A few weeks ago now, Andrew & I decided we would take a days holiday, whilst Elena was away, so we could go on a long walk. Up until this morning we were going to complete the coastal walk from Bembridge to Culver but instead, after a lot of deliberation (I know, we used to be indesisive but now we're not so sure), we decided to do the Medina Estuary Circular Walk. It's approximately 9 miles/14 km long. We drove to Newport and parked by the entrance to the cycleway.
You have to walk over a bridge to cross the marsh lands. We could hear lots of birds but couldn't see any. We are very reluctant at the moment to become proper "ramblers". You know the ones, long khaki shorts, proper hiking boots, wide brimmed hat & binoculars around the neck :O)
(I've actually told the girls to shout at us if we slip into that genre!! LOL) So we have to be content just to listen :O)
We carried on walking up the side of the river getting a glimpse now and then of the water through the trees.
We talked about allsorts of things, how Claire must be feeling now that Chris has gone and how we should be there for her. How Elena was getting on tasting snails this morning in France and if she would like the chocolate factory more this afternoon? How Lisa was doing in her exam. Now and then we would stop to take a photo of the view and have a drink.
The weather was very overcast, misty even but it was so hot. It's a good job there was a bit of a breeze blowing. Andrew pointed out the site of the Isle Of Wight Festival on the other side of the river.
A bird was circling us over head making a heck of a racket.
The photo is really weird because the trees have no leaves on and it's summer. We walked through some woods and we saw a Red Squirrel. He was just sat in the tree staring down at us :O) We are lucky on the Island as there are no Grey Squirrels, if there were, the Red ones just couldn't survive.
After 3 1/2 miles the path ended so we had to consult the map.
We had to walk through the streets of Cowes to get to the floating bridge. Just look what we saw, are these people late or early???
We waited for the floating bridge. It takes you across the mouth of the river Medina from West Cowes to East Cowes. You have to pay a small fee if you take your car across but it's free to foot passengers.
A view of the river bank from the floating bridge.
It only takes 5 or 6 minutes to cross and there are seats inside to sit on. We soon got to the other side and walked through the town.
The school children have painted murials on the walls of a building.
As we climbed up the main road into Cowes you could get a good view looking backwards.
We turned right into Beatrice Ave and headed toward Whippingham Church. East Cowes is home to one of my favourite places on the Island ~
Osborne House. Prince Albert designed and built it as a summer palace for his wife, Queen Victoria and the place is stunning.
Whippingham Church is was the church the Royal family used and Queen Victoria's daughter, Princess Beatrice, is buried there. As the church came into view I thought it looked like Sleeping Beauty's castle. Lots of dark towers surrounded by dense trees ~ lol!
We couldn't go inside as it was having some repairs made so couldn't see where the princess was buried.
We walked round the grave yard and found the grave of Lord Louis Mountbatton. Not the one killed by the IRA but another member of his family. They are all related to the Royal family somehow.
We came back out of the church yard and walked down a narrow path until it opened up into fields.
I had been really stupid and put my sandles on which were not very sensible so I took them off and walked barefoot through the meadow.
It was so lovely and now that's one more thing I cross off my 'do before I die' list :O) This side of the river was so different to the otherside, more woods and more fields rather than a tarmac path. Another quick look at the map before we entered the woods :O)
The Folly Inn couldn't be too far away. We thought this was an excellnt spot for a lunch break. It's right on the river edge ~ great :O) We carried on through the woods and out the otherside. Past the holiday homes and down the lane to the Folly.
We were quite hungry and went inside. They told us that they were having a new ventillation system put in today so they weren't serving any food ~ the only day of the year they were closed for food and we had managed to pick it!! So, we ordered a Coke on the rocks (cola with ice), a Shandy & 2 bags of Nobby's Nuts (hence the title of this post ~ ROFL) Looking on the bright side though, they had a toilet and somewhere to rest. I'd bought a banana and some biscuits plus a bag of our favourite 'pic & mix' sweets. Looking on the map we had completed three quarters of the walk and the 'Bargemans Rest' wasn't that far away from the end so we could have lunch there ~ sorted!! We sat outside watching the river.
We continued on walking and found the path again at the back of the pub.
Crossed the little footbridge over one of the tributaries and munched on the sweets :O)
The footpath ran parallel with the river and the view was amazing.
The sun had broken through the cloud too. We found the next landmark on the map ~ Island Quay so the end was in sight:O)
There was lots of construction going on but we managed to find a way through. We walked passed the 'Ryde Queen' and leant that the paddle steamer 'Ryde' was built in 1937 and her varied history included service as a minesweeper, an anti-aircraft vessel, a ferry, a disco & a hotel!
We picked up the footpath again an d saw this sign ...
OMG so near and yet so far!!! We had to turn back and walk out of the Marina, passed the men launching a small boat and headed for the main road.
When we got there we could see we were miles away from the town. It took the wind out of our sails a bit too as there was no Bargemans Rest for lunch either. We walked along the busy main road until we came across a bus stop and decided to wait for one.
We could see the site of the IOW Festival opposite and the amount of litter was unbelievable!
We only had to wait about 15 minutes for a us which took us into the new bus station in the middle of Newport. We got off the bus and walked through the town, through the industrial estate ...
to end where we could see the gates at the start of our walk :O)
We had a great time even though it didn't go exactly to plan :O) Here are a few more photos of the Flora & Fauna we saw on our travells :O)
Got home with an hour to spare before I had to be at work. I know I said we had booked the time off, we are so short staffed at the caravan park at the moment that I had to work from 5-8pm. I had a job to walk around the office, I can tell ya ~ lol!
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