IOW Circumnavigation July 04

For those of us who are interested in sea kayaking, the south-east of England isn’t the ideal paddling location. If you have paddled in Scotland, Wales and the West Country, the heavily built up coastline and the huge numbers of ships, yachts, gin palaces and jet skis can be the source of much irritation.

We do however, have some spectacular sections of coastline and headlands that produce interesting conditions for kayaking. The Isle of Wight and the Solent are one of these places. Apart from visiting the island when my children were small and taking open top buses to the usual tourist haunts, I had never paddled there until summer 2004. For years the club that I was a member of, had discussed the possibilities of making the crossing, but there were always too many obstacles thrown up and it never happened.

I leapt at the chance of doing a circumnavigation over a long weekend in July.
The Romans called the island Vectis. The Anglo Saxons used Wihte ealond and in the middle ages there were further variations such as Wicht and Whyht.
It is believed that the island was formed as recently as 7,000 years ago when the sea levels began to rise, as the ice caps retreated. The derivation of the name could be connected to the Welsh gwaith (work) and the Latin Vectis (lever). Wight could mean ‘what has been raised above the sea’

We set off from Calshot Activity Centre at about 2pm on Friday. There were ten of us in total with one double and the rest of us in single kayaks. The weekend weather forecast was good, with little wind expected and many of us were paddling in light thermals. We crossed the Solent at Stansore Point and kept close to the channel to take advantage of the tide. It was a good day for sunglasses and sunscreen. To our left was Newtown Bay with its river and village. Newtown was once the island’s capital and ships, of all sizes used the river as a harbour. The Romans sacked the town and in 1377 the French burnt it to the ground. One of the few building remaining is the Old Town Hall. The National Trust now owns most of the adjoining land. It is one of the few ‘unspoilt’ estuaries on the island and large numbers of seabirds nest and feed on the marshland.

A little later we had a leg stretch at Alum Bay. Although the beach looks a bit like an industrial site, the multi coloured sands have an interesting pedigree and were originally laid down millions of years ago before massive movements of the earth’s surface upended the sandstone, shale and clay strata. The chairlift appeared to be slowly moving, but there were few people on the beach. This was just as well, for those of us needing to find a convenient rock. In 1897 Marconi sent the first wireless transmission from Alum Bay and a monument to him stands on the cliff top above the beach.

We soon reached The Needles but there was little ‘interesting’ water to be had by those seeking excitement. The original lighthouse was built on the cliffs overlooking Scratchell’s Bay in 1785 but its light was frequently obscured by fog. Trinity House built a new 109ft lighthouse that is perched on the most westerly rock of the Needles group. It started working on 1 st January 1859 and was built of granite. Cellars and storehouses were excavated in the chalk bedrock. The lighthouse was automated in 1994.

On the site of the old Needles Battery was a top secret space rocket and missile development centre. It operated between 1955 and 1971 and they developed the ‘Black Arrow’ and ‘Black Night’ rockets. In 1971 the only all British satellite was launched into orbit by a ‘Black Night’ rocket. It should stay there until about 2200.

The late afternoon sun reflected off the chalk cliffs below Tennyson Down and there were a number of small caves along this stretch of coast. We made good time to Freshwater Bay and headed for the eastern side of the beach. It must be a common occurrence for groups of kayakers to bivi on the beach, as none of the fine people of Freshwater Bay told us to ‘shove our hooks’. One of the problems of paddling in the southeast is that you are never too far away from people. For paddlers who yearn for the wild outdoors of Scotland and its numerous islands, it can be a little disheartening. We arrived about 8pm and set to cooking supper (or in my case, having pitta bread and cheese etc). I eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables and, with the good forecast for the weekend, had decided against cooking. As long as I could boil up hot water for tea, I would survive a weekend on the hospitable IOW. After eating, some of us went for a swift half or two at the local hotel. Considering we were there during the peak summer period, the bars were very quiet. If there were large quantities of driftwood on the beach and we were in some remote part of Scotland, no doubt we would have got a fire blazing, got the whiskey out and told stories of epic paddles in horrendous conditions. But we weren’t, so rather than sit around in the dark, most of us got the bivvi bags out, rolled out the thermarest mats and got into our sleeping bags.

During the night a couple of fishermen shared the beach with us, but they had gone by the early hours. Dawn came and as the sun rose over the cliffs, we started to warm up nicely. Soon there was a multicoloured array of clothes and other kit drying out on the beach. The public toilets didn’t open until 9am and the café at 10am and, as we were hoping to leave about 09.30 to take advantage of the tide, those people who wanted the luxury of a café breakfast were disappointed.

Between Freshwater Bay and St Catherine’s Point the Military Road runs parallel to the coast. It was built during the late nineteenth century, with barracks at either end, and had been constructed at the same time as numerous forts, because of a perceived threat from the French. It was never needed and groups of bikers apparently now use it as an unofficial racetrack. We passed numerous chines (local name, where a stream has cut through solid rock), although on this south-western shores they are bare of vegetation. On the south-eastern seaboard some, such as Shanklin Chine, are rich with exotic plants that grow in their unique microclimate. Blackgang Chine, which is about 2km from St Catherine’s Point, is a popular place for fossil hunters.

