Despite a poor weather forecast, 15 GOC members used ferries and trains to travel to Brading Railway Station on a bright and sunny Sunday morning for a ten mile cliff and coastal walk to Ryde. We had members from as far afield as London, Somerset, Wiltshire and the South coast, as well as three Caulkheads (people who live on the Isle of Wight). Lunch was taken at the inn on top of Culver down, which has vast views over the sea and the east of the Island. It was all downhill from there through woodland, beside beaches, marshland, dunes and past a tidal millpond. A brief pause was for ice creams at the National Trust's Bembridge Windmill and towards the end some brave gentlemen had a swim in the sea near Ryde, whilst the others used the nearby café. After that it was a stroll back through the holiday crowds, to the pier.The forecast turned out to be completely wrong as we walked in warm sunshine all the way.
Phil Row.