A day of seaside, cliff, valley and downland views with a 5 or a 11 mile walk.
Forty Pang Valley Ramblers and friends assembled at the Rivermead Leisure Centre at an extremely early hour to catch the 7:45am bus to the Isle of Wight (IOW). Permission had been obtained to park our cars in Rivermead’s car park all day. The trip organisers seemed to have thought of everything and the whole day was marked by excellent organisation by them – buses and ferries left and arrived on time, the local guides which had been obtained were excellent and everyone had a wonderful day. Most important of all the weather was superb and just right for walking, we had blue skies and calm seas all day long.
Our coach left Reading and we drove through the New Forest to Lymington, where we all got off leaving the bus behind on the mainland and made for the ferry to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. A few used the trip to visit old friends who now live in the island, others ‘did their own thing’ and explored the island independently, but the majority walked either the 11 mile or the 5 mile guided walks which had been organised for us. On arrival and on cue we met the guides for the two planned walks, about 15 of us set off at about 11:45am for the five mile walk with our guide and back marker, both members of a local IOW Rambling group.
We walked mainly on footpaths to Totland and after about 90 minutes walking we stopped at the ‘The End of the Line’ café just outside Totland where most of us had lunch. Some of the group went off on their own, while after about an hour’s rest the remainder walked on to Alum Bay, a total of about five miles from the ferry at Yarmouth, where our guide told us that this is where we could catch a bus back to Yarmouth using our Bus Pass, if eligible.
Once more the original group shrunk even further as several decided to stay at Alum and went for a cream tea or a boat trip to The Needles or to collect coloured sand from Alum Bay. Three of us plus Jacky walked on for about another two miles to the extreme westerly point of the island to the Old Battery overlooking The Needles. It was here after WW2 that the government had an experimental rocket firing range, used for testing the Blue Streak missile. High up near the Coastguard look-out we had excellent views back to the mainland and all along the New Forest coast to Bournemouth and so clear was the view we could see as far as Swanage.
After an ice cream each we walked back to Alum Bay and caught the bus back to Yarmouth where we found another café for tea and cakes before rejoining our fellow walkers at the ferry at 5:30pm. The ferry took us back to Lymington where the coach was waiting to take us home.
We found in the shorter walking group that walking for about 2 or 3 miles and then having a rest with refreshments was a perfect combination for us all. Forty tired but excited walkers finally arrived back at Rivermead at about 8:45pm where we said our goodbyes, thanked the organisers and made our way home after a super day on the Isle of Wight.
Michael
The “Eleven Milers” (ten of us) were led on an exceptionally scenic circuit around the western end of the island. From Yarmouth we went along along the cliffs to Colwell Bay and Totness Bay, stopping for coffee. We continued across Headon Down, ate lunch in the sunshine, then on towards Alum Bay and the Needles.
We climbed onto Tennyson Down, past the Alfred Lord Tennyson monument to Freshwater Bay and ice-creams then north along the River Yar to sample the beer in Yarmouth before embarking on the trip home – a splendid day, with brilliant organisation and great walk leaders. I would be happy to have this as an annual event! Hilary