Outdoor Adventure on the Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is a uniquely British outdoor destination that is squarely off the beaten track for travelers. This island is only half a dozen miles from Britain's south coast, but it has an isolated feel preserved by its lack of air connections to the rest of the country. It can only be reached by a ferry across the Solent from Lymington, Portsmouth, Southampton or Southsea.

The core of the Isle of Wight's outdoor charms is in its Coast Path. A network of trails that rings the entire island, the route is 65 miles long and requires four days of hiking from even a fit hiker keeping a good pace. Along the way, it passes through seaside villages of thatched-roof cottages, by medieval castles and towers, and over imposing chalk cliffs and along British pebble beaches. Those taking the Coast Path can arrange it so that they either camp their way around the island, or stay in village inns for the night.

However, the Isle of Wight's most popular outdoor attraction is its Shanklin Chine. "Chine" is a word from old Saxon best translated as "gorge." Shanklin Chine is a splendid bit of scenery with a Lord of the Rings-esque waterfall. It is endowed with stories of shipwrecks, smugglers and failed dreams of building a Channel Tunnel, as well as a tearoom and hiking paths.

Outdoors lovers visiting the Isle of Wight can take interest in the medieval art of falconry at the White Falconry. Located in the township of Ventor, this institution does demonstrations and courses in the skill of maintaining and hunting with a falcon. They also operate public hunting days.

The Isle of Wight is also home to a 5-star PADI scuba diving resort at Cowes Beach. The local pier dive provides a good training site for novices, while more experienced divers can explore the local wrecks, including a World War One destroyer sunk more than 80 years ago.

For accommodations, the outdoors tourist on the Isle of Wight will find numerous campgrounds, most of which offer a mixture of tent pitches, RV sites and rentals of permanent camping trailers. That is important in this modern era of exorbitant prices for overweight or excess baggage.

Sources: iwight.com/just_visiting; gps4touring.com/POIs/isle-of-wight.htm