Walk 55 Newport to Blackwater River Path

One of my aims for this summer is to walk the Red Squirrel Cycle Track in sections, and this was my first stage, from Newport to Blackwater Hollow.The route starts opposite Matalan. Cross the road and take the signposted footpath along the left side of the river to start the Red Squirrel Trail.This is a flat, scenic walk also known as Connie's Way, and is suitable for all walkers, including those with mobility restrictions, such as wheelchairs, walking aids or pushchairs.

 

After following the River Medina for a few minutes, cross Shide Road to continue through Pan Mill Meadows.

The Meadow is managed by Gift to Nature and filled with wild garlic, bluebells and buttercups. In the meadow, yellow flag, water mint and meadowsweet can be seen, and you may be able to spot woodpeckers, butterflies, dragonflies or a water vole along the river.

This walk finishes at Blackwater Hollow, but the path continues on to Merstone, and Godshill across the road.

Walk Details
Start: Matalan, Newport
Finish: Blackwater Hollow
Distance: 1.5 miles
Time: 50 miins
Bus: No 3 from Ryde or Newport
Refreshments/WC: Newport town centre

Walk 54 Ventnor to Old Park - 4.5 miles

This is a flat, paved walk along Undercliff Drive to St Lawrence and back again, suitable for all weathers. Since a landslip closed a section of the road there is now little traffic on it.

The route starts in town by The Rex, passes along Belgrave Rd, currently being rebuilt after a landslide.Continue straight ahead to Ventnor Park, which is lovely in summer, but was not at its best today.In summer there are refreshments in the tent on the putting green.Passing the cricket ground we come to Ventnor Botanic Gardens. The cafe, plant sales and shop are open to all without paying the entrance fee. From the cafe terrace you can look out over the palm garden.

Just past the gardens is Lisle Combe, once the home of the poet Alfred Noyes, now a bed and breakfast.

St Lawrence has 2 churches; the one on the main road dates from 1867and is famous for its collection of stained glass by Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris and Ford Madox Brown.

A little further on, a footpath leads uphill to the right to the 12th century Old Church.

ITookSomePhotos, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

I ended the walk at the junction with Spindlers Road and Old Park Road and retraced my steps back to town, but Old Park Road leads down to the coastal path for anyone wishing to return beside the sea.

Walk Details
Start: Ventnor Town Centre, Belgrave Rd
Finish: Ventnor Town Centre
Distance: 4.4 miles, there and back
Time: 2 hours
Bus: No 3 and 6 from Ryde or Newport
Refreshments/WC: In Ventnor and Botanic Gardens, Public WC in Ventnor Park
 

Walk 47 Shanklin to Yaverland and Wildheart Trust - 3 miles

This is a perfect walk in any weather, a flat, gentle stroll along the sea path from Shanklin to Sandown, ending at the Wildheart Trust, formerly the IOW zoo, but now a sanctuary for mostly rescued animals.

I started the walk in Shanklin town centre, joining the cliff path at the end of Clarendon Rd, before descending to join the sea path at Hope Beach.   

Passing the colourful beach huts, the path skirts the fine, sandy beaches of Lake and Sandown Bay, always popular with dog walkers. 

There are several cafes along the way, but my current favourite is Tradewinds, a touch of the tropics on the English coast.

Beyond the pier and seafront hotels we come to Yaverland and Wildheart Trust . It is a small facility but the animal care is exceptional and the visitor experience extraordinary, as you can get so close to the animals and watch them being fed and engaged in enrichment activities that mirror their life in the wild.

In their large, sandy enclosure, half a dozen meerkats guard their territory with their customary stance.

Recently arrived are a family of three Eurasian Lynx, Daenerys and her offspring Tyrion and Nymeria.

Also new to the sanctuary are two servals, Tafkap and Xirius, rescued from the illegal pet trade in France, where they were locked up in a bathroom and bedroom. Despite having broken and deformed bones from their time in captivity, they now trot happily around their large, grassy enclosure. The broadcaster Chris Packham has recently spearheaded a campaign to stop the breeding of servals with domestic cats to produce Savannah Cats. Read here.

