Sunday walking

We took a bus this morning to the Isle of Wight donkey sanctuary which was a first for us. There are lots of donkeys and ponies in the fields which are pretty nice to look at - but I am not keen at just look at animals in a field. There was also a Christmas fair in one of the barns. There are lots of home-made items including jams and  Christmas cards, but there were also lots of people and it was quite crammed at one point. That must be a good sign for the fundraising.

After we had finished we took a walk along the road to Appuldurcombe House which is a large manor house now managed by English heritage.  It wasn’t actually open to the public today, and we knew that, but we just wanted to take a look at so took a trek across the fields, past quite a few sheep who ignored us, to take in quite a grand view of the front of the house. Maybe we should come back when it’s open. 

Next, we knew there was a part of the Red Squirrel Trail along a disused rail line that would take us back to Shanklin, and so we spent a pleasant hour or so walking 2 1/4 miles back to the road that pops out near Lidl. The exit was quite handy so we could pick up some food for later in the week. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable walk and we were blessed with blue skies and not too many people so we were able to take in the scenery. Unfortunately, there were no red squirrels to be seen.

After about an hour, having had some lunch, we decided that the weather was good enough, and we still had enough energy to continue walking in the opposite direction towards Sandown. It was a nice walk to Yaverland Beach, with a quick stop at the ice cream parlour, even though it’s November. Then we took a slightly different route back to Shanklin as the sun went down, and got some nice shots of the sunset across the bay.  

A lot of walking today but thoroughly enjoyable. It would be quite nice to do again tomorrow, but sadly we have to go back to work.