Ventnor IOW

Walking Isle of Wight. We stayed in Ventnor but were pretty much walking along the coast both days so most pics are not from Ventnor. Ventnor is a very hilly side of Isle of Wight which made walking on that side of the Island tiring but it is pretty cool cos most houses have a sea view because of the slope.

I must say Ventnor makes for a beautiful little town so I included a pic of the coast line and a little garden area on the coast.

My first official sight seeing was St Catherines oratory - basically the first ever medieval space rocket. ;) No, seriously it may look like a space rocket but it was actually supposed to be a light house. Unfortunately it did not do the job too well cos it was too foggy up in the area and hence it was never seen - not good for a lighthouse. Interestingly they began to build another lighthouse about 100 meters away many years later but abandoned it half way when they realised that there was too much fog.

Getting to see the oratory was lots of fun cos we went through a field of cows - they are really cute animals and not all that bothered either.

We continued our walk and got to the top of the cliffs along the coast - the grass was real soft so I had to lye down on it. Good opportunity for a pose.

After walking along the cliffs we made our way down to the beach - I would like to point out that Alan put my life in danger here by leading me along a path that has actually been closed off. It was a little bit of an obstacle but I am still alive to tell the tale.


The coolest thing about the beaches is that the "sand" is orange. I put sand in inverted commas cos it is really quite pebbly.

In the cliff face along the beach I saw a very little cave that is also very orange - there must be alot of iron iron the area.

There was a LONG walk along the beach and we passed some guys putting up tents, it was already kinda cool and the sun had not even disappeared yet so I am glad that wasn't planning to camp out that night. At the end of the beach walk we had another crazy climb - there is even a rope to help pull yourself up with.

We made it to the top and headed for a rest stop (ie. headed for a pub). Outside the pub there was a nice view of St Catherines lighthouse, I took a pic before and after our rest. As you can see the sun was setting. One of the things that I am still getting used to is the way it seems that it takes forever for the sun to set here in England - I am probably just crazy.

The Buddle Inn in Niton was where we took our break and it was our rest stop the next day aswell. Very old little pub with a beautiful area outside. It is just a little too cold to enjoy the scenery so first choice is indoors to warm up.


The second day we made our way towards Niton again and on the way we headed down St Catherine's Schute to see St Catherine's very little church. At this stage you might be thinking that I am calling everything St Catherine's cos I don't know the names but that is not the case. The church is very quaint but if you look in the window you kinda feel like a giant peering in.

We then made our way under an overhang in the cliff side for a chocolate break - gotta get the energy from somewhere.

It was great seeing another side of Isle of Wight even though the weather on the second day was on the verge of a tornado. There were times I thought I was gonna fly away. Despite this horrible weather we still passed many other walkers. Must be an English thing and maybe I am whinging too much.