There is a maze of footpaths on the south-west side of the Isle of Wight, especially over the Downs. A good starting point is the car park off Strawberry Lane at grid reference SZ 420 845. From here, you can take the main trail, used by walkers and cyclists, heading west up over Mottistone Down.
Continue with the sea on your left until you get to a gate with a signpost showing a path leading down to the Long Stone. Straight on through the gate will take you over Pay Down and on to a quiet road. This road connects Chessell (with the lovely Chessell Pottery café) and Hulverstone (with the Sun Inn*!). If you cross this road, you can either walk up the steep path over Brook Down or take the slightly less steep one to the left towards Compton (Compton Bay is popular with surfers).
At the signpost to the Long Stone, turn sharp right, before the gate and head in to the woods. There is a smaller gate, go through this and then turn right. Straight on will take you up towards Chessell. Walk through the woods for about 800 metres, until you get to a crossroads. Left (the narrowest path of the crossroads) will take you back on to the main trail and straight on will take you to Lynch Lane. Turn left, through Westover Plantation, and follow the path out of the woods to Westover Farm. There are good views of the mainland as you leave the woods.
At Westover Farm, follow the path as it bends east until you get to a junction. Keep right at the junction and this path will take you on to Lynch Lane. This is a quiet road which leads in to Calbourne. If you don't want to walk on the road, keep left and this path also takes you to Calbourne.
If you take Lynch Lane, you will approach Winkle Street (below) from the south-east. You walk along the street, out the other side and take the footpath across fields, back to Westover Plantation. If you have arrived from the fields, you can either walk back along Lynch Lane (keep to this lane and you will get back to the car park) or go back the way you came.
Winkle Street is peaceful and idyllic. Another popular visitor attraction in Calbourne is Calbourne Water Mill. You can walk there from Winkle Street but you will either need a map to find the footpaths or walk very carefully along the road (this is not the best roads to walk along!).
*There are two Sun Inns in the area and both serve excellent food! There is one in Calbourne, as well as the one mentioned earlier in Hulverstone.
Once back at the crossroads in Westover Planatation, head straight on back to the main trail, then turn left and head back to the carpark.
There is still plenty more to see from here. Find an OS map and explore! The Long Stone is just over a kilometre from the carpark.
