Isle of Wight Coastal path. Day 5.

Nikki had left us tea and coffee and cerial out for breakfast. Sneaking about barefoot in a pub kitchen at 6.45am felt a little naughty.  We were gone by 8am, out into the quiet country lanes on a 3.5 mile romp to Shalfleet. We talked about how grateful we were to all the hugely trusting souls we’ve met over the years, who’ve given us rides, beds, showers, food, (hotel points!). A huge part of why I like doing these trips on foot is to crate the musty smell and dishevelled look of a person that enables that kind of kindness.

Shalfleet is where we were aiming for yesterday before we were forced to stay put in that pub we never intended to be more than an hour in.

We eventually came to that church that last night I had my eye on for a camp spot, we instead stopped here for breakfast and coffee.  It would have been a fine overnight situation, inside or out.

From here we soon peeled off the road onto extremely muddy paths. This all became easier once you: a) stopped caring about dry feet and b) moved in the relaxed fashion of a 4 year old. The path wound into the woods out onto heathland and soon we rejoined the ocean.

I dowsed my feet and legs here, much to the distress of Winnie who was sure I was going to be swept out to sea and thought shouting loudly at me was a good way of stopping that from happening. Nice and clean now, we continued on, straight back into 1ft deep mud puddles. Soon we were again spat out onto the road and Marched the last kilometre into Yarmouth Town where we begun this little loop.

We landed in Yarmouth, back to where we begun this path.  After an exceptional sandwich on the promenade, and an unsuccessful hunt for a pun badge to add to our collection,  we discovered we could get an earlier ferry and hopped on the 13.05 back to Lymington. This allowed Eric a 30 minute nap before the 2.4 miles back to the car.

I dont usually like coastal paths. I generally find them tedious after a few miles and a multi-day coastal path really never appealed. We thought we’d give this a whirl as it was so close to home, and sounded exotic being that it was an island.

This trail has exceeded our expectations.  It’s never doing those stupid pointless ups and downs (PUDs)  like most  coastal trails are. It doesn’t just hug the coast and throughout you get to experience a varied path of downs, woodland, urban-side and some very posh houses and interesting architecture.

This was the least amount of planning I’ve ever done for any trip and as it transpired the amount I did do was just enough. Its a very dod friendly island and a perfect trail to continue Eric’s dog packing training. The whole island is covered with footpaths and we will most definitely be back to cross over the middle- and visit the plethora of charity shops we missed.

Till next time, its Wonky Chomps and cocktails in Lymington!