Midhurst Footpath Companions
Walking in Sussex, Hampshire and Surrey.

Isle of Wight 3rd June 2019 Needles walk

The weather forecast was good, some wind was forecast, but a clear day, so we decided to find the Needles. We walked up the hill past Dimbola, the home of the celebrated Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. Sadly there wasn't time to visit as we still had a few miles still to go. Turning off the road we walked west to the north of the monument until we reached the Tennyson Trail, which then took us to the Needles at the far end of the island. Packed lunches were opened up to provide fuel for the return leg. We walked along the road as far as Alum Bay before heading straight for the Tennyson Monument. It looked very much uphill but in fact was fairly gradual, so we had a brief stop at the top before descending back the Freshwater Bay. It had been a very scenic walk in the sunshine, terrific views and with skylarks escorting us nearly all of the time. We got back before 3.00pm so there was still time to cool tired feet in the pool.

Alum Bay sands

Catching the sunshine

Kestrel at Alum Bay

Boot room

Distant Hurst Castle, Charles I imprisoned there in December 1648

Small blue

Drink stop at the crossroads

Needles from Tennyson Down

and feet needed cooling

Heading for Freshwater Bay

Tired feet needed resting

Spitfire and Harvard trainer flew past

Tennyson monument

Walkers resting

Lunch

About 7.1/2 miles

Some even swam!

Looking back towards the Needles

Skylark on Tennyson Down

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