Walk 56 Shanklin Station to Wroxall, via Donkey Sanctuary

 

My second Donkey walk recently, this time in reverse, starting at Shanklin railway station and following the Red Squirrel cycle path.From outside the station, a flight of steps descends from the left side of the car park, coming out opposite Lower Hyde Holiday Park beside Lidl. 

Cross the road and take the path leading through the caravan park to join the Red Squirrel Trail that follows the old railway line, dating from when the rail track extended from Shanklin to Ventnor.

 

This is a nice, flat paved path, passing en route the Railway Cabin, a little cafe stop with the added extra sighting, if you are lucky, of one of their resident deer.

The track curves round until, looking to the right, you see the main road and the Donkey Sanctuary which is reached by taking a path through a ramblers gate down to the main road, marked A Wroxall Walker.

See Walk 52 for details of visiting the Sanctuary. With the cafe terrace on your right take the path straight through past a picnic area and follow it uphill to the right for about 10 minutes.

Here it will join a lane, by a signpost to Winstone Farm and a house called Maydene.

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Turn left on this lane, which is Redhill Lane, passing Redhill Farm and Baron Court Farm. 

 

 

This comes out just past Appuldurcombe Holiday Park to a junction. 

Turning right will lead up to visit Appuldurcombe House, or a left turn will lead back to the main road through Wroxall. There is a bus stop opposite but turning right for a few minutes will take you into the village with a bus stop at Wroxall Church and the Star Inn if refreshments are required.

Walk Details
Start: Shanklin Railway Station
Finish: Wroxall Church
Distance: 3.6 miles
Time: 2 hours
Bus: No 3 from Ryde or Newport, Traiin from Ryde to Shanklin
Refreshments/WC: Donkey Sanctuary, Star Inn Wroxall

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 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 46 Luccombe to Sandown - 4 miles

A regular winter walk, so I was surprised I hadn't written it up before. It's an ideal starter for the new year, not too long and fairly flat.

Leaving the bus route at the green known as Big Mead, Priory Rd leads to the steps to Luccombe beach. This end of the beach stays quiet even in high season, free from deckchairs and other enticements.

From here, one can walk along either the beach or Esplanade as far as Yaverland at the foot of Culver Down beyond Sandown to the east. However, the reverse is not true and only at very low tide it possible to head west towards Ventnor, scambling over rocks; really not advisable.

Nothing is more typical of the Isle of Wight than thatched cottages, and there are a fair few thatched pubs, but as far as I know, the Fisherman's Cottage is the only thatched pub on the beach, tucked away at the foot of the natural gorge of Shanklin Chine. According to Historic England, the cottage was built in 1871 by William Colenutt, who created the path through the Chine and set up the first bathing machines on the beach.

Later the pub provided hot seawater baths for Victorian tourists seeking health cures, and the Chine now contains the only surviving example of a Hot Brine Bath, a marble basin dating from c.1845, with wooden handrails, now a Grade II listed building.Generally the pub is only open April to November.

Passing the foot of the Chine, the route follows the Esplanade with its familiar array of beach shops, cafes and pub-restaurants. 

 Note along the way the three ornate Victorian shelters.

 

At the far end of the Esplanade is the South East Beach Cafe with its decking projecting on to the beach, 

Here we come to Shanklin Sailing Club and the beginning of the sea wall walk through Lake to Sandown.

 Plenty of dog walkers were in evidence today.

 Sandown's Esplanade hotels may have seen better days, but a new Premier Inn is being built. The beach, however is a fabulous stretch of soft sand.

At the end of the sea wall we come to the remains of Sandown Pier. A 360 foot pier first opened for the 1879 season, to be extended to 875 feet in 1895. The ballroom at the pavillion end of the pier was at the heart of the resort and paddle steamers called at the new landing stage. In the 1990s, the theatre was replaced with a bowling alley and golf course, and the beach end is still a popular attraction with a cafeteria, shops, kiosks and amusements.

My walk ended with lunch at one of a number of popular seafront eateries, looking out at the view up to the coastguard cottages and monument on Culver Down

Retracing my steps to the beyond the pier, steps lead up to the clifftop path and the WW" defences at Battery Gardens by which I made my way back to Shanklin.

Walk Details
Start: Big Mead, Shanklin
Finish:Lake
Distance: 4.18 miles
Time: 2 hours
Bus: No 3 from Ventnor, Ryde or Newport
Refreshments/WC: South Beach Cafe, various along seafronts