Essex Man Does Walking

Managed to sleep well, no dreams of bees and none in the tent thankfully. Rob wasn’t too lively, two bottles of wine and a late night imaging the Milky Way will do that! I got the stove going and brewed some coffee and had the last of my porridge with a breakfast bar crumbled into it. It was a lovely morning and we got going, Rob grabbed a bit of breakfast from the onsite mobile cafe.

The original path should have gone down to the beach and then along and up the other side of the chine. However, as we have come to expect we had to divert away from the beach and towards the village of Brighstone. Once there we turned back out of the village back over the main road and down towards the cliffs. We ended up a little further on than the original stairs up the cliff. From here on it was a great walk alongside the edge of the cliffs. Erosion everywhere. We climbed up to a spot called the Nodes which was riddled with rabbit or badger holes. In fact where the cliff had fallen away you could see the holes in it like Swiss cheese. The walk along the cliffs continued until Cowleaze chine which we had to walk around. It was here we didn’t see a diversion sign and walked back to the cliffs and along to Shepherds Chine. However, the way was closed so we had to make our way back and up to the road which we then walked along. This then headed back to the cliffs and again we were on the Coastal Path. Fields on our left and the sea on the right. Lovely.

We walked down to Whale Chine and again had to head to the road to go around it. Then back to the cliffs across a field. Fog was just starting to come in drifting up through the cliffs. Very eerie, but cold so welcome. The path moved away from the cliffs towards Chale and then along to Blackgang Chine.

We used to come to Blackgang Chine as kids, plenty of plastic dinosaurs and the such. It is a little bit more up to date now but hasn’t lost any charm. The path continues out the back of the main car park and upwards. Through the trees and out onto the cliffs again. The path continues along to Niton where it descends. The path then heads along the side of some fields where it is then supposed to head down to St Lawrence. Instead we have to keep going along the fields and around St Lawrence before heading back down to the sea and through the back of Ventnor Botanical Gardens.

Coming out the gardens we head down to the sea at Steephill Cove. This is a lovely place and I grab some food and an ice cream. We have a rest here before heading off along the sea wall. The path continues and we see Ventnor in the distance. We keep going and eventually the sea wall ends and we have to walk up the steepest hill ever. It just keeps going. And going. We eventually reach the top of the climb and then immediately have to walk back down! Not all the way down but we head into Luccombe. Walking around the village we spy Shanklin although I guess we will have to walk to the top of the chine on the High Street and down again.

We are at the beach again on the promenade. Rob decides a swim is necessary and I have a paddle and hope it will help my blisters! Originally I thought we had booked a B&B in Sandown. Thankfully Rob checked and discovered it was in Shanklin. It is a pretty grim old place, probably an old persons home at some point. Cheap though and near the High Street. We head down to the Greene King pub and enjoy some food and beer whilst watching the football. We get aback and find Terminator Genesis and TV. We struggle to watch it, Rob falls asleep and I give up with 20 minutes to go. The final day approaches.

Distance: 18 miles