Longstone

Yesterday the Minis went on another long walk.  This was quite a tough one.  We had hoped to show some spectacular views, but it was misty on the downs so photos were not possible up there.

We started in the village of Brighstone, on the south west coast of the island.  The Minis loved this little bridge.  There is a small waterfall under it, but as the Minis come from Canada, that did not impress them too much.  We climbed up the cliffs and came to this lovely wood.

As well as these lovely flowers and the pine trees, Grammars copse is a red squirrel protection area.  It is for sale for £165,000, anyone interested?  Its not a lot of money but it is quite small.  We love it but there is a massive climb in it.  We didn't see any red squirrels.  The Minis did see one, on Sunday, nearer to home, but they move too fast to get pictures.

When we came out of the copse we saw the way ahead.  We walked along the valley for quite a long way and the Minis saw this.

This is the Long Stone at Mottistone.

It has been shown that the stones are what remains of a 6,000-year-old Neolithic communal long barrow for burying the dead: 31m long, 9m wide and 2m high. It is thought that bodies were laid out for birds and animals to feed, then the bones were buried in chambers and the soil heaped up into a mound.

 

In Neolithic times the mound was likely to have been higher. People probably worshipped the sun and moon; this may be the reason why the Long Stone barrow is aligned west–east. (Source: The National Trust).

The Minis thought it was a good place to put their paws up for a while.

We carried on up the downs, where it was too misty for pictures and then down some very steep paths where you could not stop to take photos without sliding down.

The Minis were very thrilled to see the Long Stone and we visited the Three Bishops Pub in Brighstone afterwards (for coffee)!!

Tennyson

Today the Minis went to Freshwater for an encounter with the former poet laureate, Alfred Lord Tennyson, who had a home there.

We started by climbing up the hill onto Tennyson Down, above Freshwater Bay.  It s a tough climb!

More climbing and we arrived at the Tennyson Memorial, which is a big cross on top of Tennyson Down.  Lots of people climb this far, but not so many go further.

We could get a better view, of the whole memorial, from the bottom of the hill.

We carried on, off of Tennyson Down and onto High Down, which leads to the famous Needles rocks, off the west coast of the island.  We cannot see the Needles on this walk as we are directly above them, we will visit them from a different place another day.

As you can see from the previous picture, there is gorse all over High Down.  The Minis liked the vibrant yellow.  Mini Snuffy said he felt inspired by the colour.

One thing that really surprised the Minis was how dry the island is.  People think that we get a lot of rain in England.  However, the ground everywhere is like this.  We are in the middle of a drought, we have had no proper rain for months.  It is often like this in the south of England.  The Minis thought this was a very unexpected thing in England and that they would you all know.

The Minis take a long walk

Yesterday we went for another walk with the Minis.  We walked from home, along the seafront to Seaview and on towards the village of St Helen's.  Between Seaview and St Helen's the Minis were excited to see these sheep.  They were really keen on them so a lot of pictures were taken.  They were friendly and quite rare.

As you can see they were friendly and quite interesting and had lambs!!  We carried on and the Minis came to Bembridge Mill.

We walked on and the Minis admired the views over the valley, from all directions.

The island grows garlic and the Minis were fascinated to come across some wild garlic, in the woods.

When we came out of the woods the Minis admired the river, the East Yar, they looked in both directions, but the ducks were not playing.

We still had a bit further to walk, they admired the view of the valley and met some cows.

We got to Brading, where the Minis were amazed to see the Old Rectory, which was built in 1228.  It was a residence for centuries, then a wax works, briefly a cafe and now somebody is selling antiques there.

The church is just across the road.  It doesn't look quite as old as the rectory, so maybe there was an older church there.

We had walked about nine miles, along the coast and then across country, so we got the bus home from Brading.

A weekday walk

This week our person is not working, so the Minis were taken for a walk.  They started by walking down the disused railway line, that they have been down a few times, and got to Yarmouth.  They walked along towards Victoria Country Park.  The waves were big, so they didn't stop to take pictures, for fear of being washed away.

When they got to a safer bit of beach, just outside Yarmouth, they started to see interesting things ahead.

The first thing to see, when you get to Victoria Country Park, is Fort Victoria.  The Minis were keen to get into this cannon.  As an Arsenal supporting organisation, Baboon HQ very much approves of cannons (when used peacefully).

The Minis could just see Hurst Castle lighthouse in the distance.  Man-person held them up to get a better view.  More about that later.

They met this friendly dolphin, who lives by the shore at Fort Victoria.

The weather was hot and they sunbathed on his fin.

In Victoria Country Park they found this comfortable, shady seat and had a rest.

Further on they met this friendly man, who was drinking tea on a bench.  They stopped for a chat.

Near the exit to the country park, they got a better view of Hurst Castle.  This is attached to the mainland by a pebble spit.  You can walk out there from a village on the mainland, called Keyhaven, which is near where our friend Kirsty, from Twitter is.

The castle was built by King Henry VIII, yes, the one who had six wives!  It was built to protect the Solent (the seaway between the island and the mainland), from the French or Spanish.  It was important to stop them getting to his naval base of Portsmouth.

The Minis carried on to walk down a footpath, through Freshwater town, and back to the car.  They will have another outing today.  The weather is lovely and we will enjoy the outdoors.