We went for a week’s trip to the Isle of Wight and once again stayed at the Lodge on the Marsh at Brading. We last stayed there for a long weekend in May 2019 just after Mum died.
This trip was all about Ritz taking a walk ext year (2023) called “follow the Seagull” around the island walk for the Brainstrust. Ritz wanted to see what it was like regarding the terrain, difficulty, paths etc.
She did two walks of about 8-10 miles each and seemed happy that she could complete the trip.
I met her at the end of each day and we went for a pub pint or two and a meal.
The Brading Marshes are wonderful for wildlife. In May 2019 I made a list of wildflowers and widlfowl. Being June, the marshes were such more overgrown and it was difficult to see any wildfowl without actually going on to the marsh itself.
We did see kestrels and buzzards although the expected Sea-Eagles proved elusive. We had a good half an hour on the last night watching fox cubs playing in front of the Lodge hide.
We went to Carisbrooke castle which was a first for Ritz and still good for me. The trip to Parkhurst forest was slightly marred by a broken switch on the drivers window. It was soon repaired in a permanent closed position by a friendly garage at no charge. No squirrels were seen at Parkhurt.
The next day we went to the Needles. The amusement park was awful but Ritz went on the chairlift and we went to the lighthouse in a boat (£8 each.)
On the final day we went to the ‘Best Dressed Carb’ restaurant for a sea-food platter which was excellent and a bottle of wine (£100.)
I love the Isle of Wight for its simplistic rural charm. The landscape is hilly and the sea is invigorating. Wildlife is quite good although this time, there wasn’t as much to see.
I would live on the island, but it’s far from practical when you’re looking at facilities like doctors, hospital etc. It is very tempting though.
I think Ritz enjoyed the freedom of the walk and closed a couple of issues in her mind, which is what she wanted.
