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Walking on the Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight Coastal Path and 23 coastal and countryside walks

ISBN

9781852848736

Availability

Published

10 May 2017

Reprinted

3 Jun 2024

Edition

Second

Pages

232

Size

17.20 x 11.60 x 1.10cm

Weight

290g

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Guidebook to 32 walking routes on the beautiful Isle of Wight, from 4 to 18 miles long. The routes are suitable for all abilities and are accessible all year round. Includes a complete circuit of the island's spectacular coast as well as walks exploring forest trails and downland, and visiting the towns of Yarmouth, Cowes and Ventnor.

Seasons

The climate is more temperate than on the mainland. Late spring to autumn perfect for inland walks, coastal path quite appropriate for winter (wildness, drama….) Some inland walks can be very muddy in winter.

Centres

Sandown, Shanklin, Ventnor, Godshill, Ryde, Yarmouth, Newport

Difficulty

Walks graded from 'easy' up to 'moderate-strenuous'. Even children can do walks marked 'easy' (at discretion of parents) but optimum user of the book would be adult of at least average fitness. No special equipment needed for any walk.

Must See

Magnificent and very varied Coastal Path, St Catherine's Lighthouse, constant outstanding views, dinosaur fossils on Compton Bay, red squirrels, honey-pot villages with cosy pubs, Carisbrooke Castle, Ventnor (beautiful with its own microclimate), beaches, under-explored gems like lonely Newtown Harbour... Over half the island is an Area of Outstanding National Beauty. Tennyson connection.

ISBN

9781852848736

Availability

Published

10 May 2017

Reprinted

3 Jun 2024

Edition

Second

Pages

232

Size

17.20 x 11.60 x 1.10cm

Weight

290g

Overview

A guidebook to 24 day walks on the Isle of Wight plus a long-distance Coastal Path route. Exploring the island’s designated National Landscape and beyond, there are walks suitable for all abilities.

The graded day walks range from 7–28km (4–18 miles) and can be enjoyed in 2–8 hours. The Coastal Path is a longer more challenging route circumnavigating the island. This is presented in 9 stages and covers 113km (70 miles).

1:50,000 OS maps included for each walk
Detailed information on refreshments and public transport are given for each walk
Easy access from Newport, Cowes and Shanklin
Local points of interest are featured including The Needles

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Map key

Overview map

Introduction

Geography and landscape

A potted history

Modern society

Principal locations

Wildlife

When to go

Getting to the island

Getting around

Accommodation

What to take

Safety

The countryside

Walking in groups

Walking with children

Using this guide

Coastal Path

South coast

Walk 1 Sandown to Ventnor (currently unviable)

Walk 2 Ventnor to Chale

Walk 3 Chale to Brook

Walk 4 Brook to Alum Bay

North coast

Walk 5 Alum Bay to Yarmouth

Walk 6 Yarmouth to Shalfleet

Walk 7 Shalfleet to East Cowes

Walk 8 East Cowes to Ryde

Walk 9 Ryde to Sandown

West Wight

Walk 10 Shorwell circular

Walk 11 Shorwell to Niton

Walk 12 Brighstone circular

Walk 13 Brighstone to Yarmouth

Walk 14 Best of eastern Freshwater (circular)

Walk 15 Best of western Freshwater (circular)

Walk 16 Shalfleet and Newtown circular

Walk 17 Shalfleet to Newport

Walk 18 Gatcombe to Newport

Walk 19 Tennyson Trail

East Wight

Walk 20 Shanklin circular via Nettlecombe

Walk 21 Shanklin circular via Bonchurch

Walk 22 Shanklin circular via America Wood

Walk 23 Shanklin to Godshill

Walk 24 Niton circular (the two lighthouses walk)

Walk 25 Ashey Station circular

Walk 26 Ryde to Ventnor

Walk 27 Seaview circular

Walk 28 Wootton Bridge circular

Walk 29 Wootton Bridge to Newport

Walk 30 Bembridge Trail

Walk 31 Worsley Trail

Walk 32 Shorwell to Brading

Appendix A Route summary table

Appendix B Useful contacts

Updates

August 2024

Reader updates August 2024

Thank you to Neil BK Richardson for the following updates:

Walk 6 - Yarmouth to Shalfleet

Page 64 The route through Bouldnor Forest proved difficult to find because of the complex network of tracks in this area of access land. Many of the tracks are overgrown. The combination of tall bracken and gorse made progress slow and route-finding difficult.

Pages 65 & 66 Path S3, the Coastal Path from Hamstead to the T-junction at grid ref SZ 415 912 is closed because of the very poor condition of the boardwalks in this section. The closure is likely to remain in place for the foreseeable future as the boardwalks will require extensive repairs if not complete replacement. There was no 'path closed' notice or advance warning notice at the Hamstead end or between there and the first boardwalk, although at the other end of the closure there is a 'path closed' notice at SZ 415 912 and a yellow advance warning notice at the path junction at SZ 409 908.

Walks 7, 16 & 17

Pages 67, 121 & 126 (and all map extracts including Shalfleet village). As far as we could see there is no longer a public car park in Mill Road, Shalfleet, although one is shown on current OS 1:50000 & 1:25000 maps. No car park is shown on village plans on display in Shalfleet.

