This was my first new walk following lockdown, in July 2020. I drove along the B3399 Newport Road (often known locally as the Middle Road) from the island's county town of Newport out to Freshwater in West Wight and turned right into The Causeway, just after Afton Farmhouse. The OS grid reference for The Causeway is: SZ350867. I parked along The Causeway at the end of the Yar Estuary to start this walk. I walked over the river bridge to join the bridleway on the left opposite Woodland Cottage. I then worked my way across the countryside enjoying the presence of wild flowers and sightings of butterflies, past East Afton Farm towards Tapnell. The Tapnell Trail was clearly signposted to begin with but with Tapnell just ahead, I found a lack of Tapnell Trail signs and any usual signposts. In fact, my OS map wasn't much help either...however, I did eventually find my way in to Tapnell Farm and I made a quick visit The Cow Co for an ice-cream:
Again there was difficulty finding the path out of Tapnell Farm back on the the Tapnell Trail but I eventually did, crossing open fields and a minor road until the footpath joined the Hamstead Trail, which traverses the island north to south. I turned right on to the Hamstead Trail, crossed Newport Road and headed up the hill to meet the Tennyson Trail (see photo below). It is possible to turn right at the bottom of the hill and take the Tapnell Trail back to Afton and The Causeway. The Tapnell Trail is about 6.5 miles in total.
The Tennyson Trail offers spectacular sea views on either side, which is why I decided to take this route rather than walk back along the edge of Afton Down, the site of the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. From the Tennyson Trail, there is a good view of the former festival site, where it is reputed 600,00 revellers turned up in 1970 for five days of music. Once past Freshwater Bay Golf Club, I took the right fork in the path to head down the hill towards Afton and back to The Causeway. According to my 'phone, this route was 10 miles.
