Isle of Wight -Day 2

We had a leisurely start from Cowes, spending most of an hour waiting for, and then watching, a yacht race. Cowes is the "yachting capital" of Britain. When we walked down to the promenade by the water we saw the sign on the side of the wall (part of the Royal Yacht Squadron headquarters), and the uniformed race starter:

We overheard enough to learn that the starting cannon would be fired in about twenty minutes, so we decided to wait and watch. Not liking loud noises, I wandered on down the promenade, past the cannons which were from Henry VIII's castle here.



The flags were raised (signifying something to the racers),		and I was sufficiently far off when the cannon fired.

The first few miles for the day were along the Cowes promenade and its extension, past Egypt Point (the northernmost tip of the Isle of Wight), and past lots of people out appreciating the sunny weekend. Beach huts lined the walkway near Gurnard.

We finally were on an actual footpath, and almost immediately were in the sort of situation that we encountered for the whole Coastal Path. Erosion had eaten away large chunks of the cliff. Farmers had put up barbed wire fences to keep livestock from falling into the sea, and the coast path was squeezed between fence and edge.

We ate lunch after dropping down to a bit of sandy beach, and then spent several hours on the inland route necessitated by the large estuary of the Newtown River. Newtown itself was an important port in the 13th century. It was burned by the French in 1377 and never recovered. As a tiny village, it was one of the "rotten boroughs", with two members of Parliament until the reforms of 1832. We liked this corner cottage with a postbox built in:

We survived a stretch of walking beside a fast, busy road, and then had pleasant lanes and paths to Shalfleet. We were very hot and thirsty, having been rationing out our water supply, so were disappointed to find the inn closed for the mid-afternoon hours. We saw that there was a village shop, but sadly found it closed on Sunday. We sat and rested near some houses. When a woman drove up her driveway, I went over and asked whether she'd mind refilling our water flasks. She didn't mind, so we left Shalfleet happily, with our thirst quenched and our bottles full.

Our route led us in a big loop, back again near the estuary, which we saw across marshy meadows.

The route through Bouldnor Forest has been repeatedly moved back from the cliff, as the cliff falls into the sea. Down below us were many fallen trees at the water's edge. We arrived at Yarmouth just before the rain, which had been threatening, began pouring. Lucky timing!