Introduction

This walk is scheduled for the weekend of May 2/3, 2021. I will be walking it with my daughter. It is one of a series of ‘Ultra – Challenge’ events that are held in a normal year in various parts of England. It is a walk of 106 km (almost 66 miles). The objective is simple. To walk all the way around the island following the coastline as far as it is possible to do so. As though 66 miles isn’t far enough, one full circuit of the island involves 6430ft of ascent. Yet it is these rolling hills that make much of the Isle of Wight wonderfully picturesque. The walk around the coast is one in which a wide variety of landscapes is encountered, accompanied by ever-changing views.

My daughter did attempt this Challenge Walk in May 2018. Months before she had begun a new job with a company that is an outdoor equipment retailer. The company decided to enter a team for the Challenge Walk. But to cut a long story short, only my daughter and two others ‘survived’ the training courses and made it to the Start line on that Saturday in 2018. But sadly only one of them made it all the way round. My daughter did get to the halfway point just before midnight on that Saturday, but had to withdraw unfortunately. However the 32.5 miles was still an excellent achievement for someone that up until 2018 had done hardly any distance walking. I must add that on that Saturday in 2018 the temperature had rocketed to over 27C and there’s very little shelter from the elements on the Island. I had checked into a hotel at about the 40 mile stage of the walk. The idea was that from there I could team up with her and walk that last 25 miles of the walk together. But the chance never came. Such is Life. I walked the Camino de Santiago (Camino Frances) in September 2019. In 2020 the Corona virus got in the way of most outdoor activities. So any second attempt to revisit this Challenge Walk has had to wait….until 2021!