First thing to say - if you enjoy walking, are reasonably fit and determined, enjoy the natural landscape and have never done the Walk the Wight - then it would be a great thing for you to do. It is both a real challenge and a fantastic, wonderful walk. Please do it - a 100% recommendation. What makes it even more special the Walk the Wight event is organised on behalf of the Earl Mountbatten Hospice. It is a fundraising event - but all that is required is a donation - (sponsorship is not a condition of entry).
Walk the Wight as an event is now in its 26th year. Several thousand people set out each year. I haven't done all of them but I wouldn't be surprised if I have done half of them with family and friends. In my recent Randonee blog I referred to the tyranny of the "May double". The Randonee (the bike ride round the Island) and 2 weekends later every year the Walk the Wight. (walk across the Island)
Here are extracts from an E mail exchange between myself and a friend a few days before this years Walk the Wight :-
ME
This is my situation with Walk the Wight. Like you I have done it many times and have always found it draining - ha! If I am free at the weekend and don't do it I feel a bit irritated with myself for some crazy reason - like I have wimped out ! 51% of me thinks I should do it. 49% is thinking don't be daft there is plenty of other things you could be doing! This year my family aren't around so unless we decide to do it I probably won't bother.
Walk the Wight as an event is now in its 26th year. Several thousand people set out each year. I haven't done all of them but I wouldn't be surprised if I have done half of them with family and friends. In my recent Randonee blog I referred to the tyranny of the "May double". The Randonee (the bike ride round the Island) and 2 weekends later every year the Walk the Wight. (walk across the Island)
Here are extracts from an E mail exchange between myself and a friend a few days before this years Walk the Wight :-
ME
This is my situation with Walk the Wight. Like you I have done it many times and have always found it draining - ha! If I am free at the weekend and don't do it I feel a bit irritated with myself for some crazy reason - like I have wimped out ! 51% of me thinks I should do it. 49% is thinking don't be daft there is plenty of other things you could be doing! This year my family aren't around so unless we decide to do it I probably won't bother.
THE REPLY
I am just like you in this, I was going to do the Randonee but dillied and dallied and eventually didn't do it due to lack of preparation and then regretted it! I think that your suggestion has tipped the balance and we should go for it. The forecast is still good although I think there may be a breeze against us along Tennyson!
So we did it. A fantastic weather day and so glad we made the effort.
One of the complications of doing the walk is getting to the start at Bembridge from 6am onwards (your choice) and getting home from Alum Bay (The Needles) 26 miles away at the other end of the Island. There are some bus shuttle services but we have found after 26 miles - really tired and often sore - the last thing you want to be doing is messing around in bus queues and climbing bus stairs. We always make alternative arrangements using cars.
In past years when I have done it we have started around 8am and struggled into Alum Bay near 6pm. This year we did start at 6am (and finished at 3.30pm). It was busy initially but not really crowded. We were soon up on Culver Down - looking down on the wide expanse Sandown Bay to the left, Solent and mainland to the right and miles of chalk down and green pleasant valleys ahead of us to be trod - ha! Having done it so many times before I know every inch of the route - an advantage and disadvantage - maybe - but the scenery always makes it worth it as does the feeling that you are doing something really challenging.
I am not going to try and describe the walk - I attach a few photos at the end - and a link to the local newspaper web site. All I will say is the first half of the walk takes you roughly to the middle of the Island - to famous Carisbrooke Castle (Newport - the Island's main town). Some people (doing half the walk) finish here - some start here. There is a lovely carnival atmosphere - music - food - excitement. It is a refuel stop - sort out your feet stop before the second half.
On the second half vistas open out even more - much is chalk down. There are some really testing hills but it is special. No traffic noise as there are no roads - unspoilt scenery and now walkers more spread out and quieter (not chatting so much) as tiredness gradually takes hold. Most of the fancy dress groups have finished half way or flagged and it is left to the dogged walkers in the main.
On of my favourite bits because it is especially beautiful is coming down off the downs adjacent to the Freshwater Golf Club Course - to your right Afton where the first Isle of Wight Festival was played - Jimmy Hendrix etc - a wonderful virgin down land slope with the Solent and bobbing boats behind and then the mainland in the distance. Ahead of Freshwater Bay is towering Tennyson Down with the famous Tennyson Monument on the top and the finish beyond. But us experienced in the route know there is still 4 miles to go from Freshwater Bay. Normally this is wonderful walking as the Island narrows to the Needles and you are high above sea and Solent - but tiredness means you are probably only really thinking about the finish. It is here that you see some people really struggling with sore feet - blisters or walking like they have just got off a horse. As we approach the Needles Battery - just a half mile to go - there are two guys playing bagpipes. It was wonderful. The bagpipes really lift you - great stuff Dr Cooney - thank you.
