I find Niton a good place to start a circular walk, not just because there is plenty of on the road parking, but also because there are a number of footpaths leading out from the village. The coastal path cuts across the A3055 at the southerly end of the village. I picked up this coastal path at SZ505762 and headed first south for a few yards and then east.
The coastal path runs along the top of the cliff so there are sea views to the right and farmland views to the left. There is a wooden seat next to the junction where St Rhadegund's Path leads off to the left and the coastal path then heads down the hill towards St Lawrence and The Undercliff. It's worth stopping at this seat and taking in the sea views before taking the footpath which continues along the clifftop.
I took the footpath on the left which then joins St Lawrence Shute, a narrow lane which crosses Ventnor/Whitwell Road and becomes Week Lane. Week Lane is the farm track which heads to Week Farm. The track bends to the right before Week Farm but I kept heading north along the footpath towards Nettlecombe. At the end of this footpath, at the junction, I turned left. All of these footpaths are well-maintained and well-signposted.
With Nettlecombe on my right, I headed to Whitwell. I took the photo below along this stretch of the route. I fancied an ice-cream so I walked in to the village to look for a shop.
I found that there is no shop in Whitwell, the nearest is in Niton, but there is a pub:
I stopped at the pub for a coffee. I sat outside: very pleasant! After my short pub stop, I headed back to my planned route, past the Church of St Mary and St Rhadegund. I had seen the unusual name of St Rhadegund on a footpath sign on an earlier stretch of this walk so when I got home I did some research. It appears that St Rhadegund (or Radegund) was a 6th century Frankish princess, who founded the monastery of the Holy Cross at Poitiers, in France. She was canonized in the 9th century, and is the patron saint of Jesus College, Cambridge, and several other English churches. In fact, the church itself is unusual in being formed of two chapels built side by side, that of St Rhadegund in the 12th century with the chapel of St Mary the Virgin being added around 1200.
I took Ashknowle Lane, on the right off the main road, and walked past Ashknowle House. Ashknowle Lane becomes the Yar River Trail which leads back to Niton. As I reached the village, there was a box of cooking apples on a chair with the sign 'Fallers, please help yourself". I took three large apples (which were perfect, no holes nor bruises!) to make a blackberry and apple crumble when I got home!
As mentioned at the start of this piece, there are a lot of footpaths around Niton so plenty of choice of routes to get back to the start. I took the path which runs along the grounds of the primary school back to the main road (and shop to get that ice-cream!). There is also a path which leads back to SZ505762 on the coastal path, and the start of this circular walk.
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