Day 2 - Cowes to Freshwater Bay (approx. 25 miles)

We succesfully woke up, got ready and got down for the start of breakfast by 7.30. The hotel staff were still bringing the food out when we got down there (they were running slightly late. Breakfast was very good as we had a buffet selection of cereals, juices, jams and toast to choose from as well as getting an English Breakfast with a choice of how we would like our eggs. I immediately got stuck into the cereal and juice whilst Tom still feeling a bit full from all the spaghetti last night waited for the cooked breakfast. After I finished my bowl of cereal it arrived. It consisted of a poached egg, sausage, beans, tomato, fried bread and bacon. Halfway through the breakfast it dawned on me that I should probably save some of this for later and fill myself up on the buffet cereal. I ate the sausage, beans and tomato and made a couple of egg and bacon sandwiches for later. One of the staff saw me wrapping the sandwiches in tissues so gave me a bag for them which was nice. I wasn't keen on the very greasy fried bread. After some more cereal and juice we finally made a move of what must have been a good 45 minute breakfast session. Feeling happily full we paid and left. Tom knew his way through Southampton so it was hassle free getting to the ferry (it was probably a 20-25 minute walk). There were a couple of ferries that went to The Isle of Wight - The Red Funnel and The Red Jet. We wanted The Red Jet as it was the quicker passenger ferry. We got our tickets after Tom dug out his wallet that was buried at the bottom of his bag and went over to the boarding bit. We timed it well (complete fluke) as as we got there the ferry had just come in and people were getting off. after everyone was off we were allowed on. We managed to get seats at the front. There were promotional videos and I had picked up some leaflets before so we spent the crossing assessing the walk and anything we could do along the way. Tom also got a coffee as wasn't keen on the hotel coffee. The crossing was less than 30 minutes, and we arrived at around 10am. It was later than we would have liked to arrive but knew if we kept up a good pace we should still be able to cover our 25-mile target before dark. We went into a newsagents straight away to try and get a coastal path map. All they had was a big fold-out OS map of the entire island. It had the coastal path marked on so we went for it. After the map we started the walk. We had arrived in West Cowes so decided to walk anti-clockwise around the island. It was a really nice day and the start of the walk took us along a path next to the sea before going onto the beach. There were a few groups of dog walkers about and we randomly got a photo with one of the dogs. Then as we approached the end of the beach a local guy told us that the coastal path had been fenced off ahead with an alternative route signposted. He reckoned that we would be alright climbing over the fence and going on the original path so we did. It turned out fine - there was one bit that had eroded slightly onto a beach so we climbed/stepped carefully down and back up. Tom got the first of what would be many phonecalls from Chris around this time. We then reached a caravan site and after Tom bought some overpriced lucozade from the shop (he wanted water but they didn't have any) we ended up walking around unsure of where to go. Thankfully an old man pointed us in the right direction. We followed where he said but were unsure if this was correct as we were now away from the sea and had lost our bearings somewhat. I got the compass out and we were heading south, corresponding with where was marked on the map. I then got a phonecall from Admiral about my car insurance as we bumped into some other coastal pathers going the other way around the island. They advised Tom on what lay ahead whilst I sorted out my insurance ballache. We continued inland and got onto a proper road after maybe 20 minutes of grassy/muddy path. The music came out when we got to the road (initially playing songs from Arctic to Africa via the 'red nose' speaker) and we were both in very good spirits. The road lasted a while before heading back onto fields and paths. The coastal path was very well signposted virtually all of the time so minimal navigating was required. At one point we came to a dirt road/track. We had an option of going straight on up a hill which would be a bit shorter than turning right and going the more indirect official route . We went for the quick route as wanted to get back to the sea as quickly as possible. When we reached the end of this track I saw the coastal path sign pointing to the right so followed this. After about 15 minutes we'd got to the sea and it became clear that we should have turned left at the end of the track. We backtracked and surely enough there was another coastal path sign pointing left - we had probably lost any time we would have gained by taking the shortcut. We were back following the sea which was a relief. We were starting to get a bit low on energy so I got out my hotel sandwiches from earlier and we ate these on the go. Discussing where to stop for lunch began as our heavy bags were taking their toll on our backs and we needed refuelling properly. The next town was Yarmouth - Tom wanted a good 45 minute break here. This next section of walking was particularly good with the odd secluded beach and sections of woodland to walk through. Eventually we reached Yarmouth very eager so find a nice cafe. There was one on the waterfront which we walked passed knowing it would be expensive. Another one didn't have enough choice for Tom so we went for