St Catherine’s Point Lighthouse, which is on the southernmost extremity of the island, is used by the Met Office as a weather reporting station. The race off the point flows at about 5 knots on spring tides, and with wind against tide, there are significant overfalls to contend with. We were passing through, with a several knot stream in our favour and it was good to be in some moving water. Some of the group opted for a less turbulent ride close to shore. The present lighthouse at St Catherine’s was built in 1838. The lantern was frequently capped in mist, so in 1875 the elevation of the light was lowered by 13 meters. This did little to improve its appearance. The lighthouse was automated in 1997.

We stopped to have a quick lunch break at Reeth Bay, which is an attractive little beach just west of St Catherine’s Point. It was decided to press on to take advantage of the good conditions and to possibly set our sights on an overnight stay at Whitecliff Bay. This part of the island is more highly populated and you are rarely far away from built up areas. We passed Shanklin Chine, which was chosen as one of several places for the highly secret PLUTO or Pipe Line Under The Ocean project. These pipes were delivering fuel to allied forces in France by August 1944 and by the spring of 1945 were delivering over 1 million gallons a day. The pipeline consisted of over 500 miles of pipe, and pumping stations were disguised as shops or houses.

When we arrived at Whitecliff Bay, we were spoilt for choice (two) regarding local hostelries. There were also a couple of small café’s on the beach, one of which did some mean sandwiches and rolls, but they had closed by the time I had sorted myself out. The nearest toilets were at the campsite pub and the staff were not too fazed by a column of kayakers in bushpants and hellies filling up their water containers. We set up camp on the eastern side of the beach. Behind was a low crumbling cliff of multicoloured sand that formed the opposite end of the coloured sand strata of Alum Bay. The nearest pub served breakfasts, although yet again not quite early enough for our needs. Several of the group walked up to the pub on Culver Down, but they didn’t stay too long. Still, it was good exercise and they probably slept better for it. During the early evening, hordes of children and a few adults came down to the beach to play some games, but they were far enough away, not to disturb our tranquillity.

Dawn was spectacular. Flashes of yellow, orange and golden light broke through the clouds and reflected off the ripple free sea. I tried not to wake anyone, as I brewed my first cup of tea and took a few pictures. By 09.30 am we had left and we soon reached Bembridge Ledges, a limestone outcrop that has claimed many ships over the centuries. We stopped for a pee break at St Helen’s Fort. This Listed Ancient Monument, unlike the other Solent forts, has its own beach at low water. It was constructed in 1870 and has an artesian well water supply. It was sold by the Crown Estates in 1982 and has planning permission for conversion to a private residence. We made good progress to Ryde Sand where we crossed the channel to Gilkicker Point. It’s an interesting experience to have yachts and powerboats coming at you from all directions, not to mention the additional problems of high-speed ferries and hovercraft. We got to the other side without so much as a near miss and made for the shore at GAFIRS in Stokes Bay.

We had a restful and amusing lunch watching the antics of a group trying out what appeared to be their new toy. It was a small motorboat and the slight swell didn’t make it easy for them. Eventually it was launched from the trailer, and after much messing around, they got the outboard going. Unfortunately, it soon stopped and then started several times before spluttering to a halt in a cloud of smoke. By now the wind was getting up to a fresh breeze, they were about 200 metres out and were being blown down the Solent. Then the cavalry arrived in the form of a group of jet skiers. These noble cowboys of the sea offered the couple in the boat a friendly tow to the shore. They readily agreed, but were determined to use their own towline rather than be claimed as salvage by the aforementioned heroes. When they were within wading distance of the beach the good Samaritans cast off the rope and sped off into the sunset in search of other lost souls. It wasn’t, however over for the unlucky pair, as their shore party had great difficulty in pulling the boat onto their trailer. The wind had got up and the waves came close to beaching the boat against the concrete slipway on several occasions. After at least 20 minutes of wrestling with the boat and trailer and almost reversing their car into the sea, they finally succeeded in getting the boat onto the trailer and off the slipway. We weren’t alone in having grins like Cheshire cats.

Time to move on. We had some help from the tide, but faced a headwind, which must have been blowing force 5 for the rest of the journey to Calshot. We paddled parallel to the shore and were well away from the larger craft, although we had windsurfers and kitesurfers all around us adjacent to Lee on Solent. Some of these surfers were very talented and did some amazing tricks in what was a particularly strong wind. After a tiring couple of hours of almost constant paddling we finally got back to Calshot just before the centre closed for the day. It wasn’t until I looked in a mirror a bit later on that I realised why I was getting some strange looks. My face had a thin crust of salt on it from the invigorating paddle against the wind.

Thanks to Philip Chapple for planning and leading the trip on behalf of SESK. The weather was great, the paddling interesting and the company amenable.

Tony Sandry

Paddlers: Tony Sandry, Philip Chapple, Jackie Leslie, Dave Bagshaw, Rob Strickland, Alf Strickland, Axel Evers, Tony Jackson, John Edney and Steve Williams.