantastic panorama across the south coast of the island, with St Catherine's Point at the end.

We headed west however, across the grassy downland towards the Needles. After a while we could look back, to the north, towards Alum Bay. It is famous for its multi-coloured sands which are used to make souvenirs of the island. The colours in the afternoon sunlight were very impressive, especially the flash of maroon in the upper left.

As you approach the end of the down you pass the striated chalk cliff of Sun Corner, appropriately basking in bright sunshine.

But hereafter progress is more difficult. The south coast is fenced off and you are forced towards the north, past coastguard cottages and second world war concrete gun emplacements. As you descend towards the Needles it becomes clear that the only unencumbered view is from the top of a path descending towards the Old Battery. It is a pretty good view, but it requires a telephoto. I took about 10 pictures struggling against a howling wind. Most suffered from camera shake, but this one is not too bad.

We now headed back along the north side of the promontory which ends in the Needles past a cottage with an extraordinary profusion of garden gnomes, toys, mottoes and jests - all apparently to stimulate contributions to the RNLB. I gave a pound and we then followed a path on the north of the downs back to the car park.

Conditions: Clear after morning rain, sunny, but very windy.

Distance: 4 miles.

Map: Explorer OL29 (Isle of Wight).

Rating: four and half stars.