Harry in the valley

On Tuesday Harry did a challenging walk, where he looked down on a lovely valley.  Today he visited the valley.  He started at Shanklin railway station.

He walked down the disused railway.

He came to this side path which interested him, as it would have taken him up onto the downs that he walked on on Tuesday, but by an easier route.

It looks much easier, but he would have missed some of the best views.

Harry wanted to check which way to go.  He had come from Shanklin and needed to get to Wroxall next.

Harry saw these really ripe rose hips on the way.  They look a bit like Chinese lanterns.

When he got to Wroxall he came off the railway and crossed the road, where he found a signpost to his next destination.

This is the path he needed to follow towards Godshill.

Now that he was in the valley he looked at the surrounding downs to find where he had been on Tuesday.  The third picture shows the downs he walked on.

You don't really expect to see these ornate gates in a field.  They are the gates to the manor house at Wroxall, Appuldurcombe, the home of the Worsley family.  It has quite an interesting history.

You can find out more about it here.

Harry stopped to admire the countryside, before carrying on through the gates.

From here Harry could see the Brading downs to the east of the island.  He walked on in that direction towards Godshill.  He had coffee at Godshill, but Harry was not interested because they didn't give him any biscuits or chocolate to have with his coffee.

He had sandwiches for lunch and Harry ate them, back in the field, sitting on a tree stump and looking towards the south of the island.

He made his way back to Wroxall and up onto the railway line.

Getting on and off of the railway is quite a climb and Harry had to use these steps in both directions.  He is amazed at the number of steps he has needed to climb up or down this week.

Back on the railway Harry loved the colours of these berries.

Part of the way back he met these highland cattle.  We do love these chaps with their floppy fringes and kind faces.

He continued on back to Shanklin.  He had been going to do a different walk, along cliff paths, but it had rained heavily yesterday and was a bit breezy today, so it didn't seem the best idea.  We may well do it tomorrow if the paths are not too slippery.

A difficult walk

Yesterday, Harry went on a difficult walk with lots of climbing and then long descents.  It is a beautiful walk and he got quite a few pictures.

The walk starts in Shanklin Old Village, at St Blasius church, where Harry sat on the lychgate, at the entrance, to draw a deep breath, before starting out.  Its not a very long walk, only eight miles, but it starts with about two miles of steep climbing.

You walk around the church and there is a stone style behind, leading to a short path.

At the end of the path you begin to see the way ahead, you need to climb up through these two fields, to get to the steep climb.

After the steady climb through the fields, then the real work starts.

Phew that part of the climb is behind us.  Time for a rest on the gate.

A bit more climbing and the view over the downs is beautiful.

Harry turned the other way to see these lovely woods.

More climbing and finally we get to the top of Shanklin Down.  The view is fantastic.  It was a bit misty yesterday, because of the heat, but we could see Freshwater Bay in the distance to the south west.  If you can see the little bit of white, that is it.

Inland over the valley where strawberries, tomatoes, lettuces, sweetcorn and garlic grow.

Looking straight down, through the heat haze, you can see Shanklin, the town where the walk starts.  So far there has been a lot of climbing, but not much progress towards the destination.

The next thing was to cross a style in the hedge and see the next valley, where there are villages including Godshill and Wroxall.  You can just see Wroxall in the distance.

We walked along a bit further and came to Luccombe Down.

This is very high up and the main plants are stunted trees, gorse, bracken and this lovely heather.

The walk goes along the ridge and around the valley.  Harry looked back at how far he had come.

Harry really enjoys looking at the beautiful countryside.

Harry reached Wroxall Down, having cross a couple of others, along the top.  From there it was not long before the descent started.  The first part of this is down a road, it is very steep and there are cars going in both directions, so we have to be very careful and do not stop for pictures.  At the end of that part of the descent we reached the resort of Ventnor, which is on the other side of the downs from Shanklin.

Here you have to go down lots and lots of steps and some steep roads.  Harry really started to see how far he had climbed.

On Ventnor seafront it was time for coffee at the Met Bar.  Harry was really happy that they gave us chocolate to accompany the coffee, he felt he needed the energy.  The walk was only half done!

This giant ice cream sundae would have really given him he energy he needed!!

We walked along by Ventnor beach, where everyone was having fun.  This picture looks a bit grey, but it was actually very sunny.

We walked from Ventnor to Bonchurch, along this nice flat walkway.  It was a relief.

Bonchurch has a nice bay for swimming.  I don't know why it looks so grey, it was lovely and sunny there.

We walked back to Shanklin via the landslip, where there is a lot of climbing up and down and some very fun woods.

We walked through the landslip and came out at Luccombe common and then back down to Shanklin and lunch.  We were so hungry we forgot to photograph Harry's lunch.

Today is not so nice and sunny and they say it will rain, although it hasn't yet.  We will be going out for breakfast, doing some shopping and taking it easy.  There may be a walk but we are not sure.

A walk with Ozil

On Sunday Ozil Baboon went for a walk in the countryside to the south west of the island.  He started in the beautiful village of Brighstone and climbed up into the woods at Grammars Common.  Being a baboon Ozil took advantage of the opportunity for swinging in trees.

OK enough showing off Ozil, we know you can swing upside down!!

On leaving the wood Ozil could see the way ahead.  This is the Mottistone valley leading to the longstone.

We walked down the valley, to the house you can see in the distance, where Ozil visited the famous longstone.  It is thought to be an ancient burial artifact.

After the longstone there was a long slow climb up above the valley.  Ozil stopped to look back over where he had been.

A lot more climbing and Ozil was at the top.  He was pleased to say it was down hill all the way from there.

The cliffs behind Ozil are at Freshwater Bay, where we walked on Friday!  They are a long way west of where Ozil is, but he is high up so you can see a long way.

After a long descent we got back to Brighstone, where Ozil enjoyed swinging on the sign for the little village museum.  He would have like to go in but its not open on Sundays.

There is also a little library.  Ozil climbed up to see what time that would be open, but no luck there either.

We did a walk on Monday as well, but we spent a lot of time climbing over stinging nettles and avoiding getting stung, so no pictures, but it was a pretty walk.  We will blog about today's walk tomorrow.