Walking on the Isle of Wight

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

By Paul Curtis

ISBN

9781852848736

Availability

Published

10 May 2017

Reprinted

26 Jan 2022

Edition

Second

Pages

232

Size

17.20 x 11.60 x 1.35cm

Weight

270g

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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

26 Jan 2022

Edition

Second

Pages

232

Size

17.20 x 11.60 x 1.35cm

Weight

270g

Overview

A guidebook to 32 walking routes on the beautiful Isle of Wight, including the 70 mile Coastal Path - a complete circuit of the island's spectacular coast. Ranging from 4 to 18 miles long, the walks explore clifftops, beaches, forest trails and downland, and visit picturesque villages and the towns of Yarmouth, Cowes and Ventnor. Graded easy to moderate, they are suitable for all abilities and are accessible all year round.

The guide contains clear step-by-step route descriptions for each walk, accompanied by an extract from 1:50,000 OS mapping. There is information about refreshment and accommodation options along the route and plenty of details about the island's history and the interesting places encountered. Options for accessing the start and finish using the island excellent public transport are also given for each walk.

With an incredible 326 miles of footpaths in a compact area, there is a huge choice of where to walk, which means that walkers can experience all the diversity the island has to offer - jaw-dropping views such as those from the magnificent coastline of West Wight, St Catherine's Point and the Needles, sweeping downland, as well as 2000 or so listed buildings.

Table of 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
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

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.

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Paul Curtis

Paul Curtis fell in love with the Isle of Wight on his first visit as an adult in 2008. Surprised and inspired by the sheer variety of landscapes in a relatively small area, he kept returning over the next three years and ended up walking nearly every footpath on the island before being commissioned by Cicerone to write 'Walking on the Isle of Wight'. He has lived on the island since 2011 but regularly finds time to walk and cycle on the mainland and internationally.

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