Marilyn

We bagged a Marilyn today! That’s a hill of 150m or so and we did it by walking from Big Mead - from near the big red squirrel carving by the church, up and Luccombe Down, avoiding the cows at the top, and back down to Ventnor.  My phone told me were were 240m or so up. I don’t know accurate this is. 

Along the way we took in the disused Ventor Radar Station and a more recent transmitter.  It took us almost two and a half hours and there were some stunning views. I am glad the weather has been quite kind as the paths were reasonably dry. This was particularly important on the way down as it was a very steep decent to Ventnor - we were almost sliding our way down parts of the hill.  I am not sure if it would have been easier to do the reverse - the hill would have been difficulty to climb although we did pass several people - including a number of dog walkers - who were doing just that.

We took in a late brunch at the Two Cooks Cafe before boarding the bus to Newport where we did a little bit of shopping, had a coffee in Cafe Isola - which was quite busy and a little slow - before walking down to Newport Quay where there were a few Christmasy things - and we got our first mulled wine of the year. Then it was back to the main square to watch the countdown to turning on the Christmas lights.  It was quite a lot of fun even if we couldn’t really tell what was happening on the little stage area that had been erected. The was a parade of local bandsmen before the Christmas tree and square were illuminated. A fun way to spend the early part of the evening.

We took the return bus trip via Vennor to be back at the flat by 7:30pm.  I felt like we’ve seen a lot of the island today.