Isle of Wight - Brading Down, St Catherine's Down, Blackgang Chine & Another Sunset.

On Thursday morning we took the dogs to Brading Downs.  More fantastic views on this bright and sunny day.

After our walk we headed into Old Shanklin for lunch.  

We found a delightful Cafe which welcomed dogs.  The owners were very welcoming and super sweet and the lady came out with a bowl of water and dog treats for them.  

It was very festive inside.

The meal was lovely.  My husband had a Ploughmans, and it must have been the biggest he has ever seen!  Lots of fresh vegetables and fruit with it as well.

After lunch.

After that fabulous lunch, we headed off to the South West Coast again.

This time to St Catherine's Down.

We walked up to the hill and were bowled over by yet more stunning views.

There was a strange orange 'smudge' over the sea though...

A marker on the way up.

The dogs enjoyed the climb.

Come on, why are you so slow?!

St Catherine's Oratory.

The history behind this is fascinating.

Stanley is turning into a beautiful dog.

He surveyed his 'kingdom'

Looking up inside it.

More views over the downs and out to sea.

After the Downs we drove to Blackgang Chine as I wanted to get a few photos.

The road had slipped away

This is where part of the original Blackgang Chine and adventure playground was.

The old merry-go-round is still there

and the fort.

An old building that has been sadly abandoned, probably due to being on such unstable ground.

The hill glowed red in the distance.

A rather impressive looking building!

The days are short, so we headed over to Brook Bay for a walk along the beach as the sun set.

You can see here better what the 'orange smudge' in the distance was....mist/fog rolling in from the sea.  The following day was our only 'non-sunny' day.

The sun disappears behind the bank of fog.

Gone.

Although the sun had gone down, it was still just light enough to continue walking along the beach for a while.

We came across this metal object in the sand.

Stanley has one last look out to see.

Time to go back to the cottage for dinner.

We head back to the car.

Isle of Wight - Shanklin to Sandown, Bembridge Fort, Culver Battery and Cliffs.

Wednesday was another glorious day and in the morning we headed over to Shanklin to do the walk between Shanklin and Sandown along the water front.

Beach huts never cease to amuse me, having never seen them before until I came to live in England.  I love how they are all so bright and colourful.  There were also some inventively named huts closer to Sandown that I had intended on photographing on our walk back, but I forgot as we ended up walking along the beach on the way back as the tide had gone out.

The sea was splashing against the walkway.

Not a cloud in the sky again.

It was so lovely and warm, we sat on the beach front and had a drink (or three I think it ended up in hubby's case!) and a bite to eat.

What a perfect place to wile away a couple of hours.

In the end it warmed up enough for me to take my coat off, most unlike me!

A crow keeping watch.

The name of the Cafe.  

A war memorial

Poppies and wreaths, still in excellent condition.  Lovely to see people still care.

In the afternoon we went up to the top of the cliffs that you can see in the distance.

We took a photo of the hotel my MIL will be staying in when she visits in April.  Not my kind of thing, but right opposite the pier and on the beach will be handy for her.

There's those beach huts again.

We then made our way up to Bembridge Downs for another walk.

Unfortunately you can't go in the fort, so I just took a picture of the sign!

The dogs enjoyed their walk on this sunny afternoon.

There was still frost on the ground on parts that hadn't been exposed to the sun...which shows just how cold it was during the night.

Looking down on the caravan park.

Some Ferries in the distance.

We had planned to see the sun set, but unfortunately I started to get severe stomach cramps so we had to make a mad dash for home, which was rather fraught!  Fortunately I got home 'just in time' and had the most dreadful night of stomach pains etc...but was generally okay the next day fortunately.

I did get these couple of photos though before we headed off.