But the main attraction is the big cats. Lion feeding demos take place most days and the cats are so comfortable with visitors that they can often be found lounging in front of their cages just an arm's stretch away.

 

This beautiful tiger is one of five rescued a few years ago from a Spanish circus.

Walk Details
Start: Clarendon Road, Shanklin bus stop
Finish: Yaverland
Distance: 3 miles
Time:  60 minutes
Bus: No 2,3,8 from Ryde or Newport
Refreshments/WC:Pubs,cafes in Shanklin/Sandown, public WC in crazy golf at Shanklin and by Sandown Pier, Yaverland and in Wildheart Sanctuary

Walk 51 Snide to Blackwater Path - 1.6 miles

 http://footprint-trust.co.uk/content/wp-content/uploads/Connies-Way-Newport.pdf

The map above shows the first half of the walk, half a mile known as Connie's Way but by crossing over Shide Rd, the cycle track continues until it meets Blackwater Hollow by Sandy Lane.

Walk Details
Start: Cycle Path at Shide, opposite Matalan
Finish:Blackwater Hollow
Distance: 1.6 miles
Time: 1 hour
Bus: No 3 from Ventnor, Ryde or Newport, No 2 from Shanklin
Refreshments/WC:Newport Town Centre, e.g. Marks and Spencer

Walk 52 - Ventnor to Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary - 2.6 miles

This a flat, paved walk from Ventnor to the Donkey Sanctuary, but avoiding the main road, which is too busy to walk safely. To skip the 25 minute walk from Ventnor town, I started at the No. 3 bus outside St Francis Primary School, where Rew Lane runs behind the main Newport Road. I have done the first part of this walk on the way to Godshill, Walk 49, and on a sunnier spring day, so only a few new photos from that section.

For this route, follow Rew Lane until it turns right by Span Farm to come out in Wroxall village.

Cross the main road to take the Sunshine Trail cycle path just in front of Wroxall Church, and up a few steps to pick up the path behind houses and gardens.

As you follow the path, there is a glimpse between trees of Appuldurcombe House. Shortly after, a path leads left through a Ramblers gate down across a small field to rejoin the main road by the bus stop, then you cross the road and turn left for a few steps to visit the Donkey Sanctuary.

The Donkey Sanctuary is a haven where rescued donkeys (and a few ponies) from the UK and Europe live out their later days in peace and safety. The Sanctuary is free to enter but relies on donations so you will be greeted by a volunteer with a collection bucket.

There is Grazers Cafe with indoor and outside seating serving refreshments and light lunches and a gift shop selling donkey products like sweatshirts, mugs, magnets, stuffed toys and calendars etc which also supports the charity. Dogs on leads are welcome too.

Visitors can walk around the barns and enclosures to visit the donkeys and Shetland ponies. You are asked not to feed the donkeys, some of whom are on special diets, but you can stroke them, as they are generally very gentle and tranquil. It's a lovely place to spend an hour or two.

As well as rescuing donkeys, the sanctuary is an education centre, providing learning and training for children, students, apprentices and volunteers. It is one of the island's most popular visitor attractions, as people can meet and interact with the donkeys, groom and walk them, or have a half day experience with them. The Sanctuary runs various events, concerts and open days on a regular basis throughout the year, and the Christmas Fayre is always well-attended. The donkeys also take part in therapy programmes across the island and work with Alzheimers and stroke patients and people with a variety of needs. 

You can also adopt donkeys or book birthday parties, hen dos, donkey experiences, groom or walk a donkey, and go on shetland treks. One barn houses the Sanctuary's Euro-Stars, a group of lovely brown donkeys rescued from a French slaughterhouse.

The Sanctuary is open 7 days a week from 10am – 4.30pm all year round (except Christmas Day).

