Day 6 Gurnard Bay to Ryde 10 miles

Our last day and an easy one. Rain overnight had freshened the countryside and cleared away before breakfast.
This was Margaret's breakfast!

Back to Gurnard Bay and an easy walk along the promenade into Cowes.

Health and Safety!

 Things got a bit smarter as we entered Cowes and passed the Royal Yacht Club.

Winston Churchill's parents met here

We had a cup of coffee and a bun in Cowes at 'Steam' near the ferry terminal. A great place to watch all manner of people coming and going. Then a ride on the chain ferry across to East Cowes, free for foot passengers.

There was quite a lot of road walking today but we broke it up a bit by visiting Osborne House on the way. We didn't pay to go in as it was too expensive  for a quick visit so this is all we saw of it.

However we did make use of their toilet facilities so it wasn't a wasted visit!
More road walking along minor roads took us to Wootton Bridge and the Sloop Inn where we found a seat to eat our packed lunch..

A bit more road walking and then we were in Fishbourne, a wooded area with large houses. A red squirrel posed on a fence to have his photo taken. There aren't any grey squirrels on the Isle of Wight and the occasional one that finds its way there is removed.

Red Squirrel

From here it wasn't far to Quarr Abbey, the home of a small number of Benedictine monks. We might have passed this by but Gian Giblett, the owner of our B&B was the architect who designed the tea room and he recommended it to us

Quarr Abbey

Old Abbey remains

Quarr Abbey tea rooms

The brickwork on the abbey was absolutely stunning and the tea and scones were very welcome too.
 We were now nearing the end of our walk and it wasn't too long before Ryde Pier came into sight and our walk was over. This was the first pier in Britain and has just celebrated its 200th anniversary.

 Right at the end we overtook a group of walkers who were three days into their own walk around the island and they were bemoaning the fact that they had hardly seen the sea. We were able to re-assure them that the best was yet to come for them. We felt as though we had started and finished in the right place and also stayed in the best place for catching buses.