The windey walk takes you down to Alum Bay for the finish. Lots of clapping from the crowd and medals hung around the necks of finishers. Sad to admit it but you do feel a bit of a conqueror - ha! A lovely exhausted feeling.
The priority now is to sit down - get warm - because tiredness seems to make you feel chill - and we need sustenance of course. My car is close by - we dropped it over the night before - so wonderful to just sit in and go with no messing. We head up the Military Road - see walkers with still a long way to go (poor them) and part trace the route we have walked - amazing we have done that - it seems so far. At Chale we stop at the Wight Mouse Inn and stagger up the steps to the entrance. A beef lasagne - lots of cheese topping and chips - garlic bread and salad - and a couple of pints - recalling the walk - wonderful. A great sated feeling. It is then back to Bembridge to pick up the other car. I stop off on the way home and buy some chocolate. Fall asleep by 8pm. A great day - and we might have missed it - ha!
Below are a few photos. This is the local newspaper link - http://www.iwcp.co.uk/news/news/walk-the-wight-2016-pictures-tweets-video-and-more-94923.aspx?mn=1
So we did it. A fantastic weather day and so glad we made the effort.
One of the complications of doing the walk is getting to the start at Bembridge from 6am onwards (your choice) and getting home from Alum Bay (The Needles) 26 miles away at the other end of the Island. There are some bus shuttle services but we have found after 26 miles - really tired and often sore - the last thing you want to be doing is messing around in bus queues and climbing bus stairs. We always make alternative arrangements using cars.
In past years when I have done it we have started around 8am and struggled into Alum Bay near 6pm. This year we did start at 6am (and finished at 3.30pm). It was busy initially but not really crowded. We were soon up on Culver Down - looking down on the wide expanse Sandown Bay to the left, Solent and mainland to the right and miles of chalk down and green pleasant valleys ahead of us to be trod - ha! Having done it so many times before I know every inch of the route - an advantage and disadvantage - maybe - but the scenery always makes it worth it as does the feeling that you are doing something really challenging.
I am not going to try and describe the walk - I attach a few photos at the end - and a link to the local newspaper web site. All I will say is the first half of the walk takes you roughly to the middle of the Island - to famous Carisbrooke Castle (Newport - the Island's main town). Some people (doing half the walk) finish here - some start here. There is a lovely carnival atmosphere - music - food - excitement. It is a refuel stop - sort out your feet stop before the second half.
On the second half vistas open out even more - much is chalk down. There are some really testing hills but it is special. No traffic noise as there are no roads - unspoilt scenery and now walkers more spread out and quieter (not chatting so much) as tiredness gradually takes hold. Most of the fancy dress groups have finished half way or flagged and it is left to the dogged walkers in the main.
On of my favourite bits because it is especially beautiful is coming down off the downs adjacent to the Freshwater Golf Club Course - to your right Afton where the first Isle of Wight Festival was played - Jimmy Hendrix etc - a wonderful virgin down land slope with the Solent and bobbing boats behind and then the mainland in the distance. Ahead of Freshwater Bay is towering Tennyson Down with the famous Tennyson Monument on the top and the finish beyond. But us experienced in the route know there is still 4 miles to go from Freshwater Bay. Normally this is wonderful walking as the Island narrows to the Needles and you are high above sea and Solent - but tiredness means you are probably only really thinking about the finish. It is here that you see some people really struggling with sore feet - blisters or walking like they have just got off a horse. As we approach the Needles Battery - just a half mile to go - there are two guys playing bagpipes. It was wonderful. The bagpipes really lift you - great stuff Dr Cooney - thank you.
The windey walk takes you down to Alum Bay for the finish. Lots of clapping from the crowd and medals hung around the necks of finishers. Sad to admit it but you do feel a bit of a conqueror - ha! A lovely exhausted feeling.
The priority now is to sit down - get warm - because tiredness seems to make you feel chill - and we need sustenance of course. My car is close by - we dropped it over the night before - so wonderful to just sit in and go with no messing. We head up the Military Road - see walkers with still a long way to go (poor them) and part trace the route we have walked - amazing we have done that - it seems so far. At Chale we stop at the Wight Mouse Inn and stagger up the steps to the entrance. A beef lasagne - lots of cheese topping and chips - garlic bread and salad - and a couple of pints - recalling the walk - wonderful. A great sated feeling. It is then back to Bembridge to pick up the other car. I stop off on the way home and buy some chocolate. Fall asleep by 8pm. A great day - and we might have missed it - ha!
Below are a few photos. This is the local newspaper link - http://www.iwcp.co.uk/news/news/walk-the-wight-2016-pictures-tweets-video-and-more-94923.aspx?mn=1
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