Afton Down to Sudmoor Point and back to Brook

I was running out of locations on south-west coast of the Isle of Wight that I could reach by bus at the time I was there; the "Island Coaster", which goes all the way along this section of coast, doesn't commence service for the summer until 5th April - and even then, there are only a couple of buses on this route each day and I can't use my bus pass on it. In any case, I was moving on to my second holiday cottage today, so I'd have my car with me. I decided to park at the National Trust car park to the east of Freshwater Bay at SZ352857, just as the A3055 climbs onto Afton Down. This was the point I'd got to yesterday, and my plan today was to follow the coastal path for as far as felt sensible, then either to walk back or catch the number 12 bus. The number 12 heads inland at Brook, though going further and cutting inland to catch the bus at Mottistone Manor or Brighstone might also be a possibility. However, I also wanted to visit Carrisbrooke Castle today, before driving on to Shanklin, so I didn't have the whole day.

It was a sunny morning in Wellow, but by the time I got to Freshwater Bay (just a 4.5 mile drive away) I realised that it was misty. I contemplated driving to the north coast in case the visibility was better, but decided to stay where I was. The mist persisted for the whole time I was walking, making it a rather atmospheric. The car park had a National Trust sign by its entrance, so I'd expected a pay and display machine or similar, at which I could scan my National Trust card, but there was nothing, so I assumed it was just free for anyone to park. There was a refreshment kiosk in the car park, which would have been useful had I not come such a short distance.  Coastal erosion has resulted in a re-routing of the coastal path up through the car park onto the downs above, but before setting off I returned to the "path closed" sign I'd reached yesterday, on the other side of the main road, and I went slightly further along the path on that side of the road so as to look at the Memorial to Edward Lewis Miller, a 15-year old who died after falling from the cliff in 1846. 

The path diversion, signposted up to the right of the car park, led up  onto Afton Down, soon turning  right and continuing to climb across the gorse-edged Freshwater Bay Golf Club,. There were people playing golf, but they didn't seem bothered by me, and nice - if misty - views behind me, back to Freshwater Bay and beyond.  After less than a kilometre (close to a covered reservoir, though I didn't notice this), a fork in the path led off to the right, and back down the hill. The descent was steeper than the climb had been and I was soon back at the road.

After a brief walk alongside the A3055, a stile led be back towards the coast on the original section of the path. The exact route was less clear than it had been on the diversion, and I picked my way around Compton Chine, ending up on the wrong side of a field boundary at one stage, so having to retrace my steps and try again in order to get across a little footbridge. The number 12 bus, which I was hoping to eventually catch back to my car, runs along the A3055 ("The Military Road") in this section, but there are quite long stretches when the path is some distance from the road, or above or below it with no access, so I was pleased to notice a bus stop up on the road at Compton Farm.  It wasn't too far away and there was a path I could have taken to get to it. So, in a worst case scenario, I could walk back to here to catch the bus, and not have to retrace the climb onto Afton Down. It was only when writing this leg up that I noticed there is also a car park by the road here.

The route was a bit fiddly, but there were good views to Compton Bay,  and I passed a little memorial. I then followed the cliff edge, up above an area of slumping,,with the beach below. After a kilometre or so, I came close to the road again, and I could see a big car park ahead, with toilets and another bus stop.  Thus is the Compton Bay car park and would provide another "escape point". However, he number 12 bus isn't very frequent, and it was some time until the next one was due, so I continue, back on the cliff above the area of slumping and the beach. This brought me to Brook Green, with another car park and bus stop. Since the bus then heads further inland, I decided that this would be the place to catch it for the journey back along the Military Road.

 First of all I followed a track back towards the coast and was rewarded by two conveniently placed benches. I only needed one in order to eat my lunch and that's what I did.  I could still keep walking for about 30 minutes and get back for the bus so I continued. The path in this section was quite easy walking but the mist was getting thicker, creating an isolated eerie atmosphere, though somewhat bizarrely I wasn't the only idiot out walking;  I twice passed other walkers. A National Trust sign alerted me to the fact that I'd reached Sudmoor Point and about a kilometre further on (at SZ401825), I reached the point where a path leads inland to Mottistone Manor, a National Trust garden that I have visited before, with a car park...so, sometime in the future, this would be a place from which to set off again.  For now, it was time to turn around.

I was back at the bus stop at Brook Green in plenty of time, but the bus was late, excusible given the weather conditions and the fact that lots of roads on the Isle of Wight seems to be closed. I had an interesting conversation with the other person waiting at the bus stop, who was exploring the Island entirely by public transport, but who hadn't realised before setting off today to visit Isle of Wight Pearl, further east along the Military Road from Brook that the "Island Coaster", the only bus that runs along this section of road, isn't yet operational for the summer. A helpful driver had dropped him off somewhere inland this morning and than he's walked back along the main road. He was was heading back to Ryde, via Alum Bay, which is entirely in the wrong direction. Ah well, he was seeing the Island! Meanwhile, I was soon back the car park from whence, presumably because of road closures, Google Maps sent me along a network of increasingly minor roads to Carisbrooke Castle, in the centre of the Island, near Newport. Shortly after leaving the coast, the mist cleared and the sun came out, and my visit to Carisbrooke Castle was in glorious sunshine. Then I drove on to my second holiday cottage, on the outskirts of Shanklin.