Walking on the Isle of Wight

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.

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

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.

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.