A long difficult walk

Yesterday was a very hot day and we chose to do one of the hardest walks that we do.  However, Harry was up for it.  We started in the old village at Shanklin and the church.

This is a very old church and we do not know who St Blasius was, I suppose we could look him or her up!  Harry didn't mind sitting on the holly, he doesn't complain like Mini-Kolo.

We walked through the church yard and at the back of the church there is this stone style in a little wood.  That was nice and cool!

On the other side of the stone style there was a gate leading onto Shanklin Down.  We climbed and climbed, sometimes it was so steep we could hardly walk, but we got to the first part of the top.

This was half way up after walking on the very steep walk up a narrow path, Harry decided he needed a rest before going any further.

Eventually we got to the real top after climbing through this field which is a very steep hill.  We had climbed so high that you can only just see the town and sea below.  Phew it was time for a rest.

A few yards from the trig point, that is at the top of the down, there is a style and you can see the valley below.

We looked ahead to where we were going.  The radar station is just in view.

As we walked we came over to Luccombe Down.  The landscape on this down is very different from that on Shanklin Down.

Look at this heather.  It is a little past its best, for this year, but some of it was still quite bright.  Otherwise the down has bracken and gorse with some stunted trees.  The wind must be stronger on that side of the downs.

As we reached the top of the valley, near the radar station, Harry looked down the valley.  There is a village called Wroxall and the ruins of a stately home, Appledurcumbe House, where the Worsleys lived, http://www.appuldurcombe.co.uk/.

We walked across to Wroxall Down, where we could see the village below in the valley.

We climbed down some very steep roads and steps to the seafront at Ventnor.  Harry found this ice cream he needed it by this time.

We walked to Bonchurch, along the seafront.  The tide was high and the waves were crashing on the footpath so we didn't stop for pictures until we got to Bonchurch.  We stopped here and ate our sandwiches looking out over the sea.

We went back a different way, through the wooded landslip that takes you from Bonchurch to Shanklin.  Harry enjoyed climbing here.  It involves a lot of climbing up and down but not as steep as going over the downs.

There is a wishing seat near the end of the landslip, Harry wished his feet didn't hurt quite so much.

We came out of the landslip and back onto Luccombe Down.

On Luccombe Common we found the table of the famous Luccombe Jam Man.  He had obviously sold a lot of jam because the table was nearly empty.  We bought some plum jam.  His jam is always fantastic so it is a treat.

When we left Luccombe Common we came out of the woods.  Harry enjoyed the views.  All that remainded was to walk back into Shanklin, down Luccombe Road, past nice hotels and houses.

It was a challenging walk but we managed it.  Thank you for reading.  Another walk tomorrow.