Isle of Wight

Thursday 2nd July 2026 – along the west coast to The Needles….

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Another lovely day, after a few spits and spots overnight and we have decided to take a drive along the west coast along the coastal road.

Bypassing Sandown and Shanklin which we will visit another day, we were a bit disappointed by not being able to get down into Ventnor and find suitable parking but carried on along the Old Military Road, finding a small lay up above Chale Bay (literally above the oldest Theme Park in the UK – Blackgang Chine) which afforded spectacular views along the coast and Chine Bay, towards The Needles and little glimpses of the beach below….

A little further along was a National Trust carpark for Brook Chine Beach a part black sand and pebbly beach just accessible above the tide….

A brief stop and cliff top walk looking down on the beaches of Freshwater….

And more stunning views looking towards The Needles and out to Mermaid Rock….

A further short drive took us to our main destination the car park below The Needles Headland, the most westerly point of the Isle of Wight and almost spitting distance from Milford on Sea on the mainland. Here fortunately the parking attendant appeared to have gone home, so we parked up and set off to walk to The Needles viewing points. Looking down on the magnificent multicoloured cliffs and Alum Bay…

We almost achieved eye to eye contact with a kestrel as we walked….

Access to the lower viewing point is through the NT Old Battery….

But it was also worth climbing up to the higher viewing point to get a wider view of their magnificence – how awesome is our natural world?….

After a quick mooch around The Needles Attraction, which reminded me of the one at Lands End (equally awful) only to find that all the shops were not dog friendly (their loss) and a last look at The Needles….

There is a rather cool cable car running from the end of the car park down to Alum Bay and a number of boat trips available from the landing stage down on the beach and an open top bus doing circuits from the car park to both viewing points so you could easily make a day of it but we have had a great day, a couple of nice walks and are ready for the drive back to site, food and relax.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 51
  • Miles walked – 6
  • Beaches – 5
  • O/N – £17.50

Wednesday 1st July 2026 – across the water to the Isle of Wight….

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A fresh breeze but lovely and sunny as we make an early getaway from busy Bognor and make the hour long (traffic) journey to the Isle of Wight Ferry Terminal in Portsmouth and get placed on the earlier ferry (10am as opposed to the booked one at 10.40am) and are soon leaving mainland UK behind for the second time this year….

We ventured outside briefly (it makes Tilly rather anxious) in the lovely sunshine to capture a couple of shots of Portsmouth before settling in the dog friendly lounge for the rest of the short crossing. By 10.30 we are back on dry land and ready to see what the Isle of Wight has to offer for the next week, starting with Quarr Abbey, just a few miles from the Ferry Port in Fishbourne. We stopped here out of curiosity and to get a bit of a walk after being in a bit of a rush this morning and were not disappointed…

Built in 1907 and still occupied by a small group of Benedictine Monks the Abbey is generally not open but you can access the church and there was a visitor centre, gift shop, local produce farm shop and lovely tea rooms and garden. More importantly for us, plenty of woodland grounds for us to wander and a large carpark.

Our next stop was Ryde and we soon found that here was plenty of parking (paid!) along the seafront and we ended up walking along the promenade from the eastern end of Ryde in Appley, westwards into the town. The beach at Appley was beautiful and not a pebble to be seen, the half way point marked by Appley Tower (with a dog friendly section beyond) perched on the edge of the beautiful soft sandy beach….

Continuing towards the town centre, Ryde Beach is an absolute stunner, with plenty of maritime activity in the Solent and Portsmouth very visible on the horizon…

Butting up to the Pier, the oldest in the world built in 1814 and the second longest in the UK, nearly half a mile, it also provides a rail link to Portsmouth via passenger Catamaran at the end is Harbour Beach….

And just beyond the Pier is Ryde West Sands a much smaller beach but seemingly popular as a swimming beach….

In the meantime it has gotten quite warm and this seems like a good place to turn back and return to the van and make the short journey to our home for the week – Shortlands CAMC and plan the rest of the week’s adventures.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 40
  • Miles walked – 6
  • Beaches – 4
  • C/P – £4.10
  • O/N – £17.40
  • Return Ferry – £151.80