Day 2
Cowes to Yarmouth
16.8 miles
Breakfast at The Anchorage was as good as it gets, with everything cooked to perfection. We anticipated a long day so set off by 9.15am. After the hustle and bustle of yesterday's walk today was very quiet and we were mainly alone on the path. We walked out of Cowes along the promenade passing first the ferry terminal and then the Royal Yacht Squadron with its cannons aiming out to sea, at the island's most northerly point.
Cowes promenade
Attractive house at Cowes
The Royal Yacht Squadron
Cannons at Egypt Point
We soon reached a point where it's necessary to take a diversion from the original path owing to coastal erosion, of which we would later see much evidence. This involved a section of tarmac walking, however, early in the day and in lovely weather this was no great problem and we soon found ourselves heading towards Thorness Bay.
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| Mining?! Didn't really have that in mind.... |
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| Guardian at the stile - I send Carole on ahead with gift |
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| Negotiations successfully concluded |
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| It was easy! |
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| Diversions clearly signed |
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| Thorness Bay |
By
now it was getting towards our coffee time and I was getting restless
wondering where we would find a cafe. We wandered through Thorness Bay
holiday village and we were in luck, good coffee, although sadly no
scones. Setting off refreshed our path left the coast and we had
another section of tarmac walking. We passed through the villages of
Porchfield and Clamerkin and reached Shalfleet where the New Inn
provided an excellent ploughman's lunch.
We sat at an outside table and had a very pleasant lunch, enjoying our first taste of Isle of Wight creamy blue cheese.
Ploughmans at Shalfleet
Where shall we begin?
Leaving
the pub we had another stretch on tarmac and turned into fields where
we saw two hares playing. There are many sections of the walk where
what was once arable land has been returned to meadow and these areas
are bright with wild flowers. Also road verges have not been cut back
and have many varieties of wild flowers such as red campion, trefoil, ox
eye daisy, clover and many others.
There
is an option after Shalfleet to reduce the walk by 2.8 miles and we
were tempted but very glad we resisted as it turned out to be one of the
nicest parts of the walk. The path snakes back east to return to the
coast and the views, colours and interesting coast line full of creeks
to be crossed and wide seascapes should not be missed. The weather made
it a delight although it would have charm at any time.
Walking towards Hampstead Quay
Hampstead Quay
Emerging
onto the beach at Hampstead Point we were surprised to see quite a
large fish, dead but perfect, lying in the surf. We speculated that it
might be a type of shark and we have since learned from an angler friend
that it was indeed a young porbeagle shark.
Descending to Hampstead Point
A porbeagle Shark
We now walked parallel to the beach for quite a while and at one time were surrounded by pink sea thrift carpeting the way.
Walking through a carpet of sea thrift
A memorial to the side commemorated two young men who had been lost at sea two years apart in the 1930s.
1930s memorial to two boys, drowned at sea two years apart
We were glad of the board walk across a marshy bit
Walking
towards Yarmouth there were many signs of coastal erosion, sudden
clefts in the path and black skeletal trees lying in the water, roots
and all where they had been carried into the sea by landslip.
Coastal erosion
The
path moved slightly inland for a while before returning to the coast
and descending to a small shingle beach where we turned left to follow
the shore. Our route took us through a wood where we saw signs saying
Bouldner Forest Coastal Path and then along the sea wall to Yarmouth.
Carole on the sea wall near Yarmouth
Our day ended in the square at Yarmouth where we found The Bugle, our accommodation for the night. We entered gratefully and sank a couple of pints of Timothy Taylor Landlord. It had been a long day but a good one.
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| Ready for a pint |
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