Isle of Wight Part Two (West Wight)

Second half of our IoW stay and back to a lovely “CL” (5 van) site just under 1 mile away from Niton, and 3/4 mile from Whitwell on the south coast; west of Ventnor. Site is very well looked after, 5 serviced hard standing pitches. Owners are very friendly and made us welcome again (we were last here in October). They are attentive to Covid cleaning, spotted her last time hoovering the gravel, and we’re advised to wear masks when taking rubbish, and hand sanitizer is provided. We joined 4 other vans, with 2 of these vans together and between them having 5 dogs which bark constantly like sea lions. The owners seemed completely oblivious and were happy to leave them to their sea-lion calls whilst socialising on each other’s vans, having zero consideration toward others. One of these vans were replaced later by an

elderly couple who stayed inside their vans all day, closed curtains by 7pm and we saw nothing of them. Very odd, they were either batty or had Covid..

Bierly is very much a hamlet with only a few houses, but had been a well known brickworks back in the 1800’s apparently.

Stunning view from the site (Downsview) across the Downs & a pleasant walk into Niton down a quiet lane or across field to Whitwell, home to the oldest pub on the island apparently. Niton also has a pub, Joe’s bar and a shop. Coastal path best accessed via Niton as the woodland path up St Catherine’s is a little overgrown; Mrs H was not happy when I picked this route on the first Friday of the stay on a circular up St. Catherine's Down which carries the Hoy Monument. This was created by Michael Hoy in 1814 to commemorate the visit of the Russian Tsar to Great Britain.

Spectacular change in the weather since we arrived on the Tuesday, with blue skies and sunshine thus far. An amble in the evening for post dinner drinks Whitwell (oldest pub maybe, but lousy lager) On the Wednesday we took an easy walk down to Castle Haven on recommendation of a nice coffee stop, turned out to be excellent food too (well renowned locally) and we enjoyed a Japanese influenced tapas lunch overlooking the very blue sea. Innovative use of an old static caravan into a restaurant and the others into retro accommodation. An impromptu early wedding anniversary meal, with the 15th spent with a sunny walk to Steephill Cove for lunch and back after a visit to Ventnor. Beers were in order and we sampled a few in Joe’s Bar; a community hub Post Office, Pizzeria and Bar, very amenable too.

Our visit to IoW was not without some purpose as we have some gaps to complete the 68 miles of the lovely coastal path. The smallest omission was a 2 mile stretch Grange Chine to Shephard Chime. Doing this meant a bus

journey and a 10 mile walk. Normally up for this we found it too hot, and whilst stunning views the walk was a little laborious so we exited onto the Military Road and caught the Coaster back at Chale once we’d ticked the missing section off. Mission complete we needed beers in the sun and to hang our head in shame. We’ll stick by our excuse of Mrs H’s knee injury and a flare up of a foot/ankle issue I have.

The rest of the weekend and Monday was “Schorchio” so we chilled and had some beach time out. Very nice too. Sunday we had the excitement of a local gathering and church service on the lawn of Downsview, all very civilised and nice to see people meeting up.

Tuesday 20th we completed the circle of the coastal path covering the last section Shalfeet to Aum Bay. The expected 8 mile easy amble turned out to be 13 as the path rudely cuts inland and turns eastward instead of westbound to traverse marshland where we were both bit to buggery by mozzies. It seemed fitting to end the circumnavigation (grand word) with a spectacular late afternoon view of the needles. The west coast may be peppered with holiday chalets but it’s scenic and reminds me of the wooded hills of the Greek islands in the sunshine. Colwell Bay is home to The Hut, a well known “upmarket” restaurant where apparently the week before Katie Price visited. Shame.

Day of rest needed Wednesday with nothing more than an afternoon amble down to Joe’s Bar. Chuffing hot few days. Feeling guilty of laziness we walked the coast route again to Steephill/Ventnor on the Thursday chatting to a charming couple who turned out to own a fabulous 4 storey house with a stunning sea view in the posh St Lawrence. A millionaire architect, down to earth and no side to him, interesting to natter to. Headed back to Niton where we were entertained by a nutter from Nottingham (had to be) for a while. Happily he engaged with a couple of the next table and not us.

After 3 weeks on the Diamond Island we ferried back across to Lymington (where we did more celebrity spotting, chatting to Zoe Ball who bizarrely was sat in a restaurant window and clocked Daisy. We said we’d been out 4 weeks in the MoHo and nice to get a compliment for how brown we looked!) for the start of the next part of the tour, starting with a few days back at our favourite Milford on Sea. Weather is due to break, so maybe stormy few days to come.

A lovely stay again, cracking CL in a lovely part of the Island. We’ll be back no doubt.