the third (and probably last) option in the very small town which was tucked down an alley. It had free chairs outside and was busy enough to suggest that the food would be good - this would do. I went inside and got a couple of large homemade flapjacks from a fairly limited menu. They were expensive but very nice. I gave one to Tom before he went in and got a coffee. The woman who worked there came out and took to clear the table and Tom ordered another round of flapjacks. Meanwhile I popped to Costcutter to get energy drinks, water and a couple of Creme eggs. Costcutter too was expensive - the island prices seemed to be higher then in the UK mainland. Anyway shortly after I returned the woman came out with the flapjacks and proceeded to fuss over which flapjack was for who. We didn't really care and just went along with where she put them. After rehydrating as much as possible and filling our water bottles with the water from the 5 litre bottle that I bought/polishing off the flapjacks we reluctantly put the big bags back on our backs and pushed on. The plan was to get comfortably past The Needles and get a reasonable distance along the south west coast before finding somewhere to camp. It was still a really nice day and we had maybe 4-5 hours of daylight left. This section between Yarmouth and The Needles was very tough, with the path quite literally taking us around the houses as well as up and down lots of hills and steps - it seemed like whoever came up with the coastal path was doing this for a laugh. We were very keen to see The Needles and it took what seemed like forever to get there. En route there was this weird wooded area with various wood carvings dotted about and random plaques with information on the solar system. Eventually we reached the cliff looking over The Needles before doing a quick video/photo session and heading down towards the beach. It was now getting late and it would have been an unnecessary mission to go right down to the beach, so we had a quick break at the top of the stairs leading down to the beach with a nice view of The Needles. I remember faffing around with my bottle of water that I had filled up with water back in Yarmouth and fashioned a cable tie loop that I could put through my chest strap so I didn't have to carry the water in my hand whilst walking. After the break we headed back to the coastal path and made our way up to the top of the cliff overlooking The Needles. The music was on again as we passed a number of dog walkers and hikers who were heading back down. There was a cottage at the top - we didn't bother to get a close-up view of The Needles - we simply followed the coastal path round the back of the cottage and continued along what was now the island's south-west coast. This section was far, far easier as it simply consisted of flat not-too-bumpy grassy land that carried on for ages. About halfway along this we reached a spectacular viewing point (the highest point for miles) giving us great panoramic views of the end of the island with sea on both sides, the UK mainland in the distance, and a lot of the rest of the island. There was a memorial marking the spot along with an a marble plaque with arrows pointing in all directions towards various cities/places around the world with how many miles they were away. After some more photos we pushed on. We could now see a small town in the distance so made a beeline to get there before dark. There were small bits of chalk littering the grass as we walked along - we talked about how it could have got there before picking up a couple of big bits to keep as souvenirs. We eventually got to the small town at about 8.30 leaving us very limited time to find somewhere to camp and put up the tents before dark. The limited light along with having walked over 25 miles throughout the day meant we didn't really care where we camped as long as it was a decent patch of grass, hence we ended up pitching up next to a public footpath by some public toilets. This is where bringing the pop-up tent was a real advantage as I was set up and organised in about 10 minutes whereas Tom was taking longer. I got the camp stove out in the middle of the tent and boiled some water ready for the first batch of the thin spaghetti (very quick to cook so ideal). Tom had joined me in my tent by the time the water had started to boil and I threw in the first batch. With the 2 of us in there space was tight but we managed. Once the spaghetti had cooked Tom drained out the water into a tin outside ready for the next batch before we poured some Dolmio in and mixed it up. This turned out to be fairly decent. We ran out of water so Tom went to get some more from the toilet tap. For the second batch Tom was getting impatient so thought it would save time to cram an entire pack of spaghetti into the saucepan in one go rather than cook a few more batches. This resulted in a horrible starchy mess with overccoked stuff at the bottom of the pan and lumpy half-cooked stuff at the top. The crammed mass of spaghetti had absorbed all of the water so it didn't need draining. We were laughing hysterically at the fact that we were eating this crap - it reminded of us of a similar situation doing Wainwright's Coast to Coast walk last year when us and Chris were huddled around a camp stove in the dark/cold of the Lake District mashing out-of-date pies into some sauce after failing to cook some pasta. Anyway after digesting as much starchy spaghetti as we could take we left the saucepan etc outside to be cleaned in the morning before a quick teeth-brush, and went to sleep at probably about 11pm with the alarm set for 5.15am so we could be walking by 6.30.