Walk Details
Start: St Francis Primary School, Ventnor
Finish:IOW Donkey Sanctuary
Distance: 2.6 miles
Time: 1.25 hours
Bus: No 3 from Ventnor, Ryde or Newport
Refreshments/WC: at Donkey Sanctuary

Walk 50 Whitwell Road Railway Line Loop - 3.5 miles

 This is another version of Walk 48, but a flatter version starting at the top of the town and taking in Paradise Walk and ending at the town centre and buses.

The route begins at the top of Spring Hill or anyway along the top road; Bus 3 has a stop at the by the fish and chip shop at the top corner of Gills Cliff Rd.

At the bottom of Gills Cliff Rd, bear right along the Whitwell Road, taking the path that follows the road inside the hedge. After about 700m, a path descends marked to Paradise Walk and St Lawrence Shute. Keep on this path, descending through woodland until you reach the end, where you will see the old railway bridge and a flight of steps leading up to the old railway line.

Turn left at the top of the steps and simply follow the path first through woods, then into Pelham Rd, Steephill Court Rd and Castle Close to pass the old Ventnor West Station. Carry on downhill to come on Castle Rd, turn right down the hill, then left past or through the park to come back into the town centre.

Walk Details:

Start: Mitchell Avenue                                                                                                                 Finish: Ventnor town centre
Distance: 3.5 miles
Time:  1.5 hours
Refreshments and WC: in Ventnor Park                                                                                       Bus 3 from town centre to top of Gills Cliff Rd . Route runs from Ryde to Newport half hourly.                                                                      

Walk 49 Ventnor to Godshill - 3.3 miles

One way to go from Ventnor to Godshill is over Stenbury Down, but this is the lower and relatively flat route. You can start from anywhere in Ventnor but I have started from the number 3 bus stop outside the Island Free School in Upper Ventnor. Where the road bends left, Rew Lane runs behind the main road to rejoin it in Wroxall.

Just past Span Farm is Span Lodge where Rew Lane bears right to lead down into Wroxall village, but take the path that runs straight ahead around Span Farm.

Soon, hopefully avoiding cows, the path leads along the back of Appuldurcombe House, the seat of the Worsley family.

The roofless mansion sits in what were once fine grounds laid out by Capability Brown and, at present, although owned by English Heritage, it is free to wander round the ruins of this grand home. Closed Saturdays. Historic England, in its entry on Appuldurcombe, calls the house a "masterpiece of English Baroque" and records that Henry VIII visited Sir James Worsley at Appuldurcombe in 1538.

The house was once a Norman priory, then a convent, and then home to the Elizabethan Leigh family, connected by marriage to the powerful Worsley family, who became Governors and Captains of the Isle of Wight. From 1701, Sir Robert, the 4th Baronet, began rebuilding the Tudor mansion into a grand country house in Palladian style with Corinthian capitals.

While it was owned by Richard Worsley, the 7th Baronet was the subject of one of the great scandals of his day. He completed the mansion, filled it with Greek marbles and a fine art collection and married the wealthy heiress, Seymour Dorothy Fleming. But the marriage was not a success and Lady Worsley was rumoured to have had 27 lovers, one of them her husband's close friend George Bisset. Lord Worsley brought a criminal case against Bisset, but, scandalised by the revelations, the court awarded him only one shilling in damages, destroying his reputation.

The affair is the subject of the book, The Scandalous Lady W. by Halle Rubenhold, which was turned into a BBC TV film starring Natalie Dormer.

 

As you return through the main entrance turn left to join the track you left earlier to proceed across fields to pass through Freemantle Gate, which was once the entrance to the Appuldurcombe estate, added in the 1770s in Neo-Classical style.

Pass through the gate and take the path leading in 1 mile to Godshill, passing horses and alpacas en route. You pass Godshill Manor Farm and return to the main road opposite Moor Farm, turning left to walk into Godshill Village.

Walk Details
Start: Bus stop by Island Free School School,  Rew Lane
Finish: Godshill
Time: 3 hours                                                                                                                           Distance:3.3 miles
Refreshments: Godshill village cafes.
WC: Godshill Car Park Public Toilets and in The Old Smith shop/cafe                                    Bus: No 3