IOW erosion

 I think we chose the wrong week to go to IOW. More rain fell overnight, the wind picked up and as luck would have it, the bloody cassette full light came on just as we were getting ready for bed. Ian was sent out to change it. I had a very good excuse for not doing it, I had already got myself undressed, the PJ's were on and Ian had yet to get ready for bed. Stood to reason then don't you think?

This time we managed to sleep through it all. Nothing at all like the monsoon conditions of two days ago, both of us were, nevertheless, very glad we had not returned to the woodland car park. There was some   concern when we woke this morning about MB getting off this site. On a slope and MB facing uphill, the amount of rain on an already sodden field had us wondering if the tyres were man enough to get us going and not start spinning. Ian was again sent out with a brief lull in the rain about 7 am to go and check ground conditions and to take the full cassette (left under MB last night) to the elsan to empty. He came back reassured that the ground felt firm, and didn't expect any difficulties. 

Just before we left, in the field opposite, three Llamas came careering over the brow of the hill. Took us both by surprise!

No problems at all in leaving the site, first stop was Asda for a food shop, followed by a stop at Matalan in Newport for me to purchase a new hoodie, (my old faithful had started fraying at the sleeves and although it broke my heart to part with it, just had to be done). Then it was off to Shanklin Chine to walk the gorge to the waterfall.

Very evident on the roads was the amount of rain that's fallen over the past few days. Partly run off from the fields but also some blocked drains,

If we had no luck, we wouldn't have any luck at all! Due to last night's bad weather, part of the gorge had been closed to the public. Something to do with falling debris on the footpaths (trees, branches?) This was told to us by the lady manning the kiosk at the Old Village entrance, although there was a way to see part of the attraction if we went to the second entrance by Shanklin Esplanade. I suppose we could have done that, but the part we really wanted to see, the waterfall, was inaccessible. What was also really annoying, we had paid for 3 hours parking, £6 was not too bad but in these hard times, every penny counts.

We decided to walk up to the tea rooms by the park. There was mention of Red Squirrels, that got both of us interested. But did we see any? Did we heck! We also had a cuppa, and Ian nearly went for an ice cream. Crikey it was only 8 degrees which actually felt like 3 with the wind. Nothing ever stops that man from wanting ice cream! A crazy golf course was by the tearooms, well that would kill a bit of time we thought.

Ian won, and I started so well too!

With the park on the doorstep and another mention by passers-by that squirrels could be seen playing on the ground, of course we went on high alert. Necks craned looking up to the canopy, eyes also peeled looking at the ground, there were still no sign of any. We did notice worrying signs of bank erosion, All the bad weather has had a detrimental effect on this island's cliffs, in fact there are some amazing photos on the County Press website. Click HERE to view. The main road from Shanklin to Ventnor was closed beginning of this year due to a landslide. To view that photo from the Island Echo click HERE

 Ian checked to see how much time was left on the car park ticket. 75 minutes, so to kill even more time, it was into the gift shops for a browse. Neither of us like shopping, so it was surprising that I came out with a serving spoon holder (saves putting a dirty spoon on the work surface when one is cooking) and a small container for used teabags. Another 20 minutes killed, this time we did go back to MB.

Drove down to Shanklin with the hope of parking on the esplanade. Because the sun had finally put in an appearance, Shanklin was packed. We called it quits, making our way the long way round to Ventnor. Here we found a lovely NT car park overlooking the sea. This will do nicely for tonight.

A path near the car park led down to the beach. It was decided to go for a walk and guess what, more cliff erosion meant this path was closed. Oh well, back to MB for a well-earned cup of coffee.