Walk 25 - Ashey Station Circular

Pages 171 & 172 We could not find the start of the path up towards the Sea Mark on the south side of the road 'nearly opposite' the path from Ashey Station at grid ref SZ 574 879. Probably the stile/gap in the hedge are completely overgrown.

Page 172 Access to the stile at the right-angle bend on Brading Down Road at the start of path NC3 was found to be completely choked by undergrowth, primarily brambles. It is just possible to squeeze between fence and thicket from a point about 20 metres east of the stile. The fence on the right of path NC3 has been removed. The bottom corner of the field where the 'stile hidden in a fence' is located has been disturbed and is now densely overgrown with tall weeds hiding the stile, making it very difficult to find.

April 2024

Coastal Path diversions

Isle of Wight Council has posted several diversions to the Coastal Path on its website

October 2023

Cheverton Down

In 2023, we received notice that Cheverton Down is apparently private land. Therefore, walkers are advised to turn left on the ridge near the top of Limerstone Down, then on entering Brighstone Forest take the first footpath on the right, then in quick succession turn right and right again to head back east along a footpath that eventually continues through Rowborough Bottom.

June 2023

Customer updates

Thank you to Chris Rayers for the following updates:

p39 and p42 the Appsley steps from the seafront at Shanklin up to Rylstone Gardens are closed (but there is no advance warning/no detour signs) so you have to go back to the metal barrier that you went through down to the Fisherman’s Cottage and work your way around the top of Shanklin Chine. Suspect temporary but not sure for how long.

p42 The Devils Chimney is closed

There is a detour around a landslip at Luccombe. Well signed and likely to be permanent.

p43 there are major works going on just before (East of) Ventnor esplanade and you have to go up into the town before finding your way down again. Not signed.

p52 There is a permanent looking diversion at Grange Chine, between Grange Farm camp site and Isle of Wight Pearl, taking you inland over the military road. There is a detour sign for anti-clockwise walkers but we didn’t see one and had a hazardous 1/2 mile walk down the road.

p80 refers to a deviation from the official route to follow a very muddy path. We were fortunate: after 3 weeks without rain the ground was dry but the signs were that this was not a “very muddy path” - it would have been an “extremely muddy path that kept on being extremely muddy: good footwear and sticks are strongly recommended”.

p83/84 We walked from Ryde to Sandown, and with the tide in, the path along the beach was almost impassable (there is a footpath above the beach before descending the steps but that was marked as closed). Given these problems we looked and decided against walking around Foreland and had a little trouble picking up the path again; we found the pub mentioned on p84 but the way out of its car park wasn’t obvious and around there we did find another path closed sign.

December 2021

2022 reprint route updates

873 Isle of Wight 2022 Rpt (96.225 KB)

October 2020

Walk 14 at Freshwater Bay

We have been informed of the following by a reader

Page 113 describes the route north taking F32. While this footpath still exists, all signage has been removed.
To avoid the golf course, take the first left (Southdown Road), turning right at a T-junction, and soon cross a road to continue on The Causeway.

November 2019

Route updates included in 2020 reprint

873 Isle of Wight 2020 rpt P220 (819.008 KB)

Reviews

The island is indeed 'England in miniature'. It really does have a little bit of everything.

Having been here for more than 40 years, I know the walks described. Paul has a good selection. When using any guide book, always take an OS map with you. This book is quite chunky, but it is pocket size, and the pictures are good. I feel Paul Curtis has enjoyed writing it.

Jill Green, Strider

If recreational walking is the island’s crown, then the Coastal Path must be its jewel

There is a great deal more to the Isle of Wight than ‘bucket and spade’ holidays. As author Paul Curtis points out, there are an incredible 326 miles of footpaths, including a 70 mile coastal path, on an island measuring 23 x 13 miles. The default scenery is undulating downland, interspersed with wooded areas, never far from glimpses of the sea.

Although Paul Curtis, who lives on the Isle of Wight, describes differences in the island’s population, there is a strong sense of community. Serious crime is very rare and there is a distinct lack of ‘edge’, which perhaps reinforces the widely held notion that it is ‘stuck in the 1950s’. The rather staid atmosphere today is presumably a great contrast with life before ‘Victorianisation’, when life in the fields was tough, smuggling was commonplace, and the forbidding coastline claimed numerous lives.

Taking a car onto the ferry can be expensive and so visitors may wish to consider leaving it on the mainland. The island’s bus service, is excellent and all of the 33 walks in the book start and end within easy reach of a bus route. There is even a modest railway.

If recreational walking is the island’s crown, then the Coastal Path must be its jewel and links places of considerable interest – from Palmerston’s ‘follies’ to the Tennyson Monument. Add to these some 2,000 listed buildings, and If this sounds like an enticing combination – it is!

Cicerone has carved a niche for itself with high quality OS maps, useful tables and books that are genuinely informative, covering not just routes, but history – natural and cultural – and practical information. Head for Portsmouth Harbour Station and a very civilised adventure.

By Paul Curtis

Paul Curtis lived on the Isle of Wight for eight years, during which time he wrote the first edition of this book. He is a very keen national and international long-distance walker and cyclist, preferring to savour it all than to rush. Among many other adventures, he has cycled from Boston to San Diego, from New York City to New Orleans, from Calais to Malaga, and from Calais to Scalea, as well as hiking through the Swiss Alps, and from his Hampshire home to Sheffield.

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