Ticket to Ryde as seen in Country Walking Magazine April 2015
As I Scramble over boulders the size of
small cars and lower myself from a six-foot ledge, I question the wisdom of
deviating from the official coast path through the woods and following the
beach instead. I clearly spent too long chatting at the floating café in
Bembridge and the incoming tide has made my passage to the secluded pristine
sands of Priory Bay an ungainly and undignified event. This is the final day of my trek around the
Isle of Wight following its coastal path; a distance of 69 miles that I have
walked in six easy-going days. I have lived on this Diamond Isle for 20 years
and explored for many miles on its footpaths, but this is the first time I’ve
hiked right round its shores.
I emerged at the ruins of the old Quarr
Abbey. Alongside it is the new rose-coloured Abbey, a working monastery built
in 1912 and home to a small group of Benedictine monks and a café. The path
meandered inland around the estuary and through Newtown nature reserve which
came alive with waders and migrants as they took flight in great numbers and
full voice, from the muddy creeks and salt marshes as I emerged from a shrubby
hidden path. There are three bird hides around the creek where you can watch oystercatchers,
shelducks, terns and little egrets without scaring them away. The path
continued through a labyrinth of ancient forests where mammoths and primitive
horses roamed during the last ice age. There are fossilised remains of their
teeth and bones in the sands of Bouldner, and fossilised alligator bones,
shells and plants can be found on the beaches at Fort Victoria.
This was a flat section of the walk but
quite muddy after prolonged periods of rain and I found that being covered in
dirt camouflaged me quite well in the wood but less so when I arrived at a bar
for lunch. Bird enthusiasts will love it, especially in spring when the
birdsong of lesser whitethroats, cuckoos and chiff chaff s can be heard in the
bluebell-carpeted forests.
From Yarmouth to Freshwater Bay, glimpses of
the Needles teased me until I reached Headon Warren where I stopped for a
picnic and indulged in dramatic views of the iconic chalk structures. Tennyson
Down was next – a favourite place of mine, as it was of its namesake, Alfred,
Lord Tennyson, who frequently walked this route after moving to the island in
1853. At that time it was called East High Down; it was renamed in his honour
in 1897, five years after his death.
At Compton Bay, surfers played in the waves
on the same stretch of coastline that claimed the lives of so many mariners,
whose ships were wrecked in the formidable seas and rocks at Atherfield Point. I
visualised images of smuggling life as I strolled along the cliff top, a little
bit romanticised perhaps, by Pirates
of the Caribbean. Lethal south-westerly gales, moody seas
and ship-wrecking rocks made smuggling a lucrative business along this coast until
100 years ago, and stories abound that smugglers lured ships into the bay on
the promise of shelter from the storms.
One smuggling story that can be verified
involves the construction and maintenance of the oratory on St Catherine’s
Hill. It was the work of Walter de Godeton, Lord of the Manor of Chale, who was
ordered to build and pay for its upkeep by the Pope when he was found to have
barrels of wine in his cellar from the wreck of the St Marie of Bayonne, a
cargo-ship destroyed in 1313 with a hold full of alcohol destined for a French
monastery.
Smugglers’ tunnels are still visible in the
cliffs. Some only stretch a few feet before the tunnel has collapsed; others,
they say, run from the sea to cellars in notable houses or to secret
passageways in the Niton Undercliff, which is an interesting woodland to
explore with concealed caves lurking behind twisted vines. The southern
coastline is sheltered from cold Arctic winds and the climate in Ventnor is
akin to the south of France. The coastline from Niton to Sandown hides
sheltered sandy coves often missed by tourists; little gems of solitude and sunshine
like Steephill cove, which also has a café.
The view of Culver Cliff and Sandown Bay is
almost as iconic as the Needles. It is no wonder that Charles Darwin felt inspired to start writing
his On the Origin of Species while staying at the Ocean Hotel in 1858. Sandown also has a
profusion of ice cream shops, selling tempting exotic flavours of the Isle of
Wight’s own luxurious Minghella ice cream. This left me with just one dilemma –
which flavour to choose.
I spent some time at Yaverland beach,
fossil hunting on one of the best sites in Europe for dinosaur bones. The
ever-shifting cliffs, constantly eroded by wind and waves, means that fossil
finds are a frequent occurrence; everything from water-worn, pebble-sized bits of
black bone to mammoth-sized leg bones.
There is something very satisfying about a circular
walk and as I amble along the last few miles back to Ryde, I decide a path
around an island has to be the ultimate orbital route. The Wight’s coast path
is well signposted and its inclines are mild, its views spectacular and its history
fascinating. It’s the perfect trek to ease into a summer of walking and I’m
almost tempted to keep on going, and loop around this diamond isle in the
Solent again.
No comments:
